Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Sid Salter: Preening Judge's Dissent Aside, Mayfield Case not About 1st Amendment

 The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 27 declined to consider the appeal by the family of a Mississippi attorney implicated in a 2014 GOP primary Senate race scandal who later took his own life. The ruling was a split decision with one notable dissent from Judge James C. Ho. 

Ho argued that the case should have gone to trial and that the 5th Circuit’s ruling would have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights. He wrote in his dissent: “There’s not much left to freedom of speech if you have to worry about being jailed for disagreeing with public officials.”

More about Judge Ho’s dissent later. The 5th Circuit decision came last week after the 2021 decision of U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves which dismissed the case.  

The long wake of the largely unsuccessful Tea Party insurgence into Mississippi Republican politics by State Sen. Chris McDaniel of Jones County over the last decade is littered with collateral damage – none sadder or more tragic than in the case of the late Ridgeland attorney Mark Mayfield, whose family was behind the appeal made to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that the full court declined to consider.

Reeves ruled Mayfield’s family failed to prove their contention in a 2017 lawsuit that Mayfield was driven to suicide by a conspiracy of Madison officials including longtime Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and others. The lawsuit claimed that Mayfield took his own life under personal and professional pressure from a felony charge of conspiracy to exploit a vulnerable adult as retaliation for Mayfield’s political activities on behalf of McDaniel in his race against Cochran.

The charge against Mayfield came after an investigation into his alleged role in a scheme to photograph the late Rose Clayton Cochran, a patient long afflicted with dementia who was living in the Alzheimer’s Unit at Madison’s St. Catherine’s Village.

The photograph surfaced in a video circulated during the McDaniel-Cochran race.

The Cochran camp denounced the photo as an appalling invasion of privacy and a disgusting attack on a helpless individual. McDaniel denied prior knowledge or involvement. But Mayfield, whose mother was also a resident patient at St. Catherine’s Village, was accused of steering the person who photographed Mrs. Cochran to her room.

Mayfield died June 27, 2014 – his body discovered by his wife on the floor of a storage room in their garage. She called authorities, who found Mayfield dead at the scene with a single gunshot wound to the head and a “large caliber revolver” near the body. A note was recovered, and Mayfield’s death was ruled a suicide.

I knew Mayfield before his death. During my tenure at The Clarion-Ledger, he was a prolific writer of letters to the editor. He was a relatively low-key, likable fellow who could eloquently and forcefully express his beliefs and opinions. Mayfield had the courage of his convictions and seemed a nice, stable guy.

Now, back to Judge Ho’s dissent from the 5th Circuit’s majority ruling. In February, in a Texas case involving a city council dispute, Ho issued a scathing dissent from the standpoint of First Amendment rights: “The opportunity for public officials to weaponize the criminal justice system against their political adversaries has never been greater. So, it’s up to the judiciary to make sure that those who hold positions of power stay in their lane.”

In a familiar refrain, Ho argues that the dismissal of the Mayfield family’s case against Madison officials is somehow an assault on the First Amendment rights of Mayfield in the political arena. That argument ignores a robust published record of Mark Mayfield’s public advocacy on behalf of the Tea Party and Tea Party principles in Mississippi before the 2014 GOP Senate primary. It also ignores Mayfield’s advocacy on McDaniel’s behalf in that campaign. 

More importantly, it ignores the duty of Madison officials to protect the privacy and safety rights of people living in facilities like St. Catherine’s Village within the city.

Critics of Judge Ho claim he’s preening for appointment to the Supreme Court by the next Republican president. Maybe. Maybe not.

But the sad, tragic saga of Mayfield’s death was not dictated by an assault on his First Amendment rights. Scheming to photograph a vulnerable, impaired lady in her gown in a nursing home for perceived political advantage is wrong. At his core, I believe Mark Mayfield knew that.



Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spot on Sid. Nothing could ever justify the aid, scheming, and photographing Rose. Morally and legally wrong. He knew it in his core. I'm sure he felt deep embarrassment, regret, and shame for his actions and his public arrest. As he should have! What he did was shameful. There is a line from Cold Mountain regarding actions and consequences that is applicable here "Every piece of this is man's bullshit. They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say 'Shit, it's raining." Actions have consequences. Mark's actions had consequences: legal charges. And he deserved the charge and the consequences of the charges re job.

His death was a horrible thing. That's a heartache I wouldn't wish on anyone. I wish he could have held on to see that there is always hope even in our darkest moments. He was a good man, there was hope for redemption and moving on. There always is. My heart goes out to the family and friends.

Pluto's Spearpoint said...

Sidney - Where's your proof that Mayfield was involved in the camera adventure at the nursing home?

Oh wait! Mayfield had a relative in the same facility and had written in support of the Tea Party, so he is guilty. Isn't that some sort of fallacy? 'Robust' imagination at minimum?

I knew you should have been a judge. You and Jerry Mitchell, both.

Anonymous said...

Here's what was so stupid about the whole case.

They didn't need an actual photo of Rose Cochran.

They could have just dressed some old lady up and put in a wheelchair looking pitiful and that would have sufficed for a political ad.

I remember a fellow ran against Jim Eastland and had a commercial with a drink of Chivas Regan and a big cigar in the picture. They go the point over (but if didn't beat Eastland)
These dumb asses didn't need an actual photo but they were too dumb to know that.

Anonymous said...

There's also the famous commercial spot about some candidate pushing an old, wheelchair bound woman off a cliff...but that's beside the point.

The point here is the Mayfield case. Of course the mayor was instrumental in the arrest and the manner of the arrest. She's long been known for giving personal direction to the town police department and has occasionally done that through the Chief (gasp).

She was a longtime friend and supporter of the, by now, cognitively challenged Cochran. You know, first-name-basis and all that stuff.

There is no evidence that Mayfield gave access to the intruders or that he constructed a means through which they could enter. He was apparently going to be charged with giving someone either a passcode or otherwise, giving them access.

He was not there at the time but was authorized to be since his mother was there.

Mayfield was never brought before a judge or a jury or tried or convicted. Instead, he tragically decided the way to get far away from the embarrassment of the ordeal was to take his own life. There has never been credible evidence that either McDaniel or Mayfield was involved in the 'nursing home invasion of privacy'.

It would be a good idea for all who think Mayfield was instrumental, to read the dissent of one of the federal judicial appeals panel judges, Judge Ho.

He is much more credible and knowledgeable than Sid Salter. It's Judge Ho's opinion that Mayfield's first amendment rights were butchered by everyone involved in the arrest and filing of charges.

Anonymous said...

9:21 am Mayfield was arrested and charged. That means, at minimum, there was probable cause.

That there were witnesses was another problem.

His suicide was not a surprise to many given what the future held and what the costs of his actions would mean for his family.

I am very sad that they have not been able to move past the denial and anger stages of their grief.

I am angry that others have tried to "cash in" politically on this tragic affair.

There are many now finding that partisan politics always has its victims and seldom comes to their aid. Most of their victims believe that their loyalty will be rewarded when the truth is they are pawns in a game they are too often ill equipped to play.

Anonymous said...

I will NEVER vote for Chris McDaniel period because of this, just like the Pearl High School killings others were involved but police could not get enough on Boyette to charge him. McDaniel & Boyette both knew hey were wrong also for pushing people to do evil things. It’s over so move on!

Anonymous said...

Play stupid games...win stupid prize.

anonymous said...

I shall always sympathize with the family of a suicide though the law may not support a claim against others. I also sympathize with Rose Cochran who was an innocent victim.
Having said that, the overkill by the arresting officers and the high bail imposed were not justified. Mark Mayfield suffered the consequences of his participation in the St. Catherine scheme, but those consequences appear to have been inflated by Madison "powers".
RMQ

Kingfish said...

10:54: Little liar.

earlier post. start on page 23 in the documents posted

Mayfield was involved.

Kingfish said...

Agree on bail and Circuit Judge did reduce it. Dale Danks threw high bonds on everyone. He wasn't picking on Mark, just enter his last name in the search box here and you will see high bond after high bond.

Anonymous said...

"9:21 am Mayfield was arrested and charged. That means, at minimum, there was probable cause."

Now that is a naïve statement, regardless of your view of Mayfield.

Anonymous said...

Mayfield manipulated the very young man to do this, while he could have done it himself.
That young man paid a terrible price. He probably believed what he was doing was legal sine Mayfield, a lawyer, was behind it.
It’si have sympathy for Mayfield’s family.

Anonymous said...

10:02 is right. Even the idea of getting a photo of Mrs. Cochran was dumb. What is the point? Would they be saying it was Thad's fault that she had dementia?

Cochran's surrogate ads against McDaniel were the dirtiest, nastiest ads these ears ever heard. Why try to compete and become nastier?

Anonymous said...

Small town journalist turned legal scholar. Nothing big here except waistline!

Anonymous said...

If all Mayfields defenders and mourners have is another ridiculous James Ho dissent; then they don't have anything at all.

Whether or not they realize it.




Anonymous said...

Kinda strange that the good Mayor Mary openly supported Chris McDaniel for Lt Governor. My how she changed her disdain for McDaniel after Sen. Cochran’s passing!

Anonymous said...

If you’ve ever known someone with dementia, you will understand just how disgusting it is to have done this. The people behind the photo are morally bankrupt and needed to be arrested and tried and jailed for elder abuse.

Ones true self isn’t your best moments- it’s ones like this- where the veil is removed and what words or actions do you say or do, no matter the cost. And it cost these people dearly.

And through this action showed us all who they really were and are.

Anonymous said...

There are posts every day on social media of with photos and videos of people in nursing homes posted by family, staff, and even strangers. None of those people will end up with a SWAT team at their door because they took a picture. I am not a McDaniel supporter but I do think what happened to Mayfield was wrong and should never have happened.

Anonymous said...

kingfoot disallows all comments posted in response to his two asinine posts. Typical.

Anonymous said...

Mark was involved. MaRK told the camera guy that Rose was in the room next to Mark's mother.

Guilty of giving this information.

Anonymous said...

10:51 - Where's the crime in making a truthful statement? Until I see that it's a crime in Mississippi to reveal the room number of an institutionalized person, I'll continue to believe there was no crime committed by Mayfield.

If Mayfield is found to have said, "I will give you this information so you can carry out a criminal activity", I'll assume he was guilty of conspiracy.

At the end of it all...Big Deal! Mayfield is dead by his own hand, Cochran ran around with and slept with and pretended to be married to his employed paramour for decades while warehousing his wife, somebody went to jail and McDaniel lost the race. And we remain stuck with Hyde-Smith (for the moment).

Anonymous said...

"There are posts every day on social media of with photos and videos of people in nursing homes posted by family, staff, and even strangers."

Hmmm - "family, staff and even strangers" I don't see political opponents on that list, all of whom should have gotten permission from the patient (or legal guardian") to take and post a photo of a "vulnerable adult" - recognize that HIPPA phrase? I thought not.

Anonymous said...

There’s a lot of high dudgeon and moralizin’ going on here. This is just politics — politics in Uhmurka, the greatest got damn country ever created by God and known to man — and this is the way you-all play that game now, so have a heapin’ helpin’ and fill up and bust. One side or the other, you perpetually clutch your pearls and always, always, always playing Spot The Hypocrisy. You all disgust me.

Anonymous said...

You can tell the McDaniel supporters are mostly all in the 'Party of Personal Responsibility' except when it's them caught doing something. Their many comments here continue to prove that.

Apparently for them thinking that someone somewhere is havingt seks of any type they don't like is the only thing worse than not being able to blame your crimes on someone else.


Anonymous said...

Judge Ho probably knows a little more about the First Amendment than the journalist here, but this is why lawsuits get filed and judges weigh in. This places Mayfield in the least favorable light. He was a decent guy who made a mistake. Whether the retribution and prosecution was balanced or unaffected by politics is open to question

Anonymous said...

Facts: Mayor Mary had her “goon squad” at Mayfields house immediately after his death - at another city. Mayor Mary threatened DA Guest to push this charge or lose her support for his future US Rep run. The staff of DA did not want to pursue this. All came out in the deposition. Also fact - Cochran was mentally challenged at the least. He was living with a female friend/staffer who he married as soon as his wife died. Greg Harper was on the Cochran bus at first at the invitation of Republican big boys. After the primary he saw how bogus the party was and how they were manipulating the election so he got off that bus. So the whole thing stinks. I wish Mayfield would have gone to court but he saw his future being devastated since he was immediately fired from his job - engineered by the power republicans-who I’m sure were all in church the next Sunday. . Ole Sid didn’t mention that. He seems to be getting more senile every month.


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