Democrat Joe Biden is facing controversy surrounding his selection of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) to be secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after her past support of a former Democrat lawmaker and judge convicted of murdering his wife resurfaced this week.
“Fudge vouched for an Ohio judge in 2015 who faced felony charges for brutally beating his wife, causing her to require reconstructive surgery,” The Daily Caller reported. “Three years later, the judge, Lance T. Mason, fatally stabbed his wife, Aisha Fraser, at their home outside Cleveland.”
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:
Mason in August 2014 punched his then-wife 20 times and slammed her head against the dashboard of his car five times, breaking her orbital bone.
The couple’s children were in the back of the car when the attack occurred. Mason, who previously served in the state legislature, was a sitting Cuyahoga County judge when the attack happened.
Mason drove home after the attack. A family member reported to Cleveland police that he might attempt suicide, but Mason surrendered.
Mason pled guilty to felony assault and domestic violence and was granted judicial release from prison after only serving nine months of a two year prison sentence.
Mason was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his then-ex wife Aisha Fraser in front of his daughters during a fit of rage in November 2018.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:
[Mason] was living with his adult sister in a house that Fraser owned on Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights. She showed up with the couple’s daughters to drop off one of them with her father. Mason stabbed her with two kitchen knives in front of the couple’s children.
Investigators later counted 59 knife wounds over Fraser’s body, including 12 to her hands that came from trying to block Mason’s cuts, records say. The attack culminated in Mason slicing Fraser’s throat three times.
One of the daughters ran inside and told Mason’s sister about the attack, the filing says. Mason’s sister called 911 and told dispatchers that Mason stabbed Fraser, and said she could hear the woman scream from outside. The children could be heard screaming in the background when Mason walked inside and said “I’m so sorry,” according to the recording.
Fudge vouched for Mason in an Aug. 9, 2015, letter to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, saying that her “letter of support” was based on “more than 20 years of friendship.” Fudge said that the attack, which Mason admitted to, was “out of character” for him and that she “commend[ed]” him for recognizing that he needed help to deal with his issues.
“Lance accepts full responsibility for his actions and has assured me that something like this will never happen again,” Fudge wrote. Fudge said that Mason was a “kind, intelligent man and loyal friend” who was “well respected and well liked.”
Fudge called the attack a “very bad mistake.”
We have found a letter of support from @RepMarciaFudge during the 2015 sentencing of Judge Lance Mason after the severe beating of his wife Aisha Fraser. Mason is now the lead suspect in the weekend murder of Fraser. @cleveland19news pic.twitter.com/6Yzgw2gkkD
— Dan DeRoos (@DanDeRoos19) November 19, 2018
Biden tapped Fudge to be secretary at HUD despite her complaining last month that black people are only ever considered to lead government agencies like HUD.
“As this country becomes more and more diverse, we’re going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in,” Fudge told Politico. “You know, it’s always ‘we want to put the Black person in labor or HUD.'”