Congresswoman Fudge granted restraining order against Black woman over Aisha Fraser altercation, Fraser murdered last year by ex-husband and ex-judge Lance Mason, whom Fudge had supported....The woman said Fraser was her friend and she and the congresswoman appeared before Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, the woman also accusing Fudge of assault, which the congresswoman denied saying "if I had assaulted her she would be hurt."....Neither the woman nor Fudge have been charged with a crime.....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog
 Watch the Cleveland.com video here of parts of the hearing before Cuyhaoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold on Feb. 6 on the request by 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (at the podium) for a restraining order against an Avon woman angry over the congresswoman's prior support for disbarred former Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason, who last year murdered ex-wife Aisha Mason following a domestic dispute. The woman, who said she was Fraser's friend, is angry at the congresswoman over her prior support of Mason, a Black Democrat like Fudge  |
| 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 then wife Aisha Fraser Mason in happier times, Mason stabbing Fraser to death on Nov. 17, 2018, after he allegedly stalked her |
CLEVELANDURBANNEWSCOM-CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold on Wednesday granted U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes Cleveland, a restraining order against an Avon woman who claims the congresswoman assaulted her when she approached her about supporting former Common Pleas judge Lance Mason, who is in custody and charged with killing his ex-wife.
Mason, a Cleveland City Hall administrator at the time of the incident, murdered his ex-wife, Aisha Fraser, late last year following a domestic altercation.
The disbarred former judge had served a brief prison sentence for assaulting Fraser in 2014 and Fudge, among other Democratic Black leaders, sent a letter recommending him for a ranking administrative position at City Hall in the office of minority businesses, a position he secured with help from Democratic Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's third Black mayor and a Fudge ally.
Fudge, whose prior support of Mason made national news last year when she contemplated but decided against making a bid for U.S. House of Representative speaker against Nancy Pelosi, was in court Wednesday seeking the restraining order and has not been charged.
She denied any assault on the woman, Mary Ann Lorient, and told Strickland Saffold, who was presiding over the restraining order case, that "if I had assaulted her she would be hurt."
The congresswoman, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, prior national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, and former mayor of Warrensville Heights, said the assault allegation is a "total fabrication."
Fudge told the judge Lorient stalked her and got in her face at the swearing-in last month of Common Pleas Judge Deborah Turner, the dispute boiling over as to Fudge's previous support of Mason, who like Fudge, Fraser and Lorient is Black.
Lorient's recorded video of parts of the alleged assault incident, in which her cell phone, which she puts in Fudge's face, is purportedly knocked from her hand as the two women were headed to Strickland Saffold's court Wednesday morning, has Orient calling Fudge "a murderer."
The video does not show what happened before the cell phone went flying into the air, and then hitting the ground with Lorient still raging.
Lorient has not been charged with a crime either, and said that Aisha was a friend and that Fudge's prior support of Lance Mason is tantamount to murder.
Strickland Saffold is one of four Blacks on the 34-member common pleas general division bench of Cuyahoga County, along with Turner, Wanda Jones, and Cassandra Collier-Williams.
The only Repubican among the four Black judges, Jones was appointed in December by then governor John Kasich to replace Judge Michael Donnelly, who was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court, and is running for election to the seat this year.
After a lecture to Lorient, the judge granted the restraining order and ordered Lorient to stay at least 500 ft away from the congresswoman, though the order permits Lorient to attend public events where Fudge is present and to continue speaking out on issues of public concern.
Lorient said that both Judge Saffold and Congresswoman Fudge were trying to silence her and that the restraining order is a sham.
Fudge, 65, no longer supports Mason, 51, and has said she is startled he is a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife.l
She said she supported Mason when he came home from prison, because he was a longtime friend and needed to feed his family.
Mayor Jackson said the city's motto is second chances and that he could not foresee that Mason would go so far as to murder his ex-wife when the city hired him over several other applicants.
Also a former Ohio senator, Mason stabbed Fraser, a Shaker Heights elementary school teacher, to death last year following a domestic dispute at a home in Shaker Heights where she was dropping off their daugthters.
He is charged, via a county grand jury indictment, with murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, theft, stalking and violating a protective order and consent agreement.
He pleaded not guilty in December at a video arraignment from the Cuyahoga County Jail.
He is charged, via a county grand jury indictment, with murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, theft, stalking and violating a protective order and consent agreement.
He pleaded not guilty in December at a video arraignment from the Cuyahoga County Jail.
A county grand jury did not return an indictment for the death penalty per Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley.
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- year prison sentence following convictions on felonious assault and domestic violence involving Fraser in 2015.
Fraser, 45 at her death, was a sixth grade teacher at Woodbury Elementary School in Shaker Heights and their two daughters were 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 a lawn tool and 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.
Regarding the assault conviction in 2015 that left him so angry he later murdered Fraser, Mason 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 two young 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 2014 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 she was assaulted and beat up by the abusive Mason.
Her divorce petition cites, among other claims, extreme cruelty and gross neglect of duty.
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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