Former Hill County attorney indicted on shooting charge

A former Hill County attorney was indicted by a Taylor County, Texas, grand jury Thursday on a charge accusing her of shooting her estranged husband multiple times at his home in Abilene, Texas.

Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson, who was Hill County attorney from November 2016 to July 2018, was indicted Thursday on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault family violence.

The date of her trial was not listed this morning on the public website of the court.

Cole-Hodgkinson was arrested and booked into jail in Abilene, Texas, Feb. 3, on the shooting charges and was released on $50,000 bond the next day.

Her husband, Carl Hodgkinson, who is facing child pornography charges in Abiliene and pleaded guilty May 16 to federal charges of possession of an unregistered firearm, told police Feb. 3 that Cole-Hodgkinson had been in Abilene about a week and he was helping her move from Montana to Oregon, the complaint filed in court said.

He said he returned home early in the morning of Feb. 3 - his girlfriend and her roommate said he had spent the previous day and night into the early morning of the third in their residence - and found Cole-Hodgkinson had locked him out of his residence when his girlfriend dropped him off. He said he had told Cole-Hodgkinson he would be there that morning.

Hodgkinson said he found Cole-Hodkginson inside of the shower with handcuffs on.

He said when he found her there, she shot him multiple times, and he did not know why she had shot him.

He had a gunshot wound in his lower right side which grazed one of his vertebrae, a gunshot wound in the center of his stomach which exited on his left side, a graze wound on the left side of his chest and a gunshot wound in his right bicep that exited the outer side of the bicep.

A doctor signed a serious bodily injury form stating that, in his medical opinion, the injuries created a substantial risk of death.

Hodgkinson said that after she shot him, Cole-Hodkginson left the residence and he called 911.

Cole-Hodkginson was found when a neighbor of Hodkginson  called to say Cole-Hodgkinson was in her residence, the complaint said. Cole-Hodgkinson was wearing handcuffs when found, it added.

Cole-Hodgkinson had left her position in Havre several months earlier after a year-and-a-half tenure as Hill County attorney filled with complaints.

She was appointed in November 2016 to fill the position when the previous county attorney resigned to move to Billings.

In March 2017, she was called to appear before Hill County Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger to answer why she had failed to appear to represent the state at a trial in Justice Court.

Barger did not find Cole-Hodgkinson in contempt of court after that hearing, but admonished Cole-Hodgkinson to improve her performance.

By July 2018, multiple additional complaints had come in regarding Cole-Hodkginson's performance, including a crime victim filing $1 million lawsuit against the county alleging gross incompetence. That case later was dismissed due to lacking factual basis and that Cole-Hodkginson had immunity from being sued for performing her duties.

The case the lawsuit was complaining about was re-filed with a Montana deputy attorney general prosecuting, and the offender pleaded guilty and was sentenced.

Four felony criminal cases scheduled for trial were dismissed in September 2017 because Cole-Hodgkinson said her office was not prepared to prosecute them.

By July 2018, Cole-Hodkginson was facing contempt of court hearings in Justice Court and state District Court.

She submitted her resignation effective July 30, 2018, before either hearing was held.

In District Court, she was to have explained why she had not filed written judgments on sentences imposed in seven cases in the court. After she announced her resignation and filed the judgments in question, Judge Dan Boucher vacated the hearing.

Barger called Cole-Hodgkinson in on a contempt-of-court hearing to explain why she had not ensured an attorney who did not have conflicts of interest could represent the state in three hearings in Barger's court, leading to dismissal of charges in two of the cases.

Barger ended finding Cole-Hodgkinson in criminal contempt of court on three counts, fined her $1,500, sentenced her to six days of house arrest and barred her from practicing law in Hill County Justice Court for one year.

Cole-Hodgkinson filed a request for Boucher to overturn Barger's findings. Boucher denied the request.