Photo: Lincoln County Court
An Oklahoma district judge resigned after she was caught sending over 500 text messages while behind the bench during a murder trial.
Surveillance camera footage captured District Judge Traci Soderstrom sending the messages during the murder trial murder trial of Khristian Tyler Martzall, who was accused of killing his girlfriend's two-year-old son.
In text messages to the bailiff, she mocked prosecutors and called one of the key witnesses in the case a liar. In other messages, she praised the defense attorney and the looks of a police officer who was testifying.
Martzall was ultimately convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to time served. The child's mother is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for enabling child abuse.
Soderstrom's decision to resign comes just days before she was set to undergo a trial in front of a special court to face allegations of gross neglect of duty, oppression in office, lack of proper temperament, and failure to supervise her office.
Her resignation was part of a settlement between the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary, in which she also agreed she would not seek judicial office in Oklahoma in the future.