From the Bench: Judge caught using social media during murder trial

Posted at 12:51 PM, July 24, 2023

By: Judge Ashley Willcott

An Oklahoma judge was on the bench listening to a criminal trial and do you know what she was doing — and it was caught on video — she was looking at Facebook, she was texting, she was scrolling.

READ MORE: Ethics panel investigating judge using cellphone during murder trial

I have three things to think about for this case.

  1. All jobs, people are sometimes working or not working, and when they’re not working and they’re supposed to be working, well, those are the cases in which there are consequences for those employees. So if that’s true for workers at other jobs, shouldn’t that be true for a judge?
  2. I think judges sometimes should be held to a higher standard. This is somebody’s life, and they’re scrolling and looking at Facebook and shopping online.
  3. Think about this: Would you want this to be your judge if you had a criminal case or a civil case before her?

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