'What a monster you are’: Former judge Lance Mason will be parole eligible after 35 years for brutally killing ex-wife Aisha Fraser

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Former judge Lance Mason learned his fate Thursday afternoon after pleading guilty to murdering his ex-wife Aisha Fraser.

Mason was sentenced to life in prison on four crimes that include aggravated murder, violating a protection officer, grand theft, and felonious assault on a peace officer. He would be eligible for parole after serving 35 years of that sentence in prison.

Fraser’s former colleagues from Shaker Heights Schools, the now-guardians of her two daughters, and other family members provided emotional victim impact statements during Mason’s sentencing.

“What a monster you are,” Fraser’s mother, Millicent Fraser, stated directly to Mason.

The 51-year-old pleaded guilty at an Aug. 20 change of plea hearing. Mason said he wanted to take full responsibility of his actions to ensure that his youngest daughter would not have to testify against him.

“I have failed my daughters. Everyday I live, I know that my daughters will live without their mother and father, and that tears me apart,” Mason said while addressing the courtroom.

According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, Fraser took the couple’s daughter to her former sister-in-law’s home on Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights on Nov. 17, 2018.

Mason, who was renting the home at the time, agreed to take the daughter to a martial arts class that morning.

Investigators said that Mason immediately attacked 45-year-old Fraser, a former teacher at Woodbury Elementary School, when they arrived to the house. He stabbed her multiple times in the driveway, in the presence of the couple’s children, ages 8 and 11 years old at the time.

While fleeing from the scene in a car stolen from Fraser, Shaker Heights police said Mason rammed into a cruiser, injuring officer Adam Flynt. He then attempted to run on foot, but was arrested a short time later.

Fraser was left to die in the driveway.

In 2015, pleaded guilty to domestic violence for a 2014 assault on Fraser. He served nine months in prison following that violent incident.

Despite the past assault conviction, Ohio lawmakers, religious leaders, and fellow judges wrote letters of support for Mason, saying the behavior was “out of character.”

“While the final chapter of this horrific case has now ended, the pain and suffering Lance Mason inflicted upon Ms. Fraser’s parents, daughters, family, and friends will last forever. She was an irreplaceable inspiration who touched the lives of an entire community,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley. “Our thoughts remain with her loved ones as well as with Officer Flynt, who continues to struggle daily as a result of these barbaric actions.”

A Stark County judge was brought in to oversee the trial after Cuyahoga County judges recused themselves.

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