Former judge Lance Mason sentenced to 24 months in prison

Former Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason was sentenced to 24 months in prison Sept. 16, 2015 for beating his wife while driving down Van Aken Blvd., with the couple's children in the backseat.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio State Bar Association is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to disbar former Cuyahoga County judge Lance Mason, who spent nine months in prison for beating his wife in front of their two children.

Lance Mason was a judge for seven years on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, but is now banned from serving as a judge in the state of Ohio as a result after his felony conviction.

However, he would be allowed to practice law again once a temporary suspension of his law license ends. That could change if the state's highest court decides to disbar him.

Mason was released from prison in June, not yet halfway through a two-year prison sentence, and remains on probation.

The Ohio State Bar Association, which governs attorneys practicing in the state, filed a complaint with the state's Board of Professional Conduct last month asking for Mason to be decertified citing several of the state's rules of professional conduct (read the complaint below or click here to view on a mobile device).

The board certified the complaint Wednesday, initiating a hearing process that will determine the fate of the disgraced judge's law career.

The findings of the investigative counsel will then be presented to the board, which may or may not recommend disbarment to the court.

Mason pleaded to aggravated assault for an incident on Van Aken Boulevard in 2014. Driving down the road, Mason punched his wife, Aisha Mason 20 times, smashing her head into the dashboard while the couple's two children watched from the backseat.

Aisha Mason required reconstructive facial surgery as a result of the beating.

The staff attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of the bar association did not return a phone call let Wednesday afternoon.

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