Oklahoma Judge Caught Texting on Bench During Child Murder Trial Could Lose Seat

An Oklahoma judge could lose her job after she was seen scrolling through Facebook and sending more than 500 texts to her bailiff while presiding over a murder trial involving a child.

The Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Court recommended the removal of Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom in a court filing Tuesday, following an investigation by the state’s Council on Judicial Complaints.

“The pattern of conduct demonstrates Respondent’s (Soderstrom’s) gross neglect of duty, gross partiality and oppression,” Chief Justice John Kane IV wrote in the filing. “The conduct further demonstrates Respondent’s (Soderstrom’s) lack of temperament to serve as a judge.”

Soderstrom was caught on surveillance camera scrolling through social media and texting during the trial of a man accused in the fatal beating of a 2-year-old. Footage of the incident made national headlines in July, prompting Soderstrom’s suspension. 

According to The Oklahoman, Soderstrom was overseeing her first murder trial after being sworn into the position in January.

The trial was for Khristian Tyler Martzall, 32, who was charged in the 2018 death of Braxton Danker, his then-girlfriend's 2-year-old son. Prosecutors asked jurors to find him guilty of first-degree murder either because he abused the boy himself or permitted the mother to do so, but Soderstrom seemed to have already made a decision before the conclusion of the trial.

The judge texted her female bailiff that prosecutors “just couldn’t accept that a mom could kill their kid so they went after the next person available.”

The judge added, “Can I please scream liar liar?”

The text messages also appear to mock the prosecutors’ appearance asking “Why does he have baby hands? …They are so weird looking,” adding one lawyer appeared to be “sweating through his coat" and commenting on another's genitals.

Soderstrom allegedly called a testifying officer “pretty” and told the bailiff: “I could look at him all day.”

The judge also described the defense attorney as “awesome” asking, “Can I clap for her?”

According to USA TODAY, Oklahoma’s Court on the Judiciary has removed seven judges for misconduct over the last 50 years.

Soderstrom was suspended with pay pending the outcome of a hearing by the Court on the Judiciary. The next hearing will determine whether will she be removed from the bench.