Former Cuyahoga County judge Lance Mason pleads not guilty to murdering ex-wife Aisha Fraser, whose memorial service is December 8....Mason's bond was set at $5 million...The Black former judge has been charged with murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, theft, stalking and violating a protective order and consent agreement.... A grand jury did not return an indictment for the death penalty per Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper
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| Former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge Lance Mason |
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| Disgraced former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge Lance Mason, and his ex-wife Aisha Fraser, whom he stabbed to death on Nov. 17 after he stalked her |
By editor Kathy Wray Coleman
CLEVELAND, Ohio -Former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge Lance Mason, also a former Ohio senator who stabbed hex- wife Aisha Fraser to death last month following a domestic dispute at her home in Shaker Heights, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday at a video arraignment from the Cuyahoga County Jail, whose administrators are under fire for six jail deaths in the last six months that the county would not investigate.
A Democratic stronghold, Cuyahoga County is the second largest of 88 counties statewide and includes the largely Black major American city of Cleveland.
Fraser was dropping off one of their two young daughters at her home where Mason and his adult sister lived when Mason allegedly stabbed her to death in the home driveway.
Visitation relative to Fraser 's death will take place this coming Friday from 2-8 p.m. at Calhoun Funeral Home in Bedford Heights, with a memorial service to follow on Saturday, Dec. 8 at Olivet Baptist Church on Cleveland's largely Black east side.A Democratic stronghold, Cuyahoga County is the second largest of 88 counties statewide and includes the largely Black major American city of Cleveland.
Mason has been charged with murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, theft, stalking and violating a protective order and consent agreement.
A grand jury did not return an indictment for the death penalty per Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley, a Democrat like Mason.
Mason's bond was set at $5 million by Stark County visiting judge John Haas.
Prominent Cleveland attorneys Tom Shaughnessy and Kevin Spellacy were appointed to represent the former judge.
The disgraced former judge served nine months of a two- years prison sentence following convictions on felonious assault and domestic violence involving Fraser in 2015.
Fraser, 45, who was also Black, was a sixth grade teacher at Woodbury Elementary School in Shaker Heights and their two daughters are Shaker Heights schools students.
She took back her maiden name after divorcing the abusive Mason and was purportedly slated to remarry when Mason killed her.
Sources said Mason stabbed his ex-wife to death with no regard for her life whatsoever.
As a convicted felon, the woman-beater could not legally possess a gun
After the stabbing death of his ex-wife, a Shaker Heights police officer was reportedly injured by Mason with his car while at the scene of the crime and Mason previously pleaded not guilty to a felonious assault charge in that case.
Police said the tragic incident occurred at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 17 on the 17000 block of Chagrin Boulevard near Normandy Road in Shaker Heights.
Police said the tragic incident occurred at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 17 on the 17000 block of Chagrin Boulevard near Normandy Road in Shaker Heights.
Neighbors were well aware of the domestic violence in the Mason home because it was the talk of the community, sources said.
Before he was ousted from the common pleas bench and stripped of his law licence over the felony assault conviction, Mason was the only Black male judge of 34 judges on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas general division bench.
Mason, 51, was arrested on Aug. 3, 2014 in Shaker Heights following a physical altercation at Van Aken Boulevard near Glencairn Road in the car he was driving, and with his then wife and kids as passengers.
Court documents state that Mason hit his then wife Aisha in the face with his fist, bit her, and allegedly slammed her head against the dashboard of the car.
A 9-1-1 tape reveals that Aisha, who was transported to the hospital and later released, told the dispatcher that Mason beat her, threw her from the car, and then drove off with their two young children.
A 9-1-1 tape reveals that Aisha, who was transported to the hospital and later released, told the dispatcher that Mason beat her, threw her from the car, and then drove off with their two young children.
He was originally charged in Shaker Heights regarding the 2015 assault where he passed a mental competency exam ordered by longtime Shaker Heights Judge K.J. Montgomery, a Democrat.
He was later indicted in that case on criminal charges by a Cuyahoga County grand jury.
The former judge pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence and one count of felonious assault on Aug 13, 2015, but remained angry and hostile over the incident that he blames on everybody but himself, sources said.
The other charges were dropped, including two counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault, and two counts of endangering children, by then county county prosecutor Tim McGinty, a former common pleas judge himself who served on the bench with Mason, a judge since 2008.
Fraser filed for divorce on Aug. 4, 2014, a day after the 2014 incident at issue.
Her divorce petition cites, among other claims, extreme cruelty and gross neglect of duty.
Shaker Heights is a middle and upper middle class Cleveland suburb.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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