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.
What the star of the cathouse tells me often is: “to straighten up and get your fly right.” Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Bron, LOL! There was a nun who would tell us noncompliant boys, “You better straighten up and fly right.” I reckon a fly boy just gave me a scolding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgP6a_cc0Zw
“Straighten up and fly right
“Straighten up and stay right
“Straighten up and fly right
“Cool down papa, don’t you blow your top
“Ain’t no use in divin’
“What’s the use of jivin’
“Straighten up and fly right
“Cool down papa, don’t you blow your top.”
The buzzard told the monkey “You are chokin’ me
“Release your hold, and I will set you free”
The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye
And said “Your story’s so touching but it sounds like a lie”
Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down papa don’t you blow your top
[Interlude]
Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down papa don’t you blow your top
Ain’t no use in divin’
What’s the use of jivin’
You better, straighten up and fly right
Cool down papa don’t you blow your top
Fly right
nick:
you better straighten up and fly right, Jack.
Nick Spinelli
Neo, Good comment. I would advise my students on their Constitutional rights all the time. They would ask good questions. I would discuss both theoretical and practical applications for them to assert their rights, particularly the 4th and 5th Amendment!! I had many years of real world, prison, probation, criminal, civil experience I brought to the classroom. My wife and I also taught our kids over the supper table.
I applaud you! You are are doing all of them a great service.
When I bark into the Dogalogue Machine I can not try to sing or rhyme becasue the machine knows no song, dance or jangle. But the message did come out above. I am praising the blog here folks. There is none better. You dont need to bark at each other though.
Saucy,
😮
“….. the people who left here in disgrace.”
******************************
YOU need to get one thing straight.
No one left here “in disgrace.” Those who left did so for personal reasons, some–or most–of which you will never know about.
This blog is good. There is a way of saying it in rhyme.
Blog is good.
Blog is great.
Yeah Blog.
Neo, Good comment. I would advise my students on their Constitutional rights all the time. They would ask good questions. I would discuss both theoretical and practical applications for them to assert their rights, particularly the 4th and 5th Amendment!! I had many years of real world, prison, probation, criminal, civil experience I brought to the classroom. My wife and I also taught our kids over the supper table.
Annie, you missed the better story on CBS News!
Tim Murray lost his primary challenge to Frank Lucas in Oklahoma. He was positively crushed by 78 points. But CBS News (“GOP candidate’s new argument: My opponent is an impostor”) reported that Murray’s opinion is that Lucas was not a valid candidate because he was executed in Ukraine.
As stated on http://www.timothyraymurray.com:
“Rep. Frank Lucas, and a few other Oklahoma and other States’ Congressional Members were depicted as being executed by The World Court on or about Jan. 11, 2011 in Southern Ukraine. On television they were depicted as being executed by the hanging about the neck until death on a white stage and in front of witnesses. Other now current Members of Congress have shared those facts on television also. We know that it is possible to use look alike artificial or manmade replacements, however Rep. Lucas was not eligible to serve as a Congressional Member after that time.”
I laughed so hard I started coughing.
The entire Tea Party needs to be rounded up and dumped down the booby hatch.
Mississippi has a “vulnerable adult” statue at
Miss. Code Ann. § 43-47-1 (2013)
SWM, This place was a left wing, Gestapo managed, echo chamber when I got here. This place needed balance and I fought hard to get some balance here. That meant supporting conservatives, like Bron and idealist supported me when I was taking repugnant comments from the people who left here in disgrace. I know you think I’m a right wingnut, I read stuff elsewhere. All I can say is I am forthright when I tell you for whom I vote. There are others who dissemble in that regard.
I get to call out right wing cultists on other blogs where they rule. I comment on middle of the road and conservative blogs. This is my only liberal one. Everything is relative. I blast people here who support the war on drugs. I call Boehner, McConnell, Bachmann, etc. buffoons. I could go on, but it’s all on the record. Why is it so difficult for you to admit you see the world from a liberal prism. SWM, I have conservative friends who think I’m a liberal and liberal friends who think I’m a conservative. Saucy and I have had discussions about that. It is sometimes funny other times tedious. Both Saucy and I evaluate issues and feel NO COMPULSION to be part of a group. Others here are similar in that regard.
Let’s be straight here, SWM. You loved this place pre January 2014 and you think it has gone down the toilet since then. I think this blog has gotten some DESPERATELY needed balance.
What the law says:
Annie wrote “Saucy hates the Tea Party too. He must also be deranged.”
Oh, no, I’m just a misanthrope.
“exploitation of a vulnerable adult”
That story suggests that Chris McDaniel and his staff are also being investigated. Great news.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/blogger-accused-of-exploiting-sen-thad-cochrans-ailing-wife/
Exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Tom Blanton wrote “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?”
Try breaking and entering, trespassing, impersonating staff, HIPAA violations, and given that she has Alzheimer’s, there are probably charges similar to assault as well. Not to mention that lawyers are officers of the court and are supposed to not commit felonies.
“Sure, it is in bad taste and sleazy, but that is the nature of politics.”
You are clearly a TPer who believes there are no rules: the end justifies the means. Let’s say Democrats broke into the bedroom of your daughter, took nude photos of her, and used them in an online political commercial. Would that be okay?
I don’t think any of the ( alleged) picture taker conspirators fall under the “covered entity” under HIPAA.
TXDave and Tom Blanton:
The tea party blogger who was arrested was using it as part of a smear they were drumming up against Cochran: that he was having an affair with a long time staffer in DC, while his poor pitiful demented wife was wasting away in the nursing home. Complete with photos of poor, pitiful wife. Pretty low life stuff.
Tom Blanton
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?
*****
Miss. tea party leader Mark Mayfield’s death: a sign of politics ‘beyond the pale’?
Mississippi tea party leader Mark Mayfield took his own life after being charged in a scheme to photograph Sen. Thad Cochran’s wife in a nursing home.
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer
June 28, 2014
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Senate/2014/0628/Miss.-tea-party-leader-Mark-Mayfield-s-death-a-sign-of-politics-beyond-the-pale
Excerpt:
Mr. Mayfield was charged on May 22 with conspiring with three other men to take a photo of Sen. Thad Cochran’s wife, Rose, who is in a nursing home. The photo was used briefly as part of an anti-Cochran ad. Mayfield didn’t take the photo, but allegedly used knowledge of the facility to help a blogger gain access.
Police charged all four with conspiracy to photograph someone without their permission on private property, a felony. In his 50s, Mayfield had by all accounts had a distinguished career as a lawyer and a political gadfly whose name became synonymous with efforts to get tea party candidates elected. A felony conviction would likely have been disastrous for his career and reputation.