Police say that the attack occurred during an argument while driving. The evidence includes a 911 call from a witness who saw the fight in the vehicle after leaving a train station. What is notable is that the wife was driving the SUV while the witness reported seeing “fists flying.” As a result, the SUV swerved across traffic lands and almost hit a number of cars.
There is also a 911 call from Aisha Mason who told a dispatcher the judge attacked her in front of her two children and “I’m afraid he’s going to hurt my daughters.” Such contemporaneous calls are highly damaging for any defense since they are played to the jury.
Aisha Mason later filed for divorce citing gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty in the filing.
The judge has been released on $65,000 and hit with a restraining order. Mason is a former assistant county prosecutor as well as a state senator. He was put on the bench by the governor in 2008.
When Mason took the appointment from Ohio Gov. Strickland, he cited his children as the reason. He noted that his 8-month-old daughter, Audrey, at the time had had open-heart surgery after she was diagnosed with Down syndrome: “That shook me up, so I thought I’ve got to get home and help out my wife with my baby.”
Before taking the bench, Mason was the Democratic Senate minority whip and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary and Criminal Justice Committee. He also held a position with Baker Hostetler.
Source: Cleveland