Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon
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smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for
your support. I do want to start off just real
quick with condolences to the family of Corey crow Smith.
He was a listener of the station and he and
his wife, both Jennifer, and he passed away from cancer.
Attended his funeral service yesterday or Saturday, I guess it was.
And this was over at Third Presbyterian Church in East Charlotte,
and the pastor there, the Reverend Jay Weigel I think
is his name. He I mean, the place was packed,
absolutely packed, and he did something I have never heard
of or experienced before. He told the story of how
he had gone to the Gospel Music awards or convention.
I think he said it was in pigeon Ford, Fords rather,
and there was a singer there and she did this,
and so he brought it to this service and it
was and I've just offered this up if you ever
are in a position to have this done, it's pretty remarkable,
which was to have everybody in the church hum amazing
grace and it was just it was beautiful and it
was transcendent. And if you ever get a chance to
do it, I highly recommend it. And so our prayers
are with the Smith family and all of his friends.
He had so many of them, and we'll miss you
today in Charlotte Congresses in town. It's a subcommittee of
the House Judiciary. So this is, yeah, the House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Oversight. They are holding a field hearing. They're
doing it at the Federal Courthouse in Uptown Charlotte, and
the topic is victims of violent crime. I was watching it.
It's still going on. It's happening. I think it's running
for about another twenty minutes. Started at ten am. I
pulled some audio, but just because of the nature of
the it being a live event, that's still going on now,
I'm gonna have like to get some of this audio
queued up in the right spots. I haven't been able
to pull a lot of clips because again the timing
of it. Anyway, I want to start though with the
victims families. The people that were invited by the Republicans
were Mia Alderman. She was or is the grandmother of
a woman who was murdered in Charlotte. Her name was
Mary Collins and so Mia Alderman is her grandma. She
spoke Steve Federico, the father of Logan Federico from Charlotte,
who was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina while visiting friends.
We covered this story when it happened as well. He
was one of the witnesses to testify Officer Justin Campbell
with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. He was there and talking about
the April twenty twenty four shooting that led to the
deaths of for law enforcement officers while they were serving
a warrant on a you know, repeat violent offender. And
I was not aware of this, but Officer Campbell apparently
lost his foot due to the injury he sustained at
that at that shootout. And then there was Michael Woody,
who is the owner and CEO of eight to eight
Bail Bonds and he is the North Carolina representative for
the National Association of Bail Agents, and basically his testimony
can be summed up pretty simply, cashle's bail breaks the system.
There's no reason to keep doing this. He makes the
argument that secured bond puts people who are you know,
friends and family, whoever it is that's posting the bond
for the defendant. It makes them connected to the defendant
and that case, and if you don't have the secured
bond element, then they just walk and there isn't anybody
there that's like, dude, you better go back to court,
because like, that's my house that I'm gonna lose. That's
my money that's on the line, right. So that was it.
Just he was there to talk trash about the cash
list bail system, which has been implemented across the country,
including here in Charlotte, as part of the quote unquote
reforms that Democrats wanted to see in the wake of
the twenty twenty summer of fiery but mostly peaceful riots.
Right like that, this is what these reforms have wrought.
So a big focus also was on the court system,
as it should be, because that's really where this is
breaking down. You've got individuals of a particular ideology, who
are making decisions that are allowing people to cycle in
and out, in and out, in and out, repeat, repeat offenses.
You also have. And by the way, I think that
the criticism that the Democrats made at the hearing today
against Republicans is legitimate for not funding more prosecutors in
the DA's office. This has been a problem literally my
entire adult life in Charlotte, going back thirty years. The
das have always when it was a Democrat legislature. When
it's a Republican legislature, the DA's office in Mecklenburg County
has been understaffed. One of the stats. So Democrats, they
brought two witnesses of their own. They didn't bring any victims.
They brought Dina King, who was the former US attorney
but she was a you know, Democrat appointee, so she's
now out. Now it's Russ Ferguson for the Western District.
And she got on. She got up there to talk
about need more money, because of course, you know that's
what Democrats are always saying, we need more money. And
she talked about the burnout. Prosecutors get burned out. They
have high case loads, which leads to plea deals cases
getting dropped and that's a problem. So she was there,
and then there was some other fella I think his
name was Asher, his last name was Asher, and he
was like some statistics guy from New Orleans, and he
came in to talk about how crime stats are actually low,
which I mean that is I guess that's it is
relevant to talk about the crime stats. I don't know
if that's like the best move to do when you're
sitting next to families who have had their loved ones
murdered in horrific manner. So like, I'm not sure that
looks the way you thought it was going to look.
But yeah, he came in and said, basically, you know,
there was this like super large increase in crime around
twenty twenty, but let's just skirt past that. Then after
you know, twenty two and twenty three, now the numbers
are dropping and we saw historic declines because we had
an historic rise first, but we have the historic declines. Now.
See everything's feeling safer, right, everybody feels safer. Now, Okay,
that was there. That was the argument Democrats presented. More money,
Republicans are just trying to score political points and crimes
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Limited time offer. So the House Judiciary Subcommittee excuse me
in town, wrapped up there or is wrapping up their
hearing on violent crime. This was a field hearing. One
of the witnesses that was called to testify was Yeah,
was Steve Federico, the father of Logan Federico, who was
murdered in Columbia, South Carolina while she was staying with
friends overnight at their house, and some violent offender breaks
into the house and murders her. The family, she and
her father if the family is from Charlotte. So he
appeared at this and here's what he said.
Speaker 2: How about y'all have kids. I'm just curious. Here's what
I need you to do when I tell you this story.
Think about your kids. Think about your child coming home
from the night out with their friends, laying down, going
to sleep, feeling somebody come in the room and wake
them and drag her out of bed, naked, forced on
her knees, with her hands over her head, begging for
her life, begging for her hero. Her father me, that
couldn't be there. She was five foot three, she weighed
one hundred and fifteen.
Speaker 1: Bang dead.
Speaker 2: Gone. Why because Alexander Devonte Dickey, who was arrested thirty
nine goddamn times twenty five felonies, was on the street.
How about that? How good are we doing for our family?
How good are you doing for your kids? He should
have been in jail for over one hundred and forty
years for all the crimes he committed. You know how
much time he's spent in prison? A little over six
hundred days in ten years. He's only thirty years old.
He was committing two point sixty five crimes a year
since he was fifteen years old. But nobody could figure
out that he couldn't be rehabilitated. So you'd have to
put him in prison to see if he could be rehabilitated.
Isn't that the idea of prison? But no, my daughter
wanted to be a teacher. She finally figured it out
two weeks before she was executed. And I haven't heard
a damn word from Byron Gibson in South Carolina, not
one word, four months, no communication. His biggest concern was
that he was pissed off about my interview and how
I made him look on the Fox News channel with
Trey Gowdi. How pathetic is that that we're letting our
twenty two year old kid visiting friends. It's all she
ever wanted to do is visit friends. And she literally
was executed while on her knees, begging for her life.
Her name's logan Federico, not irena. And you will not
forget her. I promise you. You will be sick and tired
of my face and my voice until this gets fixed.
I will fight until my last breath for my daughter.
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. Please, you have the power.
We put you in the power to do what you
have to do. We're asking you, we're begging you all
to stop this. Thirty nine crimes in ten years, twenty
five felonies. Can anybody here explain to me? Well, how
possibly he could be on the street, possibly be on
the street.
Speaker 1: How is it possible?
Speaker 2: I could sit down a room and I can explain
the whole process I have it failed? How South Carolina failed? Logan, Okay,
how lack of communication? What y'all did? You woke up
a beast and you pissed off the wrong daddy? Because
I'm going to put it out there and I'm not
going to be quiet until somebody helps. Logan deserves to
be heard. Everyone on this panel deserves to be heard,
and we will trust me. My daughter laid on the
floor for seven hours before somebody in that house recognized
that something was wrong and that cure criminal. An hour later,
went on a spending spree with her debit card. When
they saw his face on a video. They didn't have
to do a check. He was arrested so many times.
I knew who he was, They knew exactly where to
go get him. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic that I'm here today.
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1: All right. So that's Steve Federico. That comment where he
said her name was Logan, not Arena, that was a
response to Congresswoman Deborah Ross from North Carolina Democrat from
Wake County, who mistakenly thought he was a member of
the Zarutzka family or something or saw the photo that
he's got this big picture. It was hard to see
just watching the live stream, but it seemed like she
misidentified him and he interrupted her during her opening statement.
So that's that's how this started. You know, stories are powerful.
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dot com. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight meeting in Charlotte
today at the Federal Courthouse. They brought in witnesses, family
members of violent crime victims. You heard from Steve Federico,
the father of Logan Federico. This is Mia Alderman and
her granddaughter was Mary Collins.
Speaker 3: I'm the grandmother of Mary Collins. Mary Collins. Mary was
sadistically tortured. She was tortured, She was brutally murdered in Charlotte,
North Carolina, in twenty twenty. This is twenty twenty five
and a half. Mary was only twenty years old when
her life was taken in the most horrific way, imaginable, imaginable.
Speaker 4: She was bludgeoned in the head.
Speaker 3: She was stabbed over one hundred and thirty times. Mary
was then bled out in a bathtub. All of Mary's
blood went down into the Charlotte sewer system. Mary was
then wrapped in plastic and hidden inside a mattress while
myself and my family and then members of the community
tried to get to Mary. I myself was inside the
apartment yelling Mary's name to no avail we I'm sorry,
this is very difficult.
Speaker 4: I have it written out.
Speaker 3: But then as I sat here, I sort of decided
that I needed to go a little further. Our families
now endured more than five years of waiting, and still
her case has not gone to trial. Five years is
not justice. Five years is torment. Every day of delay
deepens the wound for our family and makes a mockery
of accountability. What makes this even more unbearable is how
the justice system has handled those accused of Mary's murder.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Two of them were released on bond.
Speaker 3: As if their crimes were minor, as if they stole
a candy bar or you know, maybe broke in a
car or something one in particular. Her name is America
Ray Deal. She remains free on bond today. Despite repeated
violations of her curfew and ankle monitor conditions. She has
faced little to no consequence. We know she has broken curfew,
left her home, pushed the boundaries of the very system
meant to contain her. She basically thumps her nose at it,
which you can see for yourself on the photos that
she posted on social media. They've now been taken down,
but we have copies. Nothing's been done. How can someone
accused of such cruelty walk free? Why we Mary's family
serve a life sentence of grief. The failures did not
begin in the courtroom. They began when Mary was killed.
For days, family, friends in the community pleaded for help, pleaded.
I was pleading as Mary's.
Speaker 4: I don't know the right word.
Speaker 3: Mary had a disability, and an invisible disability. If you're
familiar with invisible disabilities, that means that you can't really,
you know, look at her and tell.
Speaker 4: Caregiver would be the right word.
Speaker 3: The police department and the detective would not comprehend what
I was saying about Mary and how these people had
her and they were hurting her, and I needed to
get to her. It was long and it was torturous
to even get him to go through that apartment door
where she lay wrapped in plastic and concealed inside a mattress.
It was eight days since Mary left home when they
brought Mary out. It was finally the night of April fourth.
She left the house on March twenty eighth. The next
day was Mary's mother's birthday, April fifth. That delay costs
precious time, and it compounded the horror of what we
later learned had happened inside. I cannot speak everything that
happened to Mary, because if I try to speak what
happened to Mary, I will no longer be able to
sit or stand. So you're gonna have to use your
imagination on that part. Justice delayed is justice denied, and
time is stealing our justice with the backlog court system
for murder trials. And Mary is not the only victim.
We're here because Irana Urania Zoruska was also brutally stabbed
and killed in Charlotte. She now brings us here today.
The same system that failed Mary failed to Irania. Our
hearts are broken for her family and her friends, and
we grieve with them. We carry the heavy knowledge of
the continued agony, agony that they now face.
Speaker 4: This is not just about two young women.
Speaker 3: It's about the justice system in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
that is failing the very people it's sworn to protect.
We need accountability, We need reform. We need to ensure
that those accused of heinous crimes are swiftly prosecuted, that
they're not allowed to be released on bond and just
live their life.
Speaker 4: They get to go.
Speaker 3: Home and sleep in their own bed, and party and
have Christmas. And I wondered when they released America, did
her mom. Did her mom get to smell her hair.
Speaker 1: Did she know?
Speaker 3: Did she wrap her in in a warm blanket at night?
Because I thought, I think about that sometimes Mary being
in the ground, in the ground, in the ground dead.
Speaker 4: And she was so decomposed by.
Speaker 3: The time they got her out of that apartment that
we never saw her again. We couldn't look at her,
I couldn't smell her hair, touch her face, hold her.
Speaker 4: I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 3: Was I supposed to wrap her in a blanket for
her to be buried or her siblings. You know, they
wanted her to be buried in her favorite clothes. It
was COVID, so only ten of us could go to
a graveyard.
Speaker 4: We couldn't have a.
Speaker 3: Funeral for Mary has had no funeral, no funeral.
Speaker 4: None. Her murderers have not faced trial. They've been out
free on bond.
Speaker 3: And we had to go to a cemetery where there
was a casket that they told.
Speaker 4: Us Mary was in, and only ten of us could go.
Speaker 1: She said later on in this hearing that the DA
is right now getting through the twenty nineteen murder trials.
That's how far behind they are on taking murderers to trial.
So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's,
and before he died, my mom and my dad took
care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago,
there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers
and family. But things are different today because of the
work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of
Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with
huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years.
This cause means a lot to me. I participate in
the annual Walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a
Charlotte team again this year and it's called once again
Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join
the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth,
that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash
Walk and then you could search for my team name
Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com.
There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also,
I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh,
and so you can make a team and join that
one too, or make a donation and help me hit
my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I
really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks
all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot
org slash Walk for all the dates and locations. We're
closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us
get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future,
for families, for more time for treatments. This is why
we walk. I mentioned when we played the audio from
Steve Ferederico, the father of Logan Federco from Charlotte, who
was murdered down in Columbia, South Carolina by a career criminal, repeat, repeat,
repeat offender. And there was a moment where he points down.
He brought a big picture of his daughter and put
it in front of the table that they were sitting at,
and at one point he's like, her name is Logan Federico,
and he's pointing at the photo and he's yelling it's
not Arena. And he's yelling that at Deborah Ross, the
ranking Democrat on the committee from North Carolina. She's a
former state lawmaker. She's been in Congress now, I think
two or three terms, maybe longer. But this is what happened.
When she was making her opening remarks, and you'll hear
she doesn't know who she's pointing to in that photo.
You'll hear her identify this photo of Logan Federico as
Arena Zarutzka, and that's what ticked off her dad.
Speaker 5: I also want to express my deepest, deepest condolences to
the family of Arena Zaruska. What happened to her is
simply unimaginable and unconscionable, and I hope that we will
take to heart her family's request not to remember her
by her last moments or politicize her death, but instead
to remember her as the vibrant and exceptionally kind person
she was. And I'm thrilled that we have a picture
of her in that state right in front of us. Finally,
we're here in North Carolina and we had a tragedy yesterday.
I want to express my prayers and my absolute heartbreak
to the victims of the Southport mass shooting yesterday. I
know our governor is there today, and I know our
hearts go out to the victims and their families. So
the majority has brought us here together. And I would
say I went to the Philadelphia hearing. I've been on
the Judiciary Committee since I was in ever in Congress.
But to be honest and for our victims, this hearing
is too little, too late. We should have been doing
more to prevent crime and address the lack of mental
health care long before this hearing. Particularly, Oh, I'm sorry,
I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Thank you
so much for bringing that. Thank you, thank you, sir.
I am so sorry for you. I'm I am so sorry.
I'm so sorry for your loss. And my heart goes
out to you. My heart goes out to you.
Speaker 2: Oh, they did not know her.
Speaker 5: So we should have been doing things to prevent Logan's
death and Arena's death. And I am so sorry to
my Republican friends.
Speaker 1: And then she says, we shouldn't weaponize this, let's not
politicize this stuff. And you guys need to spend more
money on programs and services that we totally think will
fix it. And you can trust us on this criminal
justice reform stuff, you know, because we've got such a
great track record. Yeah, so that's not exactly a great
moment for Congressman Deborah Ross. This is from Rodney P.
Do you think the mayor and all the other Democrats
will be walking over their self if the Congress was
controlled by Democrats and they were holding the hearings today, Yo, definitely,
like all of the local Democrat officials would be. They
would be at the federal courthouse for this hearing, no
doubt about it. And you know, look, I've got more audio.
You're going to hear Alma Adams from Charlotte, congresswoman from Charlotte,
and she says that This is all just basically political theater.
They're just trying to score points, trying to cast us
as soft on crime Democrats and that we're to blame
for this, Deborah Rossa, that they're going to tell you
that Democrats are to blame. We're not to blame for this.
You guys control the court system here, right. I mean,
Rush Limbo used to talk about how the police departments
like the only agency of local government left that is
populated with conservatives, like all of the other all the
other agencies are packed with Democrats. But like and so
they're they're making these arrests, they're dropping them off at
the jail, and the court system that's controlled by Democrats.
You guys set these bail guidelines. The judges do this,
the district court does this, they have the guidelines. That's
not Republicans that did that. You guys have the control
to do something differently. And all we hear about is
you got to put more money into mental health, which
is something that Republicans have been saying after mass shootings.
And you guys are like, no, no, no, we're gonna
talk about guns. This isn't the time to talk about
mental health, all right, that'll do it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening. I could not do
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