Attorney Mark Mayfield, key figure in the Mississippi Tea Party, has reportedly committed suicide.
The Clarion-Ledger reports Mayfield and two other men were charged in a conspiracy involving U.S. Senator Thad Cochran and his wife, who lives in a nursing home. They were going to try and take a photograph of the woman in an effort to make a political video as a move against Cochran.
Mayfield, Richard Sager, and John Mary were charged with conspiracy, as well as evidence tampering in Sager’s case.
The New York Daily News reported that he had been a vice chairman for the Mississippi Tea Party and the scheme to photograph Cochran’s wife was made by Clayton Kelly, who is a conservative blogger.
Chris McDaniel, who was Cochran’s Tea Party opponent, has denied he was involved in the plot to photograph the senator’s wife.
Reuters reported that John Reeves, who is Mayfield’s attourney, told them, “This is a terrible tragedy that shouldn’t have happened.”
It has been reported Cochran defeated McDaniel in the Republican primary on Tuesday this week.