Plea Deals, Paperwork Errors Let Alleged Killer Back On Streets

In a House Judiciary hearing, Steve Federico, the North Carolina father of a 22-year-old woman who was allegedly murdered in May while visiting friends in South Carolina, condemned the policies and lawmakers he claims allowed his daughter’s alleged killer to roam free. The alleged killer, Alexander Dickey, had 39 prior arrests, 25 of those for felony charges, Federico said.

Between 2013 and 2024, court records list multiple charges against Dickey as “nolle prosequi” in South Carolina’s 11th Judicial Circuit, indicating that the solicitor declined to prosecute those charges. Five of those instances occurred since South Carolina’s 11th Judicial Circuit Solicitor, Republican Rick Hubbard, took office in 2017. (Hubbard succeeded former Solicitor Donnie Myers, who served in the role for four decades.) These instances included two charges for weapons violations, along with charges for criminal conspiracy, a traffic violation, and receiving stolen goods valued at $10,000 or more, according to court documents.

Several of the charges appear to have been dropped as part of plea deals in return for guilty pleas to other offenses. Hubbard did not respond to a Federalist request for comment as to why his office agreed to adjust the charges.

According to local outlet Wis10, “Dickey was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree burglary, a sentence that carries a minimum prison sentence of 15 years” in August 2014. In October of that year, he “was served warrants for a third first-degree burglary charge.”

“A month later, Dickey pleaded guilty to second-degree non-violent burglary instead of first-degree burglary” and “was sentenced to 10 years suspended during probation.” In March of 2015, Dickey returned to court for the other two charges, one of which court records show was dropped. “For the other charge, Dickey pleaded guilty to a first offense of third-degree burglary, even though he’d pleaded guilty to burglary just months before,” according to the outlet.

In 2023, Dickey pled guilty to another burglary. Although he was “originally facing a charge of violent second-degree burglary,” he instead “pleaded guilty to a first offense, third-degree burglary for a second time.”

Dickey was given a five-year sentence, but he was later released, credited with time served.

According to the outlet, Hubbard said that his office “did not know about [Dickey’s] previous burglary arrests and convictions,” in which case they “would not have prosecuted Dickey’s case as a first offense and Dickey would have likely received a longer sentence.”

“Like all prosecutors, our assistant solicitor who handled the 2024 burglary 3rd charge relied on Dickey’s RAP sheet. For some reason unknown to us, Dickey RAP sheet does not include any prior burglary convictions. Other agencies are responsible for the data on RAP sheets,” Hubbard said.

The incomplete nature of Dickey’s criminal record may be related to a mishap in the fingerprinting process, since “the receipt of fingerprints by SLED is what triggers SLED to attach a new arrest to a subject’s criminal history,” according to Wis10.

Wis10 also reported, however, that Dickey faced charges of armed robbery with a deadly weapon and a 10-year minimum prison sentence in 2019, before ultimately pleading guilty to a lesser charge that brought a 4-year prison sentence.

Dickey was reportedly sentenced to probation (rather than incarceration) on numerous occasions, including in 2023, and was given an early release from probation in February of this year.

According to his government bio, Hubbard “is committed to keeping our communities safe and addressing the needs of victims of crime” and “routinely advises local and state law enforcement agencies on legal issues concerning the investigation and apprehension of criminals.” Before he was elected solicitor of the 11th Judicial Circuit in 2016, he previously served as the circuit’s deputy solicitor, where he “was tasked with reducing the criminal docket and extensive backlog” and “led the office in systematically reducing the docket by approximately sixty-four percent.”

In the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight’s hearing in North Carolina on Monday, Federico told lawmakers, “You need to fight for the rest of our children, the rest of the innocents, and stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us.”

Federico called out South Carolina Solicitor Byron Gipson, who handles criminal cases in the 5th Judicial Circuit, where the slaying occurred, claiming that in the four months since his daughter Logan’s death, Gipson never reached out to him. Gipson’s office contradicted this claim in comments to local news, saying they had been in contact with Federico “on numerous occasions.” U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., called for Gipson to be impeached by South Carolina’s General Assembly for “neglect of duty over his actions regarding the heinous murder of Logan Federico.”

“I do wish that more members from the other side of the aisle were here,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said about the House hearing on violent crime. “I respect differences of opinion, but I think you have to be there. You have to be in the game. You have to participate.”

Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., reportedly one of only two Democrat House members in attendance, claimed the crime problem in question “is not Democrats’ fault. This is the fault of Congress and our legislature to not do enough.” She discussed funding for the FBI and local law enforcement, including a claim that Congress plans to cut $100 million in funding for local law enforcement.

Federico chastised Ross after she apparently confused a photo of Logan Federico with Iryna Zarutska — a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed on in Charlotte, North Carolina, on public transit. Federico interrupted, saying, “This is my daughter … how dare you not know her!”

“I promise you, you will be sick and tired of my face and my voice until this gets fixed,” Federico said in the hearing, “I will fight until my last breath for my daughter.”

 A bill named for North Carolina victim Iryna Zarutska — whose murder has sparked larger discussions of Democrats’ failing policies on crime — awaits North Carolina’s Democrat Gov. Josh Stein’s signature. It could reportedly restart the implementation of the death penalty in the state and address pretrial release standards for violent offenders, doing away with cashless bail for some crimes.  

Catherine Gripp is a graduate of Arizona Christian University where she earned a degree in communication and a minor in political science. She writes for The Federalist as a reporting intern.