By Charlton Stanley, Weekend Contributor
Jackson Attorney
Photo by Jackson, MS police department
As I write this, the news is still coming in, and the full story is far from being told. I will provide breaking news as I hear it, but our intrepid bloggers should consider the comments an Open Thread. If you have solid news to report, please do so, and source the information. Otherwise it is just gossip.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that conspiracy theorists are breaking out the tinfoil hats.
What do we know about the death of Mississippi attorney Mark Mayfield? He lived in Ridgeland, Mississippi, a bedroom suburb just north of the city of Jackson. He was 57 years old. About 9:00 Friday morning, he was found dead in his home of a single gunshot wound. There was a note, but authorities have not revealed the contents. That is not unusual. When I worked in the state that was general policy with investigators across the state. Sometimes suicide notes are poignant, sad, and express intense pain. Other notes have content so gross or inflammatory they could not be printed in a family newspaper. In cases of suicide notes, the families often are reluctant to permit release to the public. In other cases, the note may implicate other people in a crime, or include confidential information. If the latter is the case, release of the content of a suicide note risks compromising an ongoing investigation, especially if sealed indictments are involved. Nothing should be read into it if the note contents are not released and made public.
Mayfield was a major supporter of the Tea Party in Mississippi. They fielded a candidate to run against Senator Thad Cochran in the Republican primary, Chris McDaniel. During the run-up to the primary, several men gained illegal entry into the nursing home where Senator Cochran’s wife was staying. She has Alzheimer’s disease. The actual break-in was actually implemented by a Tea Party blogger named Clayton Kelley, who was arrested. A photo of Mrs. Cochran was posted on a website, presumably Kelley’s. It was taken down a short time later.
Kelley was arrested along with four men, including lawyer Mayfield. The others arrested in the incident were Richard Sager, a high school coach and John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg. Mary was not taken into custody because of what were described as “extensive medical conditions.”
All the men face felony conspiracy charges. I have not found a complete list of all the charges, but I am sure some would have been added later. For one there is a major HIPAA violation.
My take on this as a professional who has worked in the field for more than forty years, is that Mayfield felt he had no options left. His career as a lawyer was over. He knew he would lose his license to practice and almost certainly was going to be sent to prison. Life as he knew it in the past was ended; that is, after he was released from prison.
There are many professions where one can recover and rebuild after a conviction. Martha Stewart is an example of reinventing oneself. On the other hand, actor Fatty Arbuckle never was able to reestablish a career. Having made a study of suicide over the years, and taught a doctoral level course on Thanatology, there is one overriding element almost all suicides have in common. The subject believes there is literally no way out of the bleak situation they are in. That leads to a feeling of hopelessness. This in turn causes a kind of tunnel vision in which they can envision only one way out.
Setting political issues aside for a moment, I believe this is a time for empathy for Mark Mayfield’s family and loved ones. His criminal defense attorney, Merrida “Buddy” Coxwell is a long time acquaintance of mine, and I believe he expressed it as well as I can, “…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…”
The recriminations can start later. I will say; however, that my contacts in Mississippi tell me the Tea Party regulars have tight sphincter syndrome regarding what Mayfield may have put in that note.
Sources:
—ooOoo–
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not necessarily those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art is solely the author’s decision and responsibility.
Nick Spinelli
It seems like every election cycle people become aware of open primaries and how they work. Public educators like to keep the public ignorant of civics. It’s akin to “keep ‘em barefoot and pregnant.”
While I am one of those “public educators” I think most educators just don’t know how the law works. On the other hand I tell my students, who are taking civics and advise me of their “Constitutional Rights”, that they have no rights if they don’t know how to enforce them. Most teachers don’t have a clue and neither does the general public.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/hipaahealth-insurance-portability-accountability-act/hipaa-violations-enforcement.page?
HIPAA violations and enforcement.
mugwump, in the movie, The African Queen, Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn), upset and pouring all of his gin overboard, said, after Humphrey Bogart argued that he drank because it was in his nature: “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.”
Rump-presenting is what women are put in this world to rise above; and chauvinism is what men are put in this world to rise above. Marriage, friendship should be partnerships of equals. In reality, most relationships today consist of role playing, one partner always portraying a butch, the other a nelly.
One would expect that in a time of gender equality, whoring, lap dancing, and prenups would have all gone extinct by now, never mind relationship abuse. Instead, it has worsened exponentially. And no one even takes notice who the real perps are.
How about HIPAA laws?
Is it actually a crime for political hacks in Mississippi to plan out a scheme to photograph someone in a nursing home and then use the photograph for political purposes? Sure, it is in bad taste and sleazy, but that is the nature of politics. But a crime? What is the charge? It would seem that some sort of civil suit might be a remedy, but a crime with actual jail time?
Feingold is a liberal progressive who would reject anyone who spouted the stuff certain people here spout.
Prairie Rose,
I doubt he was set up. Mayfield had been active in the Tea Party, and from what I can find out, was in a leadership role. While anything and everything is possible, the best approach is Ockham’s Razor. The simplest, most likely, and logical explanation is usually the best.
Saucy hates the Tea Party too. He must also be deranged.
Ah well, we must have Tea Party Derangment Syndrome according to a certain person. And don’t forget we are cultists! I think some folks are really righty righty rightists deep down in their core and can’t even admit it to themselves, but it’s pretty evident.
nick, That is what you say but not what you do. When a republican poster appears here, you instantly become bff’s with them while at the same time peck at those you assume to be democrats or liberals.
SWM, I agree, you did not celebrate suicide. You have class. I have said that previously.
SWM, I don’t like Dems or Rep. I don’t know how many times I need to say that. I just said NEITHER party has anyone worth a damn. I have spoken many times how I had the honor of voting for Feingold 3 times. My favorite pol in a long time, even though I didn’t like many of his votes. You see the world from inside a duopoly box. If you ever have the courage to leave, you will be born again.
SWM, some folks say all sorts of things, then they go on to say how sensitive and empathetic they are, go figure.
I would never celebrate suicide. My alcoholic godfather and uncle went on a binge and killed himself. What a cruel thing to say.
The Tea Party has been a circus since its inception. Now someone is dead, because why? Shame at taking pictures of an Alzheimer’s patient in a nursing home? Or something else we don’t know about yet. How about the TeaPublican, McAllister, a ‘family values guy’ who called for an FBI investigation to find out who outed him when pictures of him kissing a married staffer surfaced?
Nick, I thought you said we were depressed. You just don’t like democrats period. We may lose but some of the polls are looking better. If we lose the senate we will get it back in 2016 with the presidency.
No one is celebrating suicide. Someone is making unfounded allegations again.
And, to see people celebrating suicide is despicable.
SWM, When your party loses the Senate in November, will you still be faux giddy?
Chuck,
Do you think it is possible that Mayfield was set up?
“Mayfield was so familiar with the nursing home because his mother was a patient there until her death. One would think that, of all people, he would have had empathy for the family and Mrs. Cochran. I can only guess what his reaction might have been had it been his mother who was the target.”
I could see myself being naive and trusting enough to share that the wife of a politician was at the same facility as a family member (not even thinking about HIPAA)–as in, ‘gosh, Mrs. So-and-So is 5 rooms down from my grandma.’ Then, if someone else asked me about the safety and security of the nursing home, under the guise of looking for a place for a relative, I’d probably tell them, never dreaming the information could be used in a vicious manner. I’d feel horrible, knowing I was the cause of other people’s despicable behavior.
It would be an incredibly naive thing to do, but if you trust the people you’re talking to, you wouldn’t think of them doing something awful with the information.
How could one vindicate oneself in such a situation?
Condolences to the family.