Lance Timothy Mason (born August 26, 1967) is a convicted murderer, former politician, government official, and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

, who served in various offices in and representing

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. As a judge, he served on the

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. He was a member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

, representing the 25th District from 2007 to 2008. From 2002 to 2006, he was a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, where he served as Assistant Minority Whip during his final year. He was also an assistant

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

for the county and was an aide to

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Stephanie Tubbs Jones Stephanie Tubbs Jones (September 10, 1949 – August 20, 2008)Frank G. Jackson Frank George Jackson (born October 4, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 57th Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 2006 to 2022. He was first elected on November 8, 2005, unseating incumbent Jane Campbell, and re-elected in 2 ...

Early life

Mason was born on August 26, 1967 and graduated from

Shaker Heights High School Shaker Heights High School is a public high school located in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The high school is the only public high school in the Shaker Heights City School District, which serves Shaker Heights and a small part of ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

and

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

in 1992.

Political career

From 2002 to 2008, Mason was a member of the

Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...

, first as a state representative, and then state senator. In August 2008, Ohio governor

Ted Strickland Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the 68th governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ...

announced that he appointed Mason to fill a vacancy on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. In 2017, Mason was hired by the City of Cleveland as an official in the Frank Jackson administration, with the title of Minority Business Development Administrator.

Murder and Legal issues

On August 2, 2014, Mason was arrested and charged for beating his wife while he was driving and their children were in the backseat. Later that day, police seized ammunition and weapons from Mason's home, including shotguns, semiautomatic rifles, handguns, smoke grenades, a bulletproof vest, a sword, and over 2,500 rounds of ammunition. The couple, who were married in 2005, had separated the previous March. Their divorce was finalized on November 12, 2015. Mason pleaded guilty on August 13, 2015, to attempted felonious assault and domestic violence, and agreed to serve time in prison. On September 3, the

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

suspended Mason from practicing law for being a convicted felon. Mason submitted his resignation as judge on September 15. The next day, he was sentenced to two years in prison; he was released after 9 months. During sentencing, the judge read from a police report which detailed how Mason punched his wife 20 times with his fist, smashed her head against the car's center console five times, and continued to beat her, bite her, and threaten her after she exited the car. As a convicted felon, Mason will never be allowed to serve as a judge in the future, but could practice law depending on the outcome of disciplinary action by the state Supreme Court.

Murder charge

On November 17, 2018, Mason stabbed his ex-wife to death at a house owned by his sister, in front of their two children. Mason took his ex-wife's SUV and fled the scene, striking a police cruiser and injuring the police officer inside before he was arrested. On August 20, 2019, he pleaded guilty and on September 12, 2019 he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years.

References

External links

*
Project Vote Smart - Senator Lance T. Mason (OH)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Lance T. Mason
200620042002
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Lance African-American judges African-American state legislators in Ohio College of Wooster alumni 1967 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio lawyers Democratic Party Ohio state senators Ohio state court judges Politicians from Shaker Heights, Ohio University of Michigan Law School alumni 21st-century American politicians Ohio politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century American lawyers Judges convicted of crimes Politicians convicted of murder Violence against women in the United States American people convicted of murder 21st-century American judges 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians