South Carolina’s top prosecutor is pressing a local solicitor to pursue the state’s harshest punishment against a career criminal accused of murdering 22-year-old college student Logan Hailey Federico in Columbia earlier this year.
Attorney General Alan Wilson, in a letter sent Tuesday to Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson, urged him to seek the death penalty against 30-year-old Alexander Devonte Dickey. Dickey is accused of breaking into a Columbia home in May, shooting Federico as she slept, and then using her stolen bank cards on a shopping spree.
Alexander Dickey is the suspected killer of 22-year-old Logan Federico during a home invasion in Columbia, S.C., May 3. (Columbia Police Department; handout)
Wilson argued the case qualifies for capital punishment under South Carolina law, pointing to “clear statutory aggravating factors,” including the fact that the killing took place during the commission of a burglary. He also cited Dickey’s lengthy criminal history, which stretches back more than a decade and includes dozens of arrests.
“His past history, as well as his current violent crime charges, show an appropriate candidate for the ultimate punishment,” Wilson wrote in his Sept. 30 letter.
The move drew immediate praise from the victim’s father, Stephen Federico, who has become an outspoken critic of what he calls lenient criminal justice policies in the state.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” Federico told Fox News Digital, applauding Wilson’s intervention. “Alan Wilson is willing to do the right thing and what is justice for Logan.”
To bolster the state’s case, Wilson announced that Melody Brown, a veteran attorney from the Attorney General’s Capital & Collateral Litigation Section, will be temporarily assigned to Gipson’s office to review every aspect of the case.
“Melody Brown is one of the most seasoned attorneys in our office, with extensive experience in cases warranting the death penalty,” Wilson said. “She will be reviewing the details of this case to ensure that every step forward is handled with the utmost precision and the highest standards of justice. We owe it to Logan Federico’s family, and to every family in South Carolina, to make sure justice is served.”
Wilson gave Gipson until October 10 to declare whether he would pursue the death penalty. If the solicitor declines, Wilson warned, the Attorney General’s Office is prepared to assume control of the case.
But Gipson pushed back strongly in an Oct. 1 reply, blasting Wilson’s deadline as “reckless, irresponsible and unethical.”
“To make such a determination a mere four months into the case, without investing the due diligence necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of all facets of the evidence, would set a dangerous precedent,” Gipson wrote, according to FITS News.
He added that key forensic evidence is still pending and noted that most of Dickey’s roughly 40 prior arrests and 25 felony charges occurred outside the Fifth Circuit’s jurisdiction. “The remaining offenses all occurred in other jurisdictions, which would make any prosecutorial decisions related to those offenses the responsibility of other prosecutorial agencies,” Gipson explained.
Stephen Federico, however, remains unconvinced that Gipson has the will to seek the ultimate punishment.
“He’s never gone for the death penalty in any of his murder trials from what I understand,” the grieving father said. “There’s no reason that I would think any differently on this one.”
The crime itself stunned the Columbia community—not only for its brutality, but also for what it revealed about systemic failures in the justice system. According to court records, Dickey had racked up 39 arrests and 25 felony charges prior to Federico’s killing, yet had spent fewer than 600 days behind bars over the past decade.
For the Federico family, the case is about more than one senseless tragedy. It has become a flashpoint in a broader debate over crime, punishment, and whether the state’s legal system is doing enough to protect its citizens.
