In an emotional news conference Thursday, three people whose family members were brutally killed in South Carolina and a pair of prosecutors who have been advocates for changing the state’s way of picking judges came together in York County to demand judicial reform and changes in how the state deals with violent offenders.
They said at the Moss Justice Center that their goal is to mobilize the public in South Carolina to voice concerns about lawyer/legislators who pick the same judges they later appear before. They said they also want to fix gaps in the mental health system for violent people, and ensure judges don’t have incomplete or erroneous information when deciding whether to release suspects after arrest.
Stephen Federico of Union County, N.C., whose daughter Logan was killed in May in Columbia by a man with a long history of violent crimes and arrests, had a warning for politicians or anyone in the criminal justice system who wants to deter changes that would keep violent offenders from harming others…