A prominent Mississippi Tea Party leader arrested in a political photo scandal back in May was found dead Friday of an apparent suicide.
"The police chief is confirming that the Tea Party-related attorney Mark Mayfield has been found dead of a gunshot wound." (Via MSNBC)
The Madison County Journal reports one of the county's Tea Party leaders sent a frantic email around 10 a.m. saying Mayfield had taken his own life 10 minutes earlier. The email read: "MARK MAYFIELD HAS COMMITTED SUICIDE TEN MINUTES AGO. SHOT HIMSELF IN THE HEAD IN HIS GARAGE. FAMILY JUST CALLED ME. OH LORD,,,,OH LORD."
Politico reports a woman who answered the phone at Mayfield's home declined to comment, and police have refused to release any details except that they are investigating the death as a suicide.
Fifty-eight-year-old Mayfield was one of three men accused of conspiring with a blogger who was charged with photographing U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in a nursing home. (Via WLBT)
The Washington Post reports the photos were then used in a political video posted online. Cochran was in the middle of a campaign against Tea Party-backed candidate Chris McDaniel.
Madison County's district attorney told reporters Mayfield's case was scheduled to go before a grand jury in July.
