Suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield issued a public written apology to his stepmother, Lisa Mayfield, on Tuesday, part of a settlement to a 2009 slander lawsuit she filed in Iredell County.
“I have previously made statements to the press in which I accused Lisa Mayfield of either murdering my father, Terry Mayfield, or being involved in a conspiracy to murder him,” the signed and notarized statement from Mayfield reads.
“Those statements were made in the heat of my emotional state at the time. I now retract those statements and apologize to Lisa for having made them.”
Lisa Mayfield filed the suit in July 2009 seeking damages against her stepson for public comments he made in regard to his civil case against NASCAR.
NASCAR had filed an affidavit in the case from Lisa Mayfield in which she said she had witnessed her stepson taking methamphetamine at least 30 times since 1998.
In response to the filing, Jeremy Mayfield made public statements to several news organizations accusing his stepmother of murdering his father and for being paid by NASCAR for her testimony.
Mayfield was suspended by NASCAR on May 9, 2009, after a random drug test came up positive for methamphetamine. He filed suit against NASCAR shortly thereafter for breach of contract, discrimination and defamation.
In May 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen dismissed all claims by Jeremy Mayfield in his lawsuit against NASCAR.
