An Oklahoma state judge is facing removal from the bench after allegedly sending a series of "inappropriate" text messages to her bailiff during a trial over the murder of a 2-year-old boy, including biased and lewd commentary on people involved in the trial, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
"Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom swapped more than 500 texts with her bailiff during the seven-day murder trial, according to court records filed Tuesday," reported A.J. McDougall. "In those messages, the judge also speculated that a key prosecution witness might be a liar and praised the defense’s performance in the courtroom, asking the bailiff in one text if she could 'clap' during opening arguments. In a 47-page petition, John Kane, the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, recommended that Soderstrom be removed. Kane accused Soderstrom of gross neglect of duty, gross partiality in office, and oppression in office."
The two also reportedly exchanged lewd jokes about the prosecutors, with Soderstrom replying "ha ha" after the bailiff “made a crass and demeaning reference” to the prosecutors' genitals, wrote Kane. Above all, Soderstrom made clear she sided with the defendant and believed Khristian Tyler Martzall was innocent of first degree murder in the beating death, saying prosecutors “just couldn’t accept that a mom could kill her kid so they went after the next person available.”
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Soderstrom also reportedly called a police officer who testified at the trial "pretty," adding, “I could look at him all day,” and speculated about whether one juror was wearing a wig, texting the bailiff, “Look at that hair line.”
Security footage inside the courtroom showed her holding her phone below the bench, sending the messages throughout the trial, even while she instructed jurors to put away electronic devices, according to the report.
Misconduct by local judges often leads to spectacular results. Earlier this year, a California judge with an arsenal of weapons at his house was arrested for shooting his wife to death in a drunken argument.
