On February 10th, 2024 Oklahoman Judge, Traci Soderstrom, resigned due to the fact she was caught on security camera footage to be texting on her phone during a murder trial. This trial was about the murder of a toddler, which was beaten to death last summer.

Soderstrom was caught, and then her text revealed some not-so-nice messages. According to Maham Javaid, a writer for the Washington Post reports the messages, “[Soderstrom] was accused of exchanging about 500 texts with her bailiff, including messages that mocked the prosecutor’s genitals, objectified witnesses and called evidence “boring,”” (Feb. 10th) It was reported that the judge was texting with her bailiff.

Along with calling the evidence for the case boring, the judge also decided to do some name calling. According to Meredith Deliso, a writer for ABC News says, “[The judge] described the defense attorney as “awesome” and called a prosecutor’s witness a liar, according to the petition.” (Feb 10th) Soderstrom was very distracted which is not what a judge should be doing. It was also reported that the judge was making suggestive comments about the appearance of a police officer who was testifying to her bailiff as well. (Deliso, ABC News, Feb 10th)

Traci Soderstrom has now resigned and was taken off the trial. The man who was on trial for the murder of the toddler was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in prison, which the mother of the child was also found guilty of child abuse and sentenced to 25 years in prison. (Javaid, Washington Post, Feb 10th) The judge knew she was wrong for texting during a trial, hopefully she has learned her lesson.