Judge rude to victims, witnesses say at ouster trial

Oklahoma County District Judge Kendra Coleman would roll her eyes, sigh heavily and make faces as she presided over requests for victim protective orders, prosecution witnesses testified at her ouster trial last week.

She regularly was rude and demeaning to petitioners who would leave the courtroom mad or in tears, according to the testimony. At times, she would mock them or call them ridiculous.

"She should not have lives in her hands," said one petitioner, Clarissa Smith, 24. "I felt invalidated and humiliated."

Hearing the testimony is the Court on the Judiciary. The nine members will decide at trial's end whether to remove Coleman from the bench for gross neglect of duty, oppression in office, judicial misconduct and other wrongdoing. She is asking to continue to serve.

The court on Thursday rejected a dismissal motion 7-2.

Coleman was elected in November 2018. She was reassigned in January to the victim protective order docket after presiding first over criminal cases and then over probate and guardianship cases.

On her first day, she blocked victim advocates from standing before her with petitioners seeking protective orders.

"She said that she wasn't going to baby anyone in her courtroom," recalled Laura McDonald, the director of the domestic violence victims assistance program at the YWCA in Oklahoma City. "If someone needed a protective order, they needed to stand up and ask her for it."

She also had advocates remove pamphlets for victims from the courtroom. She blocked advocates from having on hand stuffed animals, coloring books and snacks for children of petitioners appearing in court.

On her second day, she made inappropriate comments to a pregnant woman expecting a boy, according to the testimony.

The woman and child's father had each filed for a protective order against the other.

"I hope you raise him to not date women like you. That's free parenting advice. You can thank me," witness Anden Bull recalled the judge saying to the woman.

Bull, the chief operating officer of Palomar: Oklahoma City's Family Justice Center, described the judge's demeanor in court as very flippant and sarcastic.

One petitioner, retired nurse Amber Yeager, testified the judge denied her an emergency protective order because her then-boyfriend had been jailed for beating and choking her.

Yeager testified the judge told her she was not in immediate danger and could ask again if the man was released. She described the judge as having a narcissistic smile.

"I did lose my cool with her," Yeager said. "I asked her, 'What is wrong with you? When he gets out, I'm his target. It's because of people like you women end up getting killed.'"

The judge found another petitioner in contempt of court who complained about a ruling. The woman had to pay a $200 fine.

A number of advocates and petitioners reported the judge to the Council on Judicial Complaints. The judge told the council she had been patient, dignified and courteous to all litigants.

She also told the council that she actually had asked the pregnant woman "if her behavior was the example she wanted to set as the type of woman her son may one day date." The judge told the council the woman responded no.

Her attorney, Joe White, said the parents dropped their cases against each other. After the baby was born, they brought him to court to introduce to the judge, the attorney said.

The Court on the Judiciary heard conflicting accounts on whether the judge once broke out in laughter and took a recess during testimony about a hair-pulling fight between two women.

"I've never seen her do anything like that," her bailiff, Myra Beasley, testified Friday.

In an impassioned argument for dismissal, her attorney criticized the advocates for not giving her a chance.

"She certainly doesn't deserve the treatment she's received from some of the advocates," White said. "I believe the evidence has been from Day One the advocates attempted to start removal of her for whatever reason."

He noted Coleman did not have any training on handling VPO cases until February.

"I don't care who you are, it's a tough docket. And she did her best at going through that docket without any training," White said. "A judge ought to get to run his or her courtroom. ... Advocates, they don't want change. They just want the status quo. ... They want a rubber-stamp on every petitioner that comes in there that's one of their clients. It just doesn't work that way."

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday for a third week.

Coleman, 44, is expected to testify at some point.

The judge accepted a paid suspension from the bench in June after the Oklahoma Supreme Court sent the accusations to the Court on the Judiciary for trial.

She still faces a jury trial in November on a felony tax evasion charge. She has called the charge frivolous.