Suspended judge to get prison time in wife-assault case
A suspended Ohio judge has taken a plea that provides for prison time in a felony domestic violence case.
Accused of beating his wife in front of their young children, while the family was driving in a Cleveland suburb a year ago, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted felonious assault and domestic violence.
He was originally charged with kidnapping, felonious assault, domestic violence and endangering children in an Aug. 2, 2014 attack on Aisha Fraser Mason, who was hospitalized with a broken orbital bone and other injuries. Court documents say Lance Mason repeatedly punched her in the fact, bit her cheek twice, shoved her face into the vehicle’s dashboard and choked her, reports Northeast Ohio Media Group.
She called police after her husband allegedly put her out of the car and drove away with the children. Later in the same month, she filed for divorce. A prior tort claim she filed against her husband in late July of last year also is pending.
Lance Mason could get as much as 36 months when he is sentenced in September by a visiting judge, and the plea bargain calls for him to serve some prison time, the newspaper reports.
He and his counsel declined to comment.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Judge accused of punching, choking and biting his wife is indicted and put on leave”
