The contents of messages sent by Oklahoma judge who was caught texting at length and scrolling on her phone during a child murder case have been made public. Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom sent more than 500 texts to the bailiff on the case, mocking the prosecution and accusing one of the key witnesses of lying on the stand.
- Soderstrom could lose her job over the incident. The chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court has recommended that Judge Soderstrom be removed from her post after the state council concluded its investigation and published her text messages.
- The case was incredibly serious and very tragic. Soderstrom was presiding over the pretrial, jury selection and opening statements in the trial over the death of 2-year-old Braxton Danker who died in 2018 of a cardiac arrest. His body was later discovered to have broken bones and open wounds all over. Both the child’s mother, Judi Danker, and her boyfriend Khristian Martzall were charged with first-degree murder.
- You would assume the judge would want to pay attention. However, instead, she completely tuned out what was going on and continually texted the bailiff. At one point, she commented that the prosecutor was “sweating through his coat.” At another point, during jury questioning, she asked, “Why does he have baby hands?”
- Judge Soderstrom had plenty of commentary for the trial. At one point, she called the defense attorney “awesome” and asked the bailiff via text, “Can I clap for her?” When a prosecution witness testified against Martzall, she wrote, “Can I please scream ‘liar, liar’?” After Martzall was convicted of second-degree murder and Danker was sentenced to 25 years for child abuse, Soderstrom texted, “State just couldn’t accept that a mom could kill their kid so they went after the next person available.”
- It didn’t stop there. Other messages questioned whether a juror was wearing a wig and if one of the witnesses had teeth, while other texts saw her calling a police office “pretty” and saying, “I could look at him all day.”
- A hearing will determine what happens to Soderstrom. “The pattern of conduct demonstrates [Soderstrom’s] gross neglect of duty, gross partiality, and oppression. The conduct further demonstrates [a] lack of temperament to serve as a judge,” Chief Justice John. Kane IV said, per The Guardian. Soderstrom is currently suspended with pay.
The petition, detailing the texts between Lincoln Co Judge Traci Soderstrom and her bailiff, mocking attorneys and witnesses are… wild.
(These were first reported in the Oklahoman)
The judge and bailiff shared hundreds of text exchanges during the Judge's 1st murder trial. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/KGluUbW6OY— Tara Blume (@tcblume) October 11, 2023
Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom faces removal after she was caught sending text messages during a trial for a slain child.
A petition for her removal filed Tuesday revealed what she was texting. https://t.co/WZt0PwhSn8
— The Oklahoman (@TheOklahoman_) October 11, 2023
