Complaints made against Hill County attorney

A local woman said she may pursue a lawsuit against Hill County because the county attorney was incompetent when she dismissed assault charges against her five-time criminal ex-boyfriend and alleged attacker.

Court documents show that Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson asked the judge to dismiss the case about two weeks ago, saying she had lost contact with the alleged victim, Martha Hernandez.

Hernandez' accused attacker, Eric J. Hawley, is set for release March 19 from Montana State Prison, when he will have served the remainder of a previous assault sentence that was revoked after he allegedly beat Hernandez. The prison public information officer said Hawley has three partner or family assault felony convictions and two similar misdemeanor convictions, and he will have to register as a violent offender after his release.

Hawley's upcoming release, Hernandez said, scares her. Since the attack, she said, she has moved because she could not bear to stay in the house they shared, sees a counselor multiple times a month, and still has occasional flashbacks of the attack when she shuts her eyes.

Court documents allege Hawley came home drunk and begin yelling at Hernandez for not giving him enough attention before jumping on her and holding her head down onto the bed. After the incident, officers took pictures of her swollen lip and took Hernandez's statement that she was afraid Hawley's attack almost hurt their infant, who was nearby at the time.

Hernandez is not the only one with a complaint against Cole-Hodgkinson.

Hill County's 14-year Personnel Clerk Emily Mayer said this week that if she were not afraid of retaliation, she would be willing to report more to the public in an interview about her complaints about the county attorney's office, but, "I am very afraid for my job, my security and for my future."

Mayer, in a letter to the editor on Page A4 of today's edition of the Havre Daily News, says that since Cole-Hodgkinson became county attorney Nov. 25, she spent little of her time in Hill County. Instead, she "apparently spent much of her time on the Hill County taxpayer's dime in Missoula, supposedly closing her private practice," Mayer writes.

Mayer added that the mountain of cases on the county attorney's desk in a photograph in the Feb. 28 edition of the Havre Daily would not be so high were she to work the hours expected of her.

Mayer added that Cole-Hodgkinson refuses to answer emails or return voice mails, including those from crime victims and other Hill County employees, except via text.

Cole-Hodgkinson has not responded to an email sent Jan. 12 by Havre Daily News requesting clarification on an unrelated case.

Cole-Hodginson defended the hours she has worked in her new job.

"If need be, a good portion of what I do can be accomplished through telecommuting - which I managed with the help of my secretaries," she wrote in a text to the Havre Daily, "and should I offset days not in the office on a weekday with the days spent in the office on weekends and holidays?"

And as for the large case-load, Cole-Hodgkinson said she inherited an "enormous backlog" because the office had been understaffed before she arrived, since August, when two deputy attorneys under then-County Attorney Gina Dahl resigned to work in other Montana counties.

This is not the first time a case has been dismissed on Cole-Hodgkinson's watch.

A June 2014 Missoulian article titled "Pablo man accused of 'vicious' attack on jailer freed; prosecutors too slow in filing charges" says felony charges against a man who was accused of attacking a jailer were dropped because then-Lake County Deputy Attorney Cole-Hodgkinson did not file paperwork on time.

Cole-Hodgkinson said Thursday that the paperwork in the Pablo case was not filed because she had been waiting on information she had requested from law enforcement.

A Lake County human resources representative said Cole-Hodgkinson worked in the county prosecutor's office from September 2007 to December 2014 before resigning.

The paperwork dismissing charges against Hawley was filed the day before the trial. Hernandez and two other witnesses were scheduled to testify against Hawley at the trial, before Cole-Hodgkinson said contact was broken and the case was dismissed.

"I was surprised to have her break contact because she had seemed very willing to participate, but in my experience, as the reality of testifying against the perpetrator approaches, victims of domestic violence become frightened and withdraw," Cole-Hodgkinson said. "Forcing abused women to go to court and testify against their abusers can be another form of abuse. While I want to support and enable victims to be brave and strong, I don't want to be yet another person who refuses to respect their right to control how they will live their lives."

Cole-Hodgkinson said that when Hernandez could not be reached by phone, she and her deputy attorney went by her home. And when that did not work, she had a member of her staff contact a victim advocate worker from District 4 Human Resources Development Council to help find Hernandez, she said.

"My understanding is that HRDC attempted to contact Ms. Hernandez at work Monday afternoon, but they were told she didn't work there," Cole-Hodgkinson said. "It appears that there may have been confusion. Martha apparently goes by Mimi at work."

No one from HRDC has responded to calls asking whether they were asked to help find Hernandez, who has been a certified nursing assistant at Northern Montana Hospital for six years.

Hernandez said she had been keeping up with the case, including a conversation she had with Cole-Hodgkinson over the phone about four days before the day the case was dismissed. She also called the county attorney's office at least once every week for updates, as she was wholeheartedly ready to testify, she said.

Hernandez said her phone was not working the day before the trial, but that Cole-Hodgkinson probably did not go to her home because one of her sons was there all day, watching her 1-year-old. Her son told her neither Cole-Hodgkinson or anyone from her office ever came to the house, Hernandez said.

If Cole-Hodgkinson would have made genuine efforts to find her, she could have been found and Hawley may not be on the loose soon, she said.

Cole-Hodgkinson said she knocked on the door of the house when looking for Hernandez, and there was little sign that anyone had been home.

"I saw mail addressed to her, a package on the steps, and no footprints in the snow except the mailman's," Cole-Hodgkinson said.

Hernandez said she went to the county attorney office after she found out the case was dismissed and was told by an employee in the office that she had been instructed by Cole-Hodgkinson not to call Hernandez' listed alternate number, a close friend of Hernandez.

Hernandez said the employee was crying because the case was dropped.

Cole-Hodgkinson said she never prevented anyone on her staff from calling any number that would have reached Hernandez.

"I'd have preferred to have been able to reach her by phone than drop all my other tasks to go to her house," Cole-Hodgkinson said.

When asked if she were told not to contact Hernandez, the employee said she would not comment on the case because it "might affect how well I can do my job."

Hernandez said she is not afraid just for her safety, but for the daughter she and Hawley have together. When talk of her restraining order against Hawley came up, Hernandez said Hawley hollered at her, saying he was not going to wait 30 years to see his daughter.

She is afraid Hawley might try to kidnap their daughter, she said.

Hernandez said she does not know why charges against Hawley have not been refiled.

Cole-Hodgkinson said refiling charges depends on Hernandez.

"Ms. Hernandez has been invited to come in and indicated she would like that, but she hasn't gotten back with us to set up a time," Cole-Hodgkinson said Thursday.

All three Hill County commissioners have refused to comment or not responded to request for comment on the matter.