US Supreme Court won’t hear lawsuit tied to contentious 2014 Senate race in Mississippi

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court says it will not consider a dispute over a lawsuit filed 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. Rose Cochran’s image appeared briefly online in a video that accused the now-deceased senator of having an affair. Cochran denied that accusation. Mayfield died 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. The nation’s highest court announced its decision Tuesday.