Did the murderer of Tommie Fields Lakey walk free, while her husband took the fall? After 72 years, that question may never be answered.
Stanford M. Lakey was born in Panola County, Mississippi, in 1908. Until the United States entered World War II, Lakey's existence had hardly been extraordinary. After the war, Stan returned home looking for a better life, a quest that led the machinist to a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a home in Sheffield, and a wife to whom he was totally unsuited.
After his move to Sheffield, the single Lakey met Tommie Fields, a nurse ten years his junior who managed the office of Dr. D.D. Cox. Tommie was reportedly a large woman who, like Stan, enjoyed the effects of alcohol a little too much. By February 1951, Stan and Tommie had been married just over a year, but the union had already turned sour, with Stan often heard to say he could easily kill Tommie if given half a chance.
The Lakeys lived in a garage apartment on the corner of 30th Street and 14th Avenue. While their digs were small, it wasn't unusual for the couple to entertain on weekends, and it was during one of their usual parties that Tommie Lakey met her death on February 11th.
The party had started early that Sunday, but the guests who came and went all stated the alcohol infused gathering had ended by 4:00 or 4:30 that afternoon. It was slightly later that Stan awoke in the living room and found Tommie lying on their bed. When he couldn't awaken her, he called a neighbor for assistance. When J. P. McLemore arrived, he realized that Tommie Lakey was past help.
The coroner arrived and pronounced Tommie deceased before leaving around 8:00 p.m. By 8:30, Sheffield Police had arrested Stanford Lakey for First Degree Murder. Was the case against the TVA machinist that open and closed?
Stan Lakey's attorney advised him to plead not guilty due to mental defect. Stan had little or no memory of what had happened that afternoon, and at the April indictment, he followed his legal counsel's advice. The trial was held in late June and offered no dramatic revelations.
Stan's family from Mississippi testified that he had always been moody. His supervisor from the TVA Phosphate Plant was subpoenaed, but ultimately neither the prosecution nor defense chose to present his superior's character assessment that, while quirky, Lakey didn't seem like someone who was capable of murder.
Meanwhile, the press offered scant coverage of the crime. Many theorized that D.D. Cox, the physician for the Sheffield High football team, had asked to keep the information about his employee's last hours to a minimum. As the trial progressed, testimony presented a picture of a brutal murder in which Tommie Lakey had been beaten and stomped, finally bleeding out from a perforated liver.
Blood patterns indicated that Tommie was killed at the bottom of the stairs leading to the apartment and then carried to the second floor where the couple lived. While Stan's defense attorney chose not to pursue any problems with that scenario, many felt that a man as diminutive as Lakey could not have carried a woman of Tommie's size up the stairs and into their apartment. Was Stanford Lakey really innocent of murdering his wife?
It took a jury just over one hour to find Lakey guilty of the crime of First Degree Murder. Stan's defense attorney appealed, but it was ultimately parole that set the machinist free. He died at the age of 65 in 1974, never having proved his innocence, and is buried in Water Valley, Mississippi. Tommie Fields Lakey lies buried in a family plot in Gurley in Madison County, Alabama.
