OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma judge could be removed from office after exchanging more than 500 texts with her bailiff during her first murder trial, mocking the physical appearance of attorneys, jurors, and witnesses, an investigation found.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kane IV recommended the removal of Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom Tuesday after camera footage showed her sending texts and checking Facebook while presiding over the trial of a man accused of beating a 2-year-old child to death.
Soderstrom, 50, and her female bailiff joked in texts about the size of prosecutors' penises, called the key witness a liar, and admired the looks of a testifying police officer, Kane revealed in a 47-page petition.
On trial was Khristian Tyler Martzall, 32, who was charged in the 2018 death of Braxton Danker, his then-girlfriend's 2-year-old son. Prosecutors at trial 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 Martzall was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder.
"The totality of the text messages give the appearance Respondent believed the defendant was innocent and that she wanted a particular outcome in the case," the chief justice said.
The jury also wrote "Time Served" for Martzall's sentence, who had spent more than five years in jail. The maximum punishment for second-degree manslaughter is four years in prison. At the formal sentencing, the judge imposed the maximum but agreed Martzall had already completed his time. The mother, Judith Danker, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for enabling child abuse.
The texts and her decisions in the case "give the appearance that the Respondent may have taken actions in furtherance of that desired outcome," Kane alleged.
He called for her to be removed from office for gross neglect of duty, gross partiality in office, oppression in office and other grounds for her conduct in that case and others. Hearing the request will be the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary, which last removed a judge in 2020.
Soderstrom on Tuesday agreed to a temporary suspension from her duties. She already had stopped hearing criminal cases last month.
"Judge Soderstrom takes these allegations very seriously. We are in the process of requesting the entire record from the Council on Judicial Complaints so that she can respond appropriately," said her attorney, Tracy Schumacher.
Judge called mother a liar, commented on appearances during trial
The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported in July on the judge's texting after obtaining security videos inside of the courtroom during the trial. That report resulted in national media attention.
The videos showed the judge using her cellphone on the bench to text or exchange messages for minutes at a time during jury selection, opening statements and testimony. She also can be seen checking Facebook on her phone at times during the trial.
The Council on Judicial Complaints investigated more than a dozen allegations against the judge, including one from her second day on the bench.
The chief justice included specific findings from that investigation in his petition calling for her removal. He revealed that Soderstrom told the Council of Judicial Complaints that she was texting about things that probably could have waited "instead of recognizing that these types of communications should never be made at all."
"It was like, 'Oh, that's funny,' Move on," she told the council.
Soderstrom began texting about District Attorney Adam Panter's appearance during jury selection, noting that he was "sweating thru his coat," the chief justice revealed. She later texted, "Why does he have baby hands? ... They are so weird looking."
The judge replied "Ha Ha" at one point when the bailiff "made a crass and demeaning reference" about the genitals of the two male prosecutors, the chief justice revealed.
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She also texted that prosecutors "just couldn't accept that a mom could kill their kid so they went after the next person available."
While the boy's mother testified, the judge spent the majority of the time "texting comments like, 'Can I please scream liar liar,'" according to the petition. She and her bailiff wondered if another witness had teeth.
"When a police officer took the stand, the Respondent texted, 'He's pretty. I could look at him all day' to which the Bailiff replied, 'Same lol,'" according to the petition.
About a juror, the judge texted, "That's a wig. ... Look at that hair line." The judge later texted the juror was "definitely wearing a wig." The bailiff responded, "OMG. LOL."
The chief justice also revealed in the petition that the judge barred the prosecution from calling a key expert witness and did not allow the jury to consider a second-degree murder verdict.
The district attorney on Tuesday called Soderstrom a tyrant. Panter said she timed her ruling on his expert witness until after the jury was sworn in. He said that kept him from appealing her ruling.
"It is now well publicized that Judge Soderstrom spent many hours of a murder trial involving the brutal beating death of a child, glued to her cell phone on social media rather than pay attention to the evidence," Panter said. "But what is ... in my opinion even more obscene is that now we are aware from the allegations that Judge Soderstrom actively attempted to undermine the State’s ability to successfully prosecute a child killer. "
He called the judge's communications with her bailiff about his genitalia "especially disgusting and outrageous."
"This vulgar and offensive behavior is a clear indication of her bias against the State of Oklahoma," he said.
Oklahoma's Court on the Judiciary has removed 7 judges
The Court on the Judiciary has removed seven judges for oppression in office or other misconduct grounds since its creation more than 50 years ago. Sometimes, judges facing discipline have resigned instead.
The last judge to be removed was Kendra Coleman. That decision came in September 2020 after a trial that lasted 13 days. She served as an Oklahoma County district judge less than two years.
The last time before that was in 2002.
Voters in 1966 passed a constitutional amendment creating the court after a bribery scandal involving Supreme Court justices. It is made up of a trial division and an appellate division.
On the trial division are eight senior district judges and an attorney. Their decisions do not have to be unanimous.
Soderstrom has been on the bench less than a year. She was sworn in Jan. 9 after winning 56% of the vote in last year's election. She and her husband put $160,000 of their own money into the race, her campaign reports show.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Investigation says Oklahoma judge checked Facebook, texted about prosecutors' genitals during murder trial
