Oklahoma judge who texted throughout murder trial resigns

(CN) — Just a few days before impeachment proceedings against her were scheduled to begin, an Oklahoma state court judge resigned Friday amid evidence she sent hundreds of text messages to her bailiff during a murder trial in 2023, including inflammatory remarks about the prosecutors and witnesses. 

Former Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom, who was elected to a four-year term beginning in January 2023, found herself as the focus of an ethics investigation just six months later, during the first murder trial in which she'd ever presided. At trial, Khristian Tyler Martzall was accused of second-degree murder for the beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, Braxton Danker.

Although she advised jurors in the seven-day trial to turn off their cell phones to avoid distractions, footage from a security camera mounted behind the judge captured Soderstrom constantly sending and receiving text messages on her own cell phone and occasionally scrolling through social media. 

A subsequent investigation by the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints discovered Soderstrom and her bailiff had exchanged more than 500 messages during the trial, including some mocking the prosecutor’s appearance, style and genitalia, along with others praising the arguments of the defense attorney.

After the discovery, she ordered the camera moved so it no longer had an angle over her bench. 

Soderstrom voluntarily suspended herself in October 2023 while she attempted to convince the council to adopt a corrective action plan for her continued employment. But among other evidence, the council found Soderstrom’s messages noted the prosecutor “had baby hands” and was profusely “sweating through his coat.” She also responded with an emoji to the bailiff’s crude comments about the prosecutor’s genitals. 

Meanwhile, she praised Martzall’s attorney as “awesome” and wondered whether it was appropriate to “clap for her.”

After the investigation, Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kane IV wrote that Soderstrom displayed a “lack of temperament to serve as a judge.”

The council set Soderstrom’s ethics case for a Feb. 12 bench trial on charges including gross neglect of duty, oppression in office, lack of proper temperament and failure to supervise her office. On Friday, she submitted a letter of resignation, acknowledging she had “faltered” at her duties despite her best intentions.

In a proposed settlement with the Oklahoma Court of the Judiciary, Soderstrom agreed never to seek a judicial seat in the state again. 

Martzall was convicted of manslaughter in the case and released on time served, while in another courtroom the victim’s mother, Judith Danker, pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse and was sentenced to 25 years. Martzall’s defense attorney has been quoted by local media suggesting she was unaware of Soderstrom’s cell phone use during the trial. An appeal has not been filed. 

In a brief telephone interview Friday, Administrative Director of the Courts Jari Askins said the resulting vacancy in Lincoln County will be filled by Governor Kevin Stitt from a list of three nominees provided by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Askins said the commission will post a notice of vacancy within the coming weeks and solicit applications online. 

Follow @gabetynes

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