Pictured are Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason and Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery

By Editor Kathy Wray Coleman, a community activist and 20-year investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio- Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason posted bond on Wednesday and was released from Shaker Heights jail after a mental examination ordered by Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery determined that the former state senator poses no serious harm to either himself or others.

Shaker Heights is an affluent Cleveland suburb also routinely accused of housing discrimination against Blacks, the Call and Post Newspaper, a Black Cleveland weekly also with distributions in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, once reported.

One of only three Black judges on the 34-member Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division bench, Mason, 46, left jail with his lawyer, Fernando Mack, who is also Black.

He was arrested by police at his Cleveland home on Saturday afternoon following a 9-1-1 call nearly three hours earlier from his estranged wife, Aisha Mason, 41. She told police, according to the dispatch audiotape, that the judge allegedly hit her in the face, choked her, and put her out of their car at noon on Saturday at the intersection of Ashbury Road and Van Aken Boulevard in Shaker Heights.

After dumping his wife since 2005 on the streets, Mason then  drove off with their two young children, two girls, ages four and six -years- old, still in the car, Aiesha Mason told police. The couple has been separated since March, public court records reveal.

Aiesha  Mason, who filed for divorce on Monday,  was treated at South Point Hospital and later released. She reportedly suffered a bruised jaw, among other injuries.

The Black community is split on the Masons' domestic violence ordeal, some wanting blood against the purportedly violent judge, whom critics said should be held to a higher standard, and others seeing it as a Black family in crisis in need of support.

The judge, who lived in Shaker Heights as a state lawmaker and was an attorney for the Cleveland based law firm of  Baker, Hostler before becoming a judge, appeared before Montgomery by video conference Monday morning.

Montgomery set bond at $65,000, applicably paid by a surety bond or 10 percent, on a second degree felonious assault charge filed at the behest or recommendation of city prosecutor C. Randolph Keller, who is Black and the husband of former Plain Dealer Newspaper columnist Margaret Bernstein.

Montgomery also ordered a mental examination, saying Mason was suicidal, though he posted bond two days later with the help of his sister, who co-signed on the bond.

Since municipal court judges have no authority to hear felony cases under state law, the case was bounded over to the court of common pleas for a possible grand jury assessment on potential criminal charges.

Judge Mason has not been formally indicted by a county grand jury, a necessity under state law for the felony charge to stick and for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to prosecute him on behalf of the state of Ohio. Hence, the case is now under the auspice of  the controversial McGinty, a former common pleas judge himself and a Democrat like both Mason, and Montgomery.

Cuyahoga County, a county of some 59 municipalities, villages and townships, including the cities of Cleveland and Shaker Heights, which is about 37 percent Black, is a Democratic stronghold and is roughly 29 percent Black.

A special prosecutor could be assigned since Mason and McGinty were on the bench together, Mason since 2008, and McGinty, 19 years before he retired in 2011 to run for county prosecutor.

Mason's common pleas courtroom at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in downtown Cleveland has been temporarily shut down as administrative officials prepare to shuffle his case docket load until and if he returns to the bench.

Guns were found in the Mason home when police showed up unannounced to arrest the judge without a warrant.

Police  said that they confiscated smoke grenades, semi-automatic rifles, more than 2500 rounds of ammunition, and a bullet proof vest.

Whether the warrant-less search will hold up in court or before a county grand jury remains to be seen.

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)