A former Ohio judge who served jail time for beating his then-wife in 2014 was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for stabbing her to death last year.
Ex-Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason, 52, will be eligible for parole in 35 years for the November 2018 murder of Aisha Fraser. In addition to Mason slicing her throat three times, Fraser suffered 59 knife wounds—including 12 to her hands which she sustained as she tried to shield herself, according to Cleveland.com.
The news outlet reported that Mason carried out the attack on Fraser in front of their two daughters. Mason was living in a Shaker Heights home that Fraser owned when she came with their two daughters—ages four and six—to drop one of them off with Mason. Mason then used two kitchen knives to repeatedly stab her in front of their children.
Cleveland.com reported Mason’s sister, who also lived at the home, called 911 and told a dispatcher that she could hear Fraser screaming from outside. In the background, Mason can be overheard saying, “I’m sorry.”
Fraser would be found dead in the driveway.
Prosecutors said a fleeing Mason crashed his SUV into a police cruiser, injuring an officer so badly that he may not ever return to work, according to WJW.
Mason pleaded guilty in August to aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, violating a protection order and grand theft in the vicious attack in connection with last year’s attack.
Five years earlier, the then-judge was removed from the bench for breaking Fraser’s broken orbital bone and inflicting injuries that required the elementary school teacher to undergo reconstructive surgery. He served nine months of a two-year prison sentence for the attack.
At the time of his arrest for his ex-wife’s murder, Mason was a minority business director for the City of Cleveland. He was terminated from his position following his arrest on murder charges.
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[Featured image: Lance Mason, Ohio Department of Corrections; Aisha Fraser/Shaker Heights Schools]
