Oklahoma
Ethics panel investigating Oklahoma judge using cellphone during murder trial, sheriff’s office says
CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma judicial ethics panel is investigating a new state judge who can be seen on courtroom video scrolling through social media and texting on her cellphone throughout a murder trial, according to a local sheriff’s office.
Security video published by The Oklahoman newspaper shows Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom texting or messaging for minutes at a time during jury selection, opening statements and testimony in the trial for a man charged in the beating death of his girlfriend’s son.
Sgt. Aaron Bennett of the county sheriff’s office declined to provide the video to The Associated Press, saying it is part of an ongoing investigation by the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints. Taylor Henderson, the council’s director, said its work looking into accusations of misconduct by judges is secret by law and that she could not comment on whether it is investigating. Soderstrom declined to comment to The Oklahoman because the verdict in the murder case could still be appealed, saying judges are prohibited from discussing pending cases. She did not respond to a request for comment from the AP. In the video, Soderstrom, 50, can also be seen checking Facebook during the trial, which began last month in Chandler, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City, according to The Oklahoman. At one point, Soderstrom searched for a GIF, an animated image.
Authorities say a woman and her three children were found dead in an Oklahoma home in what may be a murder-suicide.
Oklahoma has executed a man for stabbing a Tulsa woman to death with a butcher knife in 1995. Fifty-one-year-old Jemaine Cannon received a lethal injection Thursday morning at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
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Oklahoma State has had plenty of turnover in the transfer portal. The Cowboys lost at least eight starters among 18 players who went into the transfer portal since last season.
The judge was sworn in on Jan. 9 after being elected in November. Her four-year term expires in January 2027.
The trial ended in a second-degree manslaughter conviction for Khristian Tyler Martzall in the 2018 death of Braxton Danker. Prosecutors had asked jurors to find him guilty of first-degree murder.
Bennett said cameras are placed in courtrooms for security. He said the sheriff’s office did not provide the video to The Oklahoman.
Sheriff Charlie Dougherty told the newspaper that he provided videos from the trial to the council at its request.
District Attorney Adam Panter said he reviewed the video after getting a tip from courthouse personnel. He said he found the judge “spent hours of the trial” texting and scrolling on her cellphone.
“It is both shocking and disappointing,” he told the newspaper. “Jurors are banned from using cellphones in the courtroom during trials because we expect them to give their full time and attention to the evidence being presented. I would expect and hope the court would hold itself to the same standard required of the jurors, regardless of the type of case.”
Panter said he never saw her using the phone. The videos show that Soderstrom held the phone in her lap and below the top of the judge’s bench while using it or set it down in an open drawer.
Defense attorney Velia Lopez said Soderstrom did a great job, and she never saw the judge on the phone. Jari Askins, Oklahoma’s administrative director of the courts, declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said the conduct of judges is governed by the Code of Judicial Conduct, which states: “A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” The code does not specifically mention the use of mobile phones.
Oklahoma’s chief school officer and Trump administration education secretary hopeful is now demanding that students in the state watch a video of him praying for Donald Trump.
In an email circulated to Oklahoma public school superintendents last week, Ryan Walters ordered them to play the video to “all kids that are enrolled” in their districts as well as to the students’ parents.
Walters wrote that it was “a dangerous time for this country” and that students “rights and freedoms regarding religious liberties are continuously under assault,” the Oklahoman reported.
In the bizarre video, Walters announced a new office in the state called “the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.”
“For too long in this country we’ve seen the radical left attack individuals’ religious liberty in our schools. We will not tolerate that in Oklahoma. Your religious Liberties will be protected,” Walters said, before bowing his head in a prayer for Trump.
“I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” he said.
When grilled by CNN’s Pam Brown about what gives him the authority to demand schools play the video to their students, Walters accused Brown of pushing a “left-wing narrative” and maintained that Trump “has a clear mandate.”
“He wants prayer back in school. He wants radical leftism out of the classroom. He wants our kids to be patriotic,” he said. “He wants parents back in charge with school choice. We’re enacting upon that agenda here in Oklahoma.”
Several school districts in Oklahoma said they have no intention of showing the video, the Oklahoman reported.
The office of the state’s Republican attorney general, Genter Drummond, also weighed in and said that Walters cannot mandate schools to play the video.
“There is no statutory authority for the state schools superintendent to require all students to watch a specific video,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, told the newspaper.
“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”
Walters, who ordered schools to incorporate the Bible into classrooms and backs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s pledge to scrap the federal Department of Education, is thought to currently be in the running to be named Trump’s new education secretary.
In June, he notified all Oklahoma state schools to “immediately” incorporate the Bible into classroom curriculum, drawing immediate outrage and threats of lawsuits.
“Effective immediately, all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum” in grades five through 12, according to the notice from the Republican school superintendent.
“The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments,” the notice reads.
At a press conference at the time, Walters said that every school in the state “will have a Bible in the classroom,” and that every teacher “will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom.”
The move, which led to him being sued by more than 30 educators and parents, propeled him into the national spotlight.
Officers said Xavion Paggett went to the BOK near 71st and Sheridan to cash a check, but he pulled out a gun and demanded money.
Monday, November 18th 2024, 9:57 pm
By:
News On 6
TULSA, Okla. –
A man was arrested on Thursday after police say he pointed a gun at a bank teller and demanded cash.
Officers say Xavion Paggett went to the Bank of Oklahoma near 71st and Sheridan earlier in November to cash a check.
Instead, authorities said he pulled out a gun, pointed it at the clerk and demanded money. Investigators say Paggett ran off without the money when another employee showed up.
He’s charged with attempted robbery. His bond was set at $250,000.
In an Oklahoma’s Own Originals special, watch “75 on 6” at 7 p.m.
Click here to watch it on News On 6 NOW.
It’s a celebration of the role KOTV News On 6 has played in the community since 1949, keeping Oklahomans safe, informed, and entertained.
You’ll see plenty of familiar faces, and perhaps a few you haven’t seen in a long while.
The special can be seen on News On 6 as well as the News On 6 website, news app, and streaming apps for Roku, Amazon Fire stick and Apple TV.
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