District Court hearings on former county attorney vacated

Hearings in state District Court in Havre requiring former Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodginson have been vacated after she provided documents to the court, but hearings in Hill County Justice Court still are pending.

District Judge Dan Boucher vacated the hearings requiring Cole-Hodgkinson show cause as to why she did not file judgments for him to sign on sentences imposed in seven cases.

In a letter to Boucher dated Monday, Cole-Hodgkinson, who resigned last week effective 8 a.m. Monday, said she prepared the "belated judgments" and included them with the letter.

She wrote that she would be out of the state today and requested the hearings be vacated or rescheduled or she be allowed to appear by telephone.

"I apologize for missing the deadlines," Cole-Hodgkinson wrote, "I have been largely away from the office for the past few weeks dealing with three rather overwhelming and unexpected personal matters. I trusted that the office would take care of things, and I was unaware of the judge's order."

She also notified Boucher of her resignation.

"My other obligations must come first," she said.

She still faces hearings Aug. 7 before Hill County Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger to answer why she failed to provide someone to represent the state in three cases in which her sole deputy, Karen Alley, had conflicts and could not prosecute the cases.

The Hill County Commission appointed Alley as Cole-Hodgkinson's replacement Monday. She said she has two new deputies coming in this month and the Montana Attorney General's Office is providing assistance as well.

Barger denied a request by Cole-Hodgkinson in a similar letter to vacate the hearing or allow her to appear by telephone.

Complaints about Cole-Hodgkinson started coming in shortly after she was appointed in November 2016 to replace Gina Dahl, who left the office to take a job in Billings.

Several cases were dismissed due to Cole-Hodgkinson failing to appear at trials or hearings and failing to prepare, including her saying she was not prepared to prosecute several cases the day they were scheduled for trial.

In June, Boucher ruled that Cole-Hodkginson had failed to provide an attorney who did not have a conflict when filing a case involving two-year-old accusations of embezzlement and ruled that the Hill County Attorney's Office could not prosecute the case.

Complaints about Cole-Hodgkinson were raised during her career before she was appointed in Hill County.

In 2014, when she was a Lake County deputy attorney, a judge dismissed charges alleging a Pablo man made a "vicious" attack on a jailer in May 2014 because Cole-Hodgkinson did not file a request for the judge to allow charges to be filed until 18 days after the man was arrested.

The judge ruled the 18-day delay exceeded any case found in Montana history for which a delay was found reasonable.

Cole-Hodgkinson did not return a call the Havre Daily News made Friday requesting comments.