An Oklahoma judge is under fire and could potentially lose her judgeship after she was caught sending inappropriate text messages during a murder trial.
The New York Post is reporting that Judge Traci Soderstrom was recommended to be removed from her position following the filing of an official judicial complaint against her.
The complaint came after Soderstrom, who was only appointed to the position in January, was caught texting on her cell phone during the trial of Khristian Martzall, who is looking at a murder charge for allegedly beating 2-year-old Braxton Danker to death.
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Soderstrom began sending inappropriate messages when the toddler’s mother, Judith, took the stand.
“Can I please scream, ‘liar, liar’?” she wrote to an unidentified recipient.
“State just couldn’t accept that a mom could kill their kid, so they went after the next person available,” read another text.
Other inappropriate texts included inappropriate comments about a female officer, claiming she was “pretty,” comments about a witness’s hair and teeth and even comments about the district attorney having “baby hands.”
At the end of the trial, Martzall was convicted of second-degree manslaughter for the toddler’s death and was sentenced to four years. However, Danker pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse and was sentenced to 25 years.
But the sentencing came under fire once the inappropriate texts were revealed.
“Chief Justice John Kane IV wrote in the filing to remove her that her “pattern of conduct demonstrates [Soderstrom’s] gross neglect of duty, gross partiality” and “lack of temperament to serve as a judge,” reported the outlet.
Soderstrom has been suspended from her position, pending the final outcome of the investigation.
