An Oklahoma judge who during a murder trial texted her bailiff over 500 times including making crass remarks about the district attorney’s genitals has resigned.
Rather than face trial that was scheduled to start Monday, court records show Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom agreed to step down for the bench immediately and not seek further judgeships in the state.
“I promised to uphold the Constitution in a fair, even-handed and efficient manner,” Soderstrom wrote in part in her resignation letter, CBS News reported. “I believe that I have done so. However, being human, I have also faltered.”
During a press conference, Soderstrom acknowledged sending text messages during the trial was wrong.
“I texted during a trial. It doesn’t matter if it was a traffic case, divorce case or first-degree murder case. I texted during a trial, and that was inappropriate,” Soderstrom said, according to local ABC affiliate KOCO.
An investigation concluded that Soderstrom was not paying attention during the jury trial and apparently came to the conclusion that the defendant was innocent of murder. She was overseeing the June 2023 murder trial of Khristian Marzall, who was charged with first-degree murder in the May 2018 death of 2-year-old Braxton Danker. The child’s mother, Judith Danker, pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse in 2019, receiving a 25-year prison sentence. She was the state’s key witness in the trial.
But Soderstrom contended at Friday’s press conference that she did not give up her impartiality during the trial.
Hellbound and Down 