The Lamar Reid Voter Fraud Case (1954)

Background

Lamar Reid was a 28-year-old Birmingham attorney who served as the chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee in 1954. He became entangled in one of Alabama’s most infamous political corruption scandals connected to the Dixie Mafia and the assassination of Attorney General-elect Albert Patterson.

The Crime

On June 4, 1954, Alabama Attorney General Si Garrett traveled to Birmingham to meet with Lamar Reid about the Democratic primary runoff election results between Albert Patterson and Lee Porter. The initial certified results showed Patterson winning Jefferson County with 23,858 votes to Porter’s 23,060 votes.

Garrett met Reid in a hotel room in Birmingham and pressured him, suggesting voter fraud had occurred and that the vote count was off by 2,000 votes. Under pressure, Reid left the tabulation sheets with Garrett. Later that same day, Garrett and Russell County Circuit Solicitor Arch Ferrell returned to Reid’s office with a modified proposition—they would only need to change 700 votes instead of 2,000. They convinced Reid that Patterson and his supporters had stolen the election and that they needed to “steal it back.”

Reid, feeling swept up in what he believed was a heroic act and important mission, certified the altered results the next day: Patterson 23,858 and Porter 23,660—adding 600 votes to Porter’s total.

Discovery and Consequences

By June 8, 1954, the Associated Press bureau chief in Birmingham received a call to check the tally totals for Jefferson County, and the discrepancy was discovered.

Albert Patterson announced he would testify before the Jefferson County Grand Jury about the vote fraud. He was murdered on June 18, 1954, before he could testify.

Indictments and Trial

Two weeks after Patterson’s death, Si Garrett, Arch Ferrell, and Lamar Reid were indicted on vote fraud charges by the Jefferson County Grand Jury.

Reid eventually cooperated with investigators and told the whole truth about the scheme, beginning with the phone call from Si Garrett on the night of the June 1st runoff election. His testimony before the grand jury was crucial in exposing the full extent of the conspiracy.

Sentencing

Lamar Reid pleaded nolo contendere (no contest) to the vote fraud charges. He was:

Fined $500
Sentenced to six months at hard labor
Given one year probation

Life Impact

The scheme ruined Reid’s own life and career. He was a young, well-connected Birmingham lawyer whose involvement in the corruption destroyed his professional future. Reid’s case is often cited as a cautionary tale of how young, ambitious individuals can be manipulated by more powerful political figures into criminal activity.

Outcomes for Co-Conspirators

Si Garrett (Alabama Attorney General):

Indicted for both vote fraud and Albert Patterson’s murder
Avoided trial by checking into a psychiatric facility in Texas
Never prosecuted; charges eventually dropped in 1963
Died in 1967

Arch Ferrell (Russell County Circuit Solicitor):

Indicted for both vote fraud and Albert Patterson’s murder
Acquitted in both trials
Disbarred by the Alabama Bar Association
Later reinstated and resumed law practice in Phenix City

Albert Fuller (Russell County Chief Deputy Sheriff):

Indicted for Albert Patterson’s murder
Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment
Served 10 years before being paroled
Died within a year of his release, maintaining his innocence

Historical Context

This case was part of the larger Phenix City cleanup that resulted in 734 total indictments against corrupt officials and organized crime figures in Alabama. The assassination of Albert Patterson shocked the state into action, leading Governor Gordon Persons to declare martial law and send in the Alabama National Guard to dismantle the criminal syndicate that had controlled Phenix City for decades.

Reid’s relatively light sentence compared to others likely reflected his cooperation with authorities and his status as a young attorney who was manipulated by more powerful political figures in the Dixie Mafia-connected corruption network.

Key Figures

Lamar Reid – Birmingham attorney, Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee chairman
Albert Patterson – Attorney General-elect, murdered June 18, 1954
Si Garrett – Alabama Attorney General, orchestrator of vote fraud scheme
Arch Ferrell – Russell County Circuit Solicitor, co-conspirator
Lee Porter – Patterson’s opponent who benefited from the fraud
John Patterson – Albert’s son, who became Attorney General and later Governor

This case represents a pivotal moment in Alabama history when organized crime’s grip on state politics was finally broken through federal intervention and public outrage over political assassination.