Tea Party figure commits suicide

Local police have confirmed a report in The(Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger that attorney Mark Mayfield, vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, committed suicide. Mayfield was one of three men charged with conspiring to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran.

That incident was one of the most explosive events in the Mississippi Senate primary, which Cochran won in a runoff over Tea Party-backed Chris McDaniel on Tuesday. McDaniel has refused to concede the race and suggests that voting irregularities may have helped Cochran win.

Mayfield, 57, an attorney and state and local Tea Party leader, was arrested last month along with Richard Sager, an elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. Police said they also charged John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg, but he was not taken into custody because of "extensive medical conditions." All face felony conspiracy charges. Sager also was charged with felony tampering with evidence, and Mary faces two conspiracy counts.

The Ridgeland, Miss., police department issued a statement Friday saying that Mayfield's wife called 911 Friday morning to report that her husband had shot himself. Officers arriving at the family home found Mayfield dead of a gunshot wound to the head.