Mississippi State Tea Party Leader Who Shocked Thad Cochran Dead in Mysterious Suicide (Youtube)
June 29th, 2014
Mississippi State Tea Party Leader Who Shocked Thad Cochran Dead in Mysterious Suicide (Youtube)
Posted by: Barry Secrest
Published on June 29th, 2014 @ 02:30:20 am ,
Published on June 29th, 2014 @ 02:30:20 am ,
Posted in Events and Issues: Credible Resources
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Refocus Notes:
The media has been on slandering duty with this particular story from day one, but now a man is dead and the tone coming from police is not one of confident certainty.
But why, exactly, were these individuals being singled out by media and law enforcement, or was it that a career of garnering political favors were finally being paid back in full?
Nor can most people remember a chain of individuals being locked up for conspiracy charges over the taking of a picture regarding a political player's wife, by an out of control blogger.
CNN
(CNN) -- A tea party leader that rattled estabishment Republicans in Mississippi and beyond is dead -- shot once in the head in an apparent suicide, according to police.
A handgun was found "nearby."
Police officers in
Ridgeland, Mississippi, found Mark Mayfield's body shortly after 9 a.m.
Friday on the floor of a storage room in his garage.
"Because all of the
indications, it appears to be suicide, but we still got some things to
look into," Ridgeland police Chief Jimmy Houston told CNN. "He left a
suicide note, and we are verifying its validity."
Authorities haven't disclosed the contents of that note or why Mayfield might have taken his life.
Yet the lawyer and
Mississippi Tea Party leader has been under fire for the past month,
having been charged with three others -- according to The Clarion-Ledger
newspaper -- in connection to a blogger accused of taking a picture of
Sen. Thad Cochran's wife in her nursing home bed. This came a week after
the blogger, Clayton Kelly, was himself charged.
All were apparent allies of conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who was then engaged in an ugly primary battle to see who would be the GOP Senate candidate from Mississippi.
(CNN) -- A tea party leader tied to alleged political dirty tricks that rattled Republicans in Mississippi and beyond is dead -- shot once in the head in an apparent suicide, according to police.
Tea Party leader in election scandal dies
McDaniel: Miss. election not fair
Scandal hits Mississippi primary
(CNN) -- A tea party leader tied to alleged political dirty tricks that rattled Republicans in Mississippi and beyond is dead -- shot once in the head in an apparent suicide, according to police.
Police officers in
Ridgeland, Mississippi, found Mark Mayfield's body shortly after 9 a.m.
Friday on the floor of a storage room in his garage.
"Because all of the
indications, it appears to be suicide, but we still got some things to
look into," Ridgeland police Chief Jimmy Houston told CNN. "He left a
suicide note, and we are verifying its validity."
Authorities haven't disclosed the contents of that note or why Mayfield might have taken his life.
Tea Party leader in election scandal dies
McDaniel: Miss. election not fair
Scandal hits Mississippi primary
Yet the lawyer and
Mississippi Tea Party leader has been under fire for the past month,
having been charged with three others -- according to The Clarion-Ledger
newspaper -- in connection to a blogger accused of taking a picture of
Sen. Thad Cochran's wife in her nursing home bed. This came a week after
the blogger, Clayton Kelly, was himself charged.
All were apparent allies of conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who was then engaged in an ugly primary battle to see who would be the GOP Senate candidate from Mississippi.
The photo of Cochran's
wife -- who suffers from dementia and has lived in a nursing home for 14
years -- surfaced in a political attack ad on YouTube that aimed to
smear Cochran, The Clarion-Ledger reported. It's unclear how the photo
was used because the ad was removed within hours of being posted,
according to the newspaper.
This episode and others
further inflamed the rhetoric in the primary fight. Cochran's spokesman
Jordan Russell, for example, said last month that Mayfield and the
others' arrests "raises even more questions the McDaniel campaign needs
to answer."
But on Friday, Cochran --
who narrowly edged McDaniel in Tuesday's primary -- and his team showed
only sympathy upon hearing about Mayfield's death.
"This is very much a
tragic and sad situation," said Austin Barbour, a senior adviser to
Cochran's campaign. "Mark was a really good guy. On behalf of Sen.
Cochran and all of us for the campaign, our thoughts and prayers go out
to his family and his friends."
Report: Mayfield faced conspiracy charges
Mark Mayfield leaves behind his wife and two children.
He also leaves a legacy
in Mississippi in other ways, as a lawyer and a political leader. The
Mississippi Tea Party remembered him as one of its founding members "and
one of our biggest cheerleaders."
"He had a patriot's soul, and a smile that was as big as day," the group said on its website.
Outside Mississippi,
Mayfield became part of a bigger national story one week after
authorities arrested political blogger Clayton Kelly for allegedly
exploiting a vulnerable adult and illegally and improperly obtaining a
photo of her without her consent for his own benefit, according to the
Madison, Mississippi, Police Department.
Mayfield was later
arrested along with Richard Sager, an elementary school P.E. teacher and
high school coach, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. Police
also charged a third individual, John Beachman Mary, but did not take
him into custody because of "extensive medical conditions."
All three face conspiracy charges, the newspaper reported.
Mayfield's death came
two days after the runoff to decide his state's GOP Senate nominee -- an
election necessitated since neither Cochran nor McDaniel cracked 50% in
the June 3 primary.
Cochran won
the latest contest by fewer than 7,000 votes, aided by African-American
Democrats who were actively courted during the runoff campaign by
pro-Cochran forces.
According to Mississippi
law, voters are not required to register with a political party, and
anyone who doesn't vote in a primary election can cast a ballot in
either party's runoff.
McDaniel repeated his vow to use every legal maneuver available to fight the runoff results.
Lawyer, friend: 'My heart is completely broken'
Still, while that political fight continues, the focus Thursday was on Mayfield and his family.
His wife Robin was the
only other person at the family's Ridgeland residence at the time, and
also the one who alerted authorities.
The 57-year-old Mayfield was found dead of a lone gunshot wound, alongside a large caliber revolver.
Mayfield's attorney,
Merrida Coxwell, said in a statement e-mailed to CNN that he was a
client "but more importantly, he was a friend for almost 34 years.
"My heart is completely
broken. This is beyond tragic and the people of this community and state
have lost a good man and citizen."
In a phone call with
CNN, Coxwell added, "It's not important to me how it happened. It
happened today. Mark's wife called and texted me that Mark was
deceased."
And McDaniel posted a
statement on his Facebook page saying that, "regardless of recent
allegations made against his character, Mark Mayfield was a fine
Christian man who was always respectful and kind."
"He was one of the most
polite and humble men I've ever met in politics," the state senator
added. "He was a loving husband, father, a pillar of his community, and
he will be missed."
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