On Friday, Mississippi police announced that a Tea Party leader in Mississippi was found dead on the floor of a storage room in his garage. Attorney Mark Mayfield, who rose from obscurity in the past month for his alleged involvement in taking a photo of Senator Thad Cochran's wife in her nursing home bed, appeared to have taken his life.
Although police have not disclosed the contents of a suicide note found in the area or why Mayfield might have taken his own life, Ridgeland police Chief Jimmy Houston told CNN said that the authorities are currently looking into matters that lead to the lawyer's death.
The 57 year-old lawyer was a founding member of the Mississippi Tea Party and had once served as its vice chairman, according to the organization.
Reuters said that in May, he was one of the three men accused of conspiracy with a blogger to take illicit photos of Cochran's wife for use in a political video against the six-term incumbent. Cochran's wife is admitted in the nursing home due to her dementia. Mayfield was later charged with conspiracy to photograph someone without permission, of which received skepticism from experts and pundits.
Attorney Matt Eichelberger, who blogs about progressive politics in the state, said about the charges, "A good number of us just simply refused to believe that he had anything to do, at least on any criminal level, with what happened with the nursing home scandal."
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant was among the many who have expressed their condolences, and called Mayfield a long-time friend of his.
Cochran and his team also expressed their thoughts about the disgraced lawyer and his family, CNN noted. Senior adviser Austin Barbour to Cochran's campaign said, "This is very much a tragic and sad situation. 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."
