First Posted: 3/17/2015
CLEVELAND (AP) — County prosecutors in Cleveland can keep working on a felonious assault case against a judge accused of striking and biting his estranged wife last year, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
Attorneys for Lance Mason, 47, had filed motions to have a special prosecutor assigned to the case. Mason, a Democrat, was appointed a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge in 2008 and was elected to a six-year term in 2010.
Mason was indicted in August on charges of felonious assault, kidnapping, child endangering and domestic violence. Authorities said Aisha Mason called 911 on Aug. 2 to report that her husband had assaulted her, kicked her out of a vehicle in a Cleveland suburb and driven off with their two young children. Lance Mason was arrested that day. Aisha Mason had a broken orbital bone on her face, cuts and bite wounds from the assault, a Shaker Heights municipal prosecutor said.
A visiting judge from Akron was appointed to the case. Mason’s attorneys filed a motion after his indictment Aug. 26 that said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty and his office had a conflict of interest and a special prosecutor should be assigned. The visiting judge denied the motion. An appellate court then temporarily suspended the case while it considered Mason’s motion, prompting McGinty’s office to file a motion with the Supreme Court arguing it should remain on the case. Justices voted 4-3 that McGinty’s office shouldn’t be disqualified.
“With the Supreme Court’s decision, we can now take this case to trial and let the facts determine the outcome,” assistant county prosecutor Matt Meyer said in a statement Tuesday.
Mason’s attorneys didn’t return messages. He continues to draw his salary while other judges deal with cases on his docket.
