Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Former Ohio judge gets off easy for beating wife, now charged with killing her

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Former Ohio judge gets off easy for beating wife, now charged with killing her · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: here dot com Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I need
1:51
Speaker 1: the police immediately. My brother is a pack. This was
1:56
Speaker 1: the information police had. The caller is the sister of
2:00
Speaker 1: were Mttayahoga County judge and State Senator Lance Mason. She
2:04
Speaker 1: was inside with Mason's two young daughters talking to police
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Speaker 1: when she reported what was going on in the backyard.
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Speaker 1: He stabbed her. And you are hearing our friend Brandon
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Speaker 1: SIMMONSI wk YCTV in the Very Latest a judge and
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Speaker 1: a politician busted for stabbing his estranged wife dead two
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Speaker 1: years after the government let him loose. Let him loose
2:36
Speaker 1: after he slammed her head into the dashboard of a
2:39
Speaker 1: car so badly it broke her orbital bone in her face.
2:45
Speaker 1: She had to have plastic surgery. He beat her repeatedly
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Speaker 1: in the car, slamming her head over and over and
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Speaker 1: over into the dashboard, opening the car door, kicking her
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Speaker 1: out of the car into the street, and driving away,
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Speaker 1: leaving her there with their two little girls in the
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Speaker 1: back seat. Then this judge goes in front of a
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Speaker 1: disciplinary committee. He gets out in just a few months
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Speaker 1: behind bars on aggravated assault. He walks free. His wife
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Speaker 1: lives in fear, even though she's gotten a restraining order.
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Speaker 1: She begs, begs that he does not have overnight custody,
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Speaker 1: which would require her going and picking the children up.
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Speaker 1: She begs, does anybody listen? No, So when she comes
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Speaker 1: to pick the children up, the two little girls up,
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Speaker 1: what happens? The judge meets her in the driveway and
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Speaker 1: stabs her dead. Her children inside screaming as they hear
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Speaker 1: their mommy screaming in the driveway. Yeah, that's what happened,
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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 1: You know, the truth doesn't always taste very good going down,
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Speaker 1: does it? Because this shrew leaves a bad taste in
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Speaker 1: my mouth. A judge stabs his wife dead. It's Lance
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Speaker 1: at Mason And then after he stabs his wife dead,
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Speaker 1: he gets in a car and tries to flee the
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Speaker 1: scene and rams into a police car. Listen. Found dead
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Speaker 1: in the backyard was forty five year old Aisha Frasier,
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Speaker 1: a mother and schoolteacher at Shaker Heights Woodburry Elementary School.
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Speaker 1: As police arrived on scene, Mason attempted to leave in
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Speaker 1: an suv, but crashed into a police cruiser, sending an
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Speaker 1: officer to the hospital with serious injuries. Mason then ran
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Speaker 1: from the scene of that crash back inside to where
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Speaker 1: his sister and children were still on the phone with police.
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Speaker 1: Police then entered the home, where they found Mason and
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Speaker 1: placed him under arrest. What an idiot. The mayor had
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Speaker 1: vouched for him after he broke all the bones in
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Speaker 1: his wife's face in front of the children. The mayor representative,
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Speaker 1: all these politicians. In fact, they even gave him a
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Speaker 1: government job after he beat her so badly in the car.
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Speaker 1: Gave him like a forty something thousand dollars job because
5:40
Speaker 1: he had to step down from being a judge, of course,
5:43
Speaker 1: but that's all right. The fat cats took care of
5:45
Speaker 1: him and gave him a job. Let him walk free.
5:48
Speaker 1: They all wrote letters and vouch for what a great
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Speaker 1: guy he is. Well, she's dead and these children are
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Speaker 1: being raised without a mother. With me. Forensics expert Joe
6:00
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, North Carolina family lawyer Kathleen Murphy, host of
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Speaker 1: Investigation Discoveries hit series Fatal Vows doctor Brian Russell and
6:09
Speaker 1: joining me right now, Crime online dot Com investigator reporter
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Speaker 1: Larry may Her. Start at the beginning, Larry, what happened?
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Speaker 1: Twenty fourteen? Lance Mason attacked his wife viciously as you described,
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Speaker 1: and pled guilty to aggravated assault. He was sentenced to
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Speaker 1: two years in prison. He mounted a successful campaign for
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Speaker 1: early release and ended up serving nine months after whoa, whoa, whoa,
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Speaker 1: You got me drinking from a fire hydrant too much,
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Speaker 1: too fast? Hold on, he got an early release. You
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Speaker 1: said he mounted a campaign. Let's talk about the campaign.
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Speaker 1: What campaign was mounted? Who? I feel like I'm gonna
6:57
Speaker 1: vomit right now? Hold on, everybody, Joe Scott, you're the
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Speaker 1: forensics expert. You can explain to me why I feel
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Speaker 1: so nauseous. I think it may have something to do
7:05
Speaker 1: with a picture I'm looking at right now, Ohio, Judge
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Speaker 1: Lance Mason sitting on the bench smiling at the camera. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: that's it. That's why I feel sick. This woman was
7:20
Speaker 1: a beloved sixth grade teacher. A beloved sixth grade teacher.
7:26
Speaker 1: Oh did I mention the two thousand, three hundred live
7:30
Speaker 1: rounds of ammunition. He had five hundred shotgun slugs, four
7:35
Speaker 1: canisters of smoke grenades, a bulletproof vest, and a jaguar knife. Okay,
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Speaker 1: that that's beside the point. I just wanted to let
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Speaker 1: you know that. But what about this campaign you're saying
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Speaker 1: he mounted to get out of jail early. Okay, First,
7:53
Speaker 1: let me just point out that the weapons were seized
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Speaker 1: at the second arrest after the murder, not at the
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Speaker 1: time at the time of the I don't care this
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Speaker 1: freak that had already beaten his wife practically dead and
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Speaker 1: kicked her out of the car on the street in
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Speaker 1: front of his children. She had to have plastic surgery
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Speaker 1: to the repair of the bones in her face, and
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Speaker 1: he still gets visitation with the children. She still has
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Speaker 1: to see him. Okay, I don't care. Somebody with that
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Speaker 1: criminal history does not need weapons at his home. That's
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Speaker 1: a felony. Felons aren't supposed to have weapons. But again,
8:34
Speaker 1: I want to get back to the campaign he mounted
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Speaker 1: to get out of jail, who came before a judge
8:41
Speaker 1: or a committee and told them he's such a great guy,
8:44
Speaker 1: because they need to go to jail with him. He
8:46
Speaker 1: was represented by counsel at those hearings, but he had
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Speaker 1: a number of letters of support from people that included
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Speaker 1: a member of Congress from Ohio straight out to Kathleen Murphy,
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Speaker 1: North Carolina family lawyer. I know you see this scenario
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Speaker 1: over and over again where the woman is typically the
9:03
Speaker 1: woman begging not to have contact with the husband, but
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Speaker 1: then the court allows it under the guise of custody
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Speaker 1: and visitation. But what I'm focused on right now is
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Speaker 1: who stepped up to bat for this wife beater and
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Speaker 1: said he's such a great guy. So far, I found
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Speaker 1: the following Kathleen Representative Fudge. I think we all know her,
9:28
Speaker 1: isn't it Martha Fudge? And she was being rumored as
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Speaker 1: a potential replacement for Nancy Pelosi. So Representative Fudge writes
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Speaker 1: a letter on behalf of Lance Mason, and this is
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Speaker 1: after his beating, his brutal beating of his wife. She's
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Speaker 1: not the only one. The Cleveland mayor not only wrote
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Speaker 1: for him and represented he should get out of jail,
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Speaker 1: but then gave him a government job raking in forty
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Speaker 1: five thousand dollars a year. Fifteen other candidates had applied
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Speaker 1: for that job, but the city insisted Lance Mason was
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Speaker 1: the most qualified, the wife beater. So you've got Fudge,
10:13
Speaker 1: you've got the mayor, you've got his lawyer. Oh oh oh,
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Speaker 1: and there was another county coming please Judge Holly Gallagher
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Speaker 1: and a an attorney, Joyce Barrett, both saying that he
10:33
Speaker 1: should be let out of jail. Women. I'm having a
10:39
Speaker 1: hard time taking it all in, all these people saying
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Speaker 1: even though he just beat her nearly dead, she had
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Speaker 1: to have surgery to fix the bones in her face,
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Speaker 1: that he should get out, and not only get out early,
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Speaker 1: but get a government job. I meet the taxpayers. We
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Speaker 1: paid his salary. Now he kills her. Help me, Kathleen.
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Speaker 1: It is a good old boy network. It is who
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Speaker 1: you know in the victim of domestic violence will come
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Speaker 1: into court and she does not present well because she's
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Speaker 1: been traumatized. And the dude that's coming in that beat
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Speaker 1: the crap out of her is presenting well. The judge
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Speaker 1: knows everybody that is coming to his defense, and it
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Speaker 1: is what happens. It happens in Raleigh, it happens in Lumberton,
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Speaker 1: it happens all over the country. Disgusting, it happens everywhere.
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Speaker 1: In fact, as you said, they all know him. They
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Speaker 1: all know him, All the judges know him. The good
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Speaker 1: Old Boy network and not just boys. That's just the terminology,
11:52
Speaker 1: because there's there are women in here. Brian Russell, what
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Speaker 1: can you tell me about this Fudge person? It Representative
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Speaker 1: fund Well. Representative Fudge is one of the names that
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Speaker 1: had been tossed around as a potential Speaker of the
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Speaker 1: House if Nancy Pelosi didn't get to return to that role.
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Speaker 1: And I think anybody who wants to know about Representative
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Speaker 1: Fudge this case and the fact that she actually endorsed
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Speaker 1: this guy Mason after his first incident of violence toward
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Speaker 1: the wife tells you all you need to know. You
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Speaker 1: know what it reminds me of, doctor Brian Russell. Do
12:26
Speaker 1: you remember the name Willie Horton? Remember that name? That
12:30
Speaker 1: is I'm pretty sure when Michael Decocus ran for president,
12:35
Speaker 1: it came out that he had granted him parole. I'm
12:39
Speaker 1: gonna have to research and make sure I'm right. I
12:41
Speaker 1: think he gave him a furlough. He gave him a furlough,
12:44
Speaker 1: that's right, like and he gets out, you know whoever,
12:47
Speaker 1: and it haunted Dacoccus from then on. I mean, I
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Speaker 1: can even still remember the name you know who else,
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Speaker 1: though endorsed Mason. The prosecutor. The prosecutor Nancy tim McGuinty,
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Speaker 1: kya Oga County prosecutor, when Mason was sentenced, said, I'm
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Speaker 1: confident he will leave prison rehabilitated and will again be
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Speaker 1: an asset to our community. Now I'm a psychologist, and
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Speaker 1: I know what kind of rehabilitation. But it's not asking
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Speaker 1: for early release. It's not. That's at the time of
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Speaker 1: the original sentencing, right, that's right. But let me just
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Speaker 1: explain to everybody, everybody, especially who's all excited about criminal
13:27
Speaker 1: justice reform, because we're going to rehabilitate people and then
13:30
Speaker 1: let him out early. Let me explain something to you.
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Speaker 1: When you sit a felon down and have him sit
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Speaker 1: in a circle and talk about his feelings and draw
13:40
Speaker 1: pictures of his feelings with a psychology intern once a
13:43
Speaker 1: week for a couple of years, let me tell you
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Speaker 1: what that does to make you safer when he gets
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Speaker 1: out and back on the streets with you. Not a
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Speaker 1: damn thing. It's the charge that it was a political
13:56
Speaker 1: favor way offline whist political favor Well, you've been around
14:01
Speaker 1: politics long time and you knew you were going to
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Speaker 1: hear that. Well, of course, I mean there there are
14:05
Speaker 1: people where everybody knows the conspiracy, everybody knows what the
14:10
Speaker 1: back room deal was. But uh, and they reject the obvious.
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Speaker 1: The obvious is there was an opening and man applied
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Speaker 1: it for it. He won the process. He got hired.
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Speaker 1: You know, I did not give him a job. Of course,
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Speaker 1: I'm a mayor, so I signed off on everyone who
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Speaker 1: gets his job that I do. But he went he
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Speaker 1: went through a process. This was no political favor associated
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Speaker 1: with Lance Mason. I don't know him personally, right, Okay,
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Speaker 1: you are just hearing the Cleveland mayor defeating himself for
14:51
Speaker 1: hiring convicted felon judge Lance Mason. He gives him a
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Speaker 1: forty five thousand dollars a year job. He gets out
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Speaker 1: of jail early for beating his wife so badly she
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Speaker 1: had to have reconstructive surgery on her face. Then when
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Speaker 1: he gets out early, he stabs her dead in the
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Speaker 1: driveway with her two there two little girls hearing mommy
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Speaker 1: screaming until she bled out in front of the house,
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Speaker 1: straight out to Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert Professor Forensics,
15:24
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State University. Author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,
15:30
Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan explained to me what breaking the orbital
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Speaker 1: bone means and why she had to have reconstructive surgery
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Speaker 1: on her face. Yeah. Hey, if all of our friends
15:41
Speaker 1: in the audience will simply place their index fingers directly
15:45
Speaker 1: blow their eyes and you'll feel that kind of curved
15:48
Speaker 1: bone that is beneath your eye. That's actually the suborbitable
15:53
Speaker 1: bone there, and it gives form to our face and
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Speaker 1: it is a It's a very very thick, rigid piece
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Speaker 1: of bone. It's what they referred to as an irregular bone.
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Speaker 1: And the force that it takes to fracture this bone
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Speaker 1: is amazing. He at one point in time had apparently
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Speaker 1: slammed her face in this first incident into the dashboard
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Speaker 1: of the car and essentially just shattered this bone. Her
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Speaker 1: face would be misshapen, that sort of thing. That's one
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Speaker 1: of the reasons they had to go in and do
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Speaker 1: facial reconstruction on her. I'm just imagining the little girls
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Speaker 1: in the back seat, you know. He punched her twenty times,
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Speaker 1: holding her by the back of the head and slamming
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Speaker 1: her face into the dashboard over and over and over
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Speaker 1: before kicking her out. To Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer,
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Speaker 1: the girls are in the back seat, they're little, and
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Speaker 1: they see this. Then they see daddy pushing right of
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Speaker 1: the car into the street and drive off. This is
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Speaker 1: before he stabbed her dead. And then they have to
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Speaker 1: visit with him unsupervised, and then they have to deal
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Speaker 1: with the trauma of seeing their mother beaten. And then
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Speaker 1: they have to deal now with the trauma of their
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Speaker 1: mother is dead and they have nobody to protect them.
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Speaker 1: To doctor Brian Russell, joining US psychologist, lawyer, host of
17:19
Speaker 1: Discovery IDs Fatal Vows series, Doctor Brian Russell, you're the shrink.
17:25
Speaker 1: I know Kathleen sees it in her practice all the time,
17:28
Speaker 1: dealing with family domestic custody issues. I saw it in
17:33
Speaker 1: court for over a decade when it became a crime.
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Speaker 1: But explain to me what this does to the children.
17:41
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you asked this question, Nancy. This
17:44
Speaker 1: is a point that I cannot make often enough on
17:47
Speaker 1: Fatal Vows. If you are physically abusing your spouse in
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Speaker 1: front of your kids, then you are a child abuser.
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Speaker 1: And I don't care if you've ever physically struck the
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Speaker 1: children or not, because abuse of one of their parents
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Speaker 1: in front of them is abuse of the kids. And
18:11
Speaker 1: one other point, just real quickly that I'd like to
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Speaker 1: make is so many times we see cases in which
18:18
Speaker 1: a spouse will be abused physically, and then the abuser
18:23
Speaker 1: will say, oh, I'm so sorry, I'm gonna change. Here's
18:26
Speaker 1: some flowers, and they'll go back, and they'll go back,
18:29
Speaker 1: and they'll go back, and then finally they get killed,
18:32
Speaker 1: and no blame on the victim. But we always say, please, please, please,
18:37
Speaker 1: don't do that. Please don't believe the oh, I'm gonna change.
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Speaker 1: Get the hell out of there, and get your kids
18:43
Speaker 1: and yourself to safety the first time he beats you up. Well,
18:48
Speaker 1: in this case, Nancy, she did it. She did all
18:51
Speaker 1: the right things, She got out of there, she got
18:53
Speaker 1: a restraining order, she filed for divorce. We let her
18:58
Speaker 1: down as a society. Of course, it's his fault, it's
19:03
Speaker 1: mister Mason, formerly Judge Mason's fault. But we as a
19:07
Speaker 1: society also let her down by not keeping his ass
19:13
Speaker 1: off the street like we should have for a good
19:16
Speaker 1: long time. He shouldn't have been available to do this,
19:20
Speaker 1: you know, what. You're absolutely right. Take a listen to
19:23
Speaker 1: this so you can get her help. Okay, yes, my
19:31
Speaker 1: husband just beat me and throw me as a car.
19:34
Speaker 1: He has my two daughters in the cars at Van Nagan. Yeah,
19:41
Speaker 1: and like Avalon, she defer a car wants Saturn viewed
19:46
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I'm afraid he's gonna hurt my
19:49
Speaker 1: daughters because she was scared of him. Oh yes, definitely
19:53
Speaker 1: afraid of him. Definitely afraid of He waited for her
19:57
Speaker 1: and when she pulled in to drop the kids off,
20:00
Speaker 1: as agreed. As she was taking the children out of
20:04
Speaker 1: the car, you're capturing. These two children are left, but
20:10
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Speaker 1: Find the truth crime stories with Nancy Grace. A judge
21:41
Speaker 1: and a politician busted for stabbing his estranged wife dead
21:48
Speaker 1: two years after the government let him loose. Let him
21:54
Speaker 1: loose after he slammed her head into the dashboard of
21:57
Speaker 1: a car so badly it broke her orbital bone in
22:02
Speaker 1: her face. She had to have plastic surgery. He beat
22:05
Speaker 1: her repeatedly in the car, slamming her head over and
22:10
Speaker 1: over and over into the dashboard, opening the car door,
22:14
Speaker 1: kicking her out of the car into the street, and
22:18
Speaker 1: driving away, leaving her there with their two little girls
22:23
Speaker 1: in the back seat. Listen, yes, my husband just beat
22:31
Speaker 1: me and throw me up a car. He has my
22:34
Speaker 1: two daughters in the carnac Yeah, and like avalon, she
22:43
Speaker 1: just throws a car on Saturn View two thousand and eight.
22:47
Speaker 1: I'm afraid he's gonna hurt my daughters with you now,
22:52
Speaker 1: she drove off h going down towards the police state
23:00
Speaker 1: that you probably hit your grid. Okay, yeah, somebody else
23:06
Speaker 1: called about that. Where are you calling? What's your phone number?
23:10
Speaker 1: Where would you call your They're taking me the south point? Now,
23:17
Speaker 1: who's taking a south point? Alright? Some nice people in
23:20
Speaker 1: the car stopped. I jumped in. Are you in the
23:24
Speaker 1: car now in another person's car? Please find my kids?
23:32
Speaker 1: Are you injured? Yes? I need some a You were
23:41
Speaker 1: just hearing the first nine one one call where the mom,
23:45
Speaker 1: the beloved sixth Great teacher Asia Frazier, had been beating
23:50
Speaker 1: so badly she had to have her face reconstructed, and
23:53
Speaker 1: all she keeps saying is have you found my kids?
23:56
Speaker 1: Have you found my kids? Have you found my kids?
23:58
Speaker 1: Have you found the car? They never answer her doctor
24:01
Speaker 1: Brian Russell, what about her two little girls? I can't
24:05
Speaker 1: believe they let him back near the kids. I mean,
24:08
Speaker 1: if he had punched, if he had punched the kids
24:12
Speaker 1: in the face, we probably wouldn't have But somehow we
24:15
Speaker 1: think that that's less damaging to the kids to punch
24:18
Speaker 1: their mom in the face in front of them, when
24:20
Speaker 1: actually the wounds of that, in some ways may actually
24:24
Speaker 1: be more longer lasting. You would think they care, Brian,
24:31
Speaker 1: but they don't. I'm on the front line every day
24:35
Speaker 1: around here. If he had punched the kids in the face,
24:37
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have gotten back with visitation. But punch somehow,
24:42
Speaker 1: punching the mom in the face, Uh, they might. And
24:46
Speaker 1: it's always it always amazes me that somehow people think, well,
24:51
Speaker 1: the scars of that, that there aren't any scars from that. Yes,
24:55
Speaker 1: they're damn well off. Yes there are. Aisha were close
25:01
Speaker 1: shared all of their life s milestones together, and her
25:04
Speaker 1: marriage to Lance Mason was always peculiar. I'm sure she
25:08
Speaker 1: would shelter us from so that we wouldn't hurt and
25:14
Speaker 1: so that we wouldn't intercede, because she wanted to protect
25:18
Speaker 1: her relationship and protect our relationships as friends. Until twenty fourteen,
25:23
Speaker 1: when Mason was arrested for publicly beating Aisha so bad
25:27
Speaker 1: she was hospitalized and I opened her for friends. That
25:31
Speaker 1: was something that we all were in shock about. We
25:35
Speaker 1: didn't know that their relationship. I had that her mother's
25:38
Speaker 1: a cat Chante Thomas worked with Aisha here at would
25:42
Speaker 1: Bury Elementary for sixteen years. Ayisha had such amazing energy
25:48
Speaker 1: with the classroom. Both she and Cole watched Ayisha evolve
25:52
Speaker 1: after her divorce from Mason, of her vival so to speak.
25:55
Speaker 1: I mean, she was moving forward and making a lot
25:58
Speaker 1: of steps. We were so proud of her, so proud
26:02
Speaker 1: to see her fight back and get her life back.
26:04
Speaker 1: But they believe her joy brought Mason Paine. He didn't
26:08
Speaker 1: want her to be happy. He wanted to stop that,
26:13
Speaker 1: so that got in the way of comparenton. They say
26:15
Speaker 1: the justice system failed Aisha. When Mason was released from
26:19
Speaker 1: his two year prison sentence after just serving nine months,
26:23
Speaker 1: people backed the wrong horse. Obviously they didn't know him
26:29
Speaker 1: and the monster that he is. Ayisha needed help, and
26:33
Speaker 1: Aisha was asking for help, and the persons and authorities
26:40
Speaker 1: and judicial system that could have helped her did not.
26:44
Speaker 1: You are hearing friends of Ayisha Fraser, who was once
26:48
Speaker 1: married to the judge, the judge Lance Mason. The irony
26:56
Speaker 1: of this is that she had done everything right to
27:03
Speaker 1: Larry mayher Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter. Where does
27:07
Speaker 1: the case stand now? Mason is in jail right now
27:12
Speaker 1: awaiting trial on a six count indictment that includes aggravated murder.
27:18
Speaker 1: His bail has been set at five million dollars. He
27:22
Speaker 1: is currently locked up in the same jail that he
27:26
Speaker 1: used to run as the judge of Kuyahoga County. To
27:30
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy Way and Kathleen, I can only tell you
27:34
Speaker 1: that this kind of action is continuing every day in
27:38
Speaker 1: your local court systems, and people need to pay attention
27:43
Speaker 1: to who they're voting into office to be our judges
27:48
Speaker 1: in family court. They're not doing the best job for
27:53
Speaker 1: victims of domestic violence. They're not protecting the children. Take
28:01
Speaker 1: a listen to this now to remember Aisha Frasier. A
28:09
Speaker 1: candlelight visual begins at about half an hour. We are
28:12
Speaker 1: expecting hundreds of people here tonight, and already dozens have
28:16
Speaker 1: gathered Aisha Fraser's family saying this outpouring of love and
28:20
Speaker 1: support and grief is a testament to the woman that
28:24
Speaker 1: she was. It is difficult for people to picture Ayisha
28:29
Speaker 1: Frasier without a smile. There was something special about her
28:33
Speaker 1: and her community reaction to her guest is evidence of that.
28:38
Speaker 1: But underneath her smile, her family says, Frasier feared her
28:43
Speaker 1: ex husband, lands Mason, but she was scared of him. Oh, yes,
28:48
Speaker 1: definitely afraid of him. Definitely afraid of the fear came
28:52
Speaker 1: from heated conversations and bubbled over after beating that hospitalized
28:57
Speaker 1: Frasier and sent Mason to prison after he got out.
29:00
Speaker 1: Her family says the couple had an arrangement to exchange
29:04
Speaker 1: custody of their two young daughters at this home on
29:07
Speaker 1: Chagrin Boulevard owned by Asia, rented by Mason's sister. On Saturday,
29:13
Speaker 1: the arrangement that had been working so well went so
29:17
Speaker 1: terribly wrong on Saturday. He waited for her and when
29:20
Speaker 1: she pulled in to drop the kids off, as agreed.
29:25
Speaker 1: As she was taking the children out of the car,
29:30
Speaker 1: he attacked her. These two children are left with no
29:33
Speaker 1: mother or no father. Grama and tragedy for a woman.
29:37
Speaker 1: Her uncle, George says, was goodness personified. A woman who
29:41
Speaker 1: leaves a hole in this community, in this school where
29:46
Speaker 1: she taught for sixteen years. It is said that you
29:50
Speaker 1: know that you lived a good life when people never
29:55
Speaker 1: stopped mentioning your name. Her name will be mentioned for very, very,
30:00
Speaker 1: very very many years. The couple's two young daughters are
30:04
Speaker 1: with Aisha's best friend, their godmother. She plans to adopt
30:08
Speaker 1: them again. That candlelight visual expected to begin at five thirty.
30:13
Speaker 1: There are already dozens and dozens of family and friend
30:16
Speaker 1: gathered to remember Ayisha Frasier. You know you're hearing from
30:20
Speaker 1: our friends at w ABC five. That's Anne Bash. Excuse me,
30:26
Speaker 1: that's Home Bash. You know, vigils are wonderful memorials, great,
30:32
Speaker 1: letting the balloons go, putting the teddy bears in front
30:35
Speaker 1: of the scene of the crime. But what tastes so
30:39
Speaker 1: bad in my mouth is this so easily could have
30:42
Speaker 1: been stopped if Judge Lance Mason had been kept behind bars.
30:48
Speaker 1: Police identified the murder victim as Aisha Fraser. At approximately
30:52
Speaker 1: nine thirty three am, Shaker Heights Police respond to this
30:56
Speaker 1: seventeen thousand block of Sagrin Boulevard for a domestic dispute.
31:00
Speaker 1: Please say, the first officer on seen had a SUV
31:03
Speaker 1: broadsided on the driver's side by the suspect who was
31:06
Speaker 1: trying to escape. Please say, the officer and the suspect
31:09
Speaker 1: we're treated at the hospital for their injuries. Please see
31:12
Speaker 1: former Cuyahoga County Judge. Lance Mason was taken into custody
31:16
Speaker 1: to Joseph Scott Morgan, author of Blood Beneath My Feet,
31:20
Speaker 1: professor of forensics at Jacksonville State JOT. What I'm looking
31:26
Speaker 1: at now is how we're going to prove the case.
31:30
Speaker 1: How can we keep Lance Mason behind bars this time
31:33
Speaker 1: since it didn't work the first time. Well, hopefully none
31:36
Speaker 1: of these same politicians are going to have anything to
31:38
Speaker 1: say about it. But from an evidentiary standpoint, if I
31:43
Speaker 1: think that if this, uh, this, this prior assault can
31:48
Speaker 1: be introduced, you can show this line of connectivity between
31:53
Speaker 1: his behavior and it culminates in not just a single stab,
31:58
Speaker 1: not just a too stabs, but it's an event that
32:02
Speaker 1: involved multiple stab wounds where she is in a restricted area.
32:09
Speaker 1: And this is what we referred to as overkilled. This
32:12
Speaker 1: is generally associated with people that have a tremendous amount
32:16
Speaker 1: of violence, rage, anger, and I suspect, you know, over
32:21
Speaker 1: this period of time, and I've worked in many cases
32:23
Speaker 1: like this, these are some of the most violent. When
32:26
Speaker 1: you're talking about these domestic events like this, I suspect
32:30
Speaker 1: that he had just been just seething over a period
32:34
Speaker 1: of time as he is forced to take his kids
32:38
Speaker 1: at this location. He sees himself as some kind of victim.
32:42
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, you know, you've
32:45
Speaker 1: got these two precious little children that have literally witnessed
32:49
Speaker 1: their mother be slaughtered in front of this house by
32:53
Speaker 1: this man too, Larry Mayhar. Will the state be seeking
32:56
Speaker 1: the death penalty or do we know? The prosecution has
33:00
Speaker 1: not yet stated whether it's going to seek the death penalty.
33:03
Speaker 1: The death penalty is available to the prosecutors since he
33:08
Speaker 1: is charged with both murder and aggravated murder. Aggravated murder
33:12
Speaker 1: in Ohio is approximately what first degree murder is in
33:16
Speaker 1: other jurisdictions. Listen, you are charged with one kind of
33:20
Speaker 1: aggravated murder, one count of murder, one kind of floonious assaft,
33:27
Speaker 1: one count of violating the protection order, one kind of
33:31
Speaker 1: grand theft, and if one kind of floonious assaught. Do
33:35
Speaker 1: you understand the charge is against you? Yes? Do you
33:41
Speaker 1: wish to enter a pleae sir? Not guilty? Court accepts
33:45
Speaker 1: the plea of not guilty. The court will of course
33:49
Speaker 1: have jurisdiction of this case. Mister Mason, Yes, sir, you
33:56
Speaker 1: probably already aware of this, but just so it's on
33:59
Speaker 1: the record. I'm normally down in Stark County Hall of
34:07
Speaker 1: Fame area, and I was asked by the Supreme Court
34:13
Speaker 1: to handle this case because the judges here in Calga
34:19
Speaker 1: County had recused themselves. You are aware of that, sir, Yes,
34:25
Speaker 1: and I do have that appointment. And is that acceptable
34:29
Speaker 1: to you, sir yes? Shad all right, very good. As
34:34
Speaker 1: it relates to bond, I'm going to accept the recommendations
34:38
Speaker 1: at that bond at five million dollars. Two years after
34:42
Speaker 1: the government let him loose. Let him lose after he
34:47
Speaker 1: slammed her head into the dashboard of a car so
34:50
Speaker 1: badly it broke her orbital bone in her face. She
34:54
Speaker 1: had to have plastic surgery. A judge, in his wisdom
35:00
Speaker 1: allowed this piece of crap, Judge Lance Mason, her former husband,
35:05
Speaker 1: her attacker, out of jail early. He stabs her dad
35:13
Speaker 1: once again with the children watching and hearing the whole thing.
35:19
Speaker 1: May he wrought in hell. Important to listen to victims,
35:24
Speaker 1: to ask them these questions, to assess their risk for
35:28
Speaker 1: potential homicide, because there are services available for them. We
35:33
Speaker 1: do know that domestic violence homicides are predictable and the
35:37
Speaker 1: risk factors are very clear. Access to guns is a
35:41
Speaker 1: significant predictor. Did I mention the two thousand, three hundred
35:46
Speaker 1: live rounds of ammunition? He had, five hundred shot gun slugs,
35:50
Speaker 1: four canisters of smoke grenades, a bulletproof vest, and a
35:55
Speaker 1: Jaguar knife. Okay, that's beside the point. Just one to
36:00
Speaker 1: let you know that, Jancy, you were talking earlier about
36:03
Speaker 1: who supported Judge Mason's early release. Cleveland nineteens Lydia Aspara
36:08
Speaker 1: spoke to one of the more than thirty judges and
36:11
Speaker 1: lawyers who wrote letters of support, and this one now
36:14
Speaker 1: says he regrets it. By all accounts, Lance Mason appeared
36:19
Speaker 1: to be reformed after he beat his wife, so no
36:22
Speaker 1: one who knew him would have ever believed he would
36:25
Speaker 1: have been capable of this. On Lance Mason's Facebook page,
36:29
Speaker 1: anger all directed towards the former judge. Police say Mason
36:34
Speaker 1: stocked his ex wife, Aisha Fraser, stabbed her, killing her
36:38
Speaker 1: in front of their two girls. Since then, horrified friends
36:43
Speaker 1: and strangers have trolled his Facebook page. Attorney Saboutschandra has
36:48
Speaker 1: been trolled too, after he wrote a letter of support
36:51
Speaker 1: for then Judge Mason, a wife beater who spent time
36:55
Speaker 1: in prison. My belief was at the time was that
36:59
Speaker 1: this was a racial conduct on his part for which
37:02
Speaker 1: he felt great remorse, And by phone he explains why
37:06
Speaker 1: he supported him. When you made the decision, you were
37:09
Speaker 1: basing it on the character of the person you knew.
37:13
Speaker 1: At the time, we had a good reputation for being
37:16
Speaker 1: a smart, kind, good tempered judge. And why he now
37:21
Speaker 1: regrets it Lydia, Let's just be clear, I'm not a
37:24
Speaker 1: victim of any kind. I mean, it's his ex wife
37:28
Speaker 1: and his children who are terrible victims in this tragedy.
37:31
Speaker 1: Why I deeply regret that I wrote this letter given
37:36
Speaker 1: what's transpired. I made the best judgment that I could
37:39
Speaker 1: at the time about trying to ensure that his children
37:43
Speaker 1: were not impoverished. The children was Schaundra's focus, and he
37:48
Speaker 1: believed Mason was a changed man. I had run into
37:53
Speaker 1: Judge Mason on the rapid three weeks ago, and he
37:58
Speaker 1: was warm and friend, lean, kind, generous, ask questions about
38:03
Speaker 1: my kids and how they were doing. And now Mason
38:06
Speaker 1: spent many many hours here at the Justice Center being
38:09
Speaker 1: the firm hand against domestic violence. Now it appears he'll
38:14
Speaker 1: be on the other side of the law again. There
38:17
Speaker 1: was something special about her and her community reaction to
38:21
Speaker 1: her death is evidence of that. It is said that
38:26
Speaker 1: you know that you lived a good life when people
38:30
Speaker 1: never stop mentioning your name. Her name will be mentioned
38:34
Speaker 1: for very, very, very very many years we wait as
38:38
Speaker 1: justice and fols Nancy Grace crime story. Signing up goodbye friend,