Court won’t revive lawsuit that says Mississippi officials fueled lawyer’s death during Senate race

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court will not revive a lawsuit by the family of a Mississippi lawyer who took his own life. Mark Mayfield was arrested and accused of providing information to people who snuck into a nursing home and photographed the ailing wife of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014. Images of Rose Cochran appeared briefly online during a bitter Republican primary. A video accused the now-deceased senator of having an affair — an accusation Thad Cochran denied. Mayfield died by suicide days after Cochran defeated state lawmaker Chris McDaniel in a Republican runoff. Mayfield’s family sued a mayor and others, saying they were part of a political network that drove him to suicide.