Felony charge dropped, county attorney's office MIA

Charges against a Havre man with four prior assault convictions who was accused of choking his wife in June were dismissed after no one from the Hill County Attorney's Office showed up in District Court for the jury trial Wednesday, court documents say.

Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson said today she did not show up for the hearing because the parties reached a plea deal before the case was dismissed.

There is no plea agreement filed in District Court and court minutes say the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be filed again.

Paul Neal, public defender for Jon Stimson, the man formerly charged with the assault, said he does not comment on cases.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said Thursday the commissioners were aware the case was dismissed, adding she could not comment any further.

Stimson, born in 1964, was accused of choking his wife June 3 almost to the point of blacking out. Charging documents say Stimson threatened to kill the woman and the responding officers saw redness and scratches on the woman's neck and chin area. Stimson's prior convictions are all partner or family members assaults. He was listed this morning on the Hill County Detention Center jail roster.

This is not the first time a case Cole-Hodgkinson has been involved in has been dismissed.

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 March 9 that the paperwork in the Pablo case was not filed because she had been waiting on information she had requested from law enforcement.

Since taking over as Hill County attorney Nov. 25, there has been controversy regarding other cases.

Traffic-related misdemeanor charges against Dane Jacobson were dropped March 9 in Justice Court because no one from the county attorney's office showed up. That led to an order telling Cole-Hogkinson to appear before Justice of the Peace Judge Audrey Barger March 20 to answer for the absence. Cole-Hodgkinson told Barger the Jacobson case was misfiled and no one in her office knew they needed to be in Justice Court.

In a more complicated case, charges against another already-convicted felon, Eric Hawley, were dismissed after Cole-Hodgkinson said she had lost contact with a witness. The dismissal has led to a $1 million lawsuit that was filed against Hill County March 20 by the alleged victim on the grounds of gross incompetence by Cole-Hodgkinson.

The charges against Hawley have since been refiled and will be prosecuted by Montana Prosecuting Assistant Attorney General Joel Thompson in place of Cole-Hodgkinson.