Judge denies request to overturn contempt on former Hill County Attorney

A state District judge took little time in denying a former Hill County attorney's request to overturn three contempt of court convictions, at the same time she was paying fines and entering her sentence on six days of house arrest.

Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson last Thursday requested state District Judge Dan Boucher to overturn the criminal contempt of court findings made by Hill County Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger Aug. 7 for Cole-Hodgkinson's failing to appear or find counsel that could represent the state in three cases in June.

Tuesday, Boucher ruled against Cole-Hodgkinson.

Last week, Barger set another contempt of court hearing for Sept. 27 for Cole-Hodgkinson to explain why she had not paid her fines.

Barger sentenced Cole-Hodgkinson to one, two and three days of house arrest for the contempt findings, to run consecutively, and fined her $500 for each count. She also barred Cole-Hodgkinson from practicing in Hill County Justice Court unless the attorney was representing herself.

Barger delayed Cole-Hodgkinson's house arrest until Sept. 10 to allow her time to request a higher-court review of the sentence, with a Sept. 1 deadline for the fines.

After Cole-Hodgkinson missed the Sept. 1 deadline, Barge set the Sept. 27 hearing.

This morning, Barger issued an order canceling the hearing because Cole-Hodgkinson had paid her fines, and entered house arrest, Monday.

In the August hearing, Barger cited her own experience as evidence that Cole-Hodgkinson missed the hearings. She also cited then-Deputy Hill County Attorney Karen Alley, who had previously represented the defendants as a public defender, saying she had contacted Cole-Hodgkinson to tell her Alley could not represent the state but Cole-Hodgkinson had not responded.

Alley was appointed Hill County attorney July 30 after Cole-Hodgkinson resigned.

Cole-Hodgkinson's petition for Boucher to overturn Barger's findings had 106 pages, including a 32-page petition with her arguments and a transcript of the contempt-of-court hearing.

During the hearing, Cole-Hodgkinson spent more than an hour reading texts and making arguments.

She read multiple texts to to show she had communicated with members of her office. She also explained why she had missed the hearings - she had to take her dog to Great Falls and Missoula for emergency treatment - and made numerous arguments. Those included that she should be allowed to present evidence during the hearing and that Barger had no jurisdiction to tell her how to run her office as county attorney.

Barger told Cole-Hodgkinson that as county attorney it was ultimately her responsibility to make sure counsel that could represent the state was at the hearings, and Barger found her guilty of the three counts.

In his ruling, Boucher - who had set contempt hearings for Cole-Hodgkinson in his own court, canceling them when she provided the documents the hearings were about - wrote that the he found that Barger did have jurisdiction and substantial evidence supports her order.

He wrote that he is convinced Barger witnessed first-hand Cole-Hodgkinson's absence on at least three occasions.

"As a result, the orderly administration of justice was disrupted. and immediate action was necessary to maintain the dignity and authority of the court," Boucher said in the order.