COVID-19 restrictions delay former county attorney trial in Texas

The trial of a former Hill County attorney accused of shooting her estranged husband in Abilene, Texas, has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson, who was appointed Hill County attorney in November 2018 and resigned in July 2018, was scheduled to go on trial in Taylor County District Court in Abilene today.

A court representative said trials have been postponed due to restrictions put in place to try to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and when the trials will resume is not known.

Cole-Hodgkinson was arrested and booked into jail in Abilene, Texas, Feb. 3, 2019, on the shooting charges and was released on a $50,000 bond the next day.

Her husband, Carl Hodgkinson, 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.

Carl Hodgkinson has been through the courts himself since the alleged shooting. He was sentenced in federal court in Abilene Sept. 24 to 18 months followed by two years supervised release on a charge of possession of an unregistered firearm, to run after the sentence in a child pornography charge in the state District Court in Abilene. In that case, was sentenced Oct. 18 to three years for possession of child pornography.

He told officers investigating the Feb. 3, 2019, incident that he returned home early that morning from the home of his girlfriend and found Cole-Hodkginson inside of the shower with handcuffs on.

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

He suffered four gunshot wounds.

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

She submitted her resignation effective July 30, 2018, while facing contempt of court hearings in Hill County Justice Court for not ensuring a prosecuting attorney without conflicts could attend hearings and in state District Court in Havre for failing to file sentencing orders.

After she submitted required paperwork, the District Court hearing was vacated.

In August 2018, Judge Audrey Barger held a contempt-of-court hearing to explain why Cole-Hodkginson 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 up 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.