Former County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson has been ordered to appear in Hill County Justice Court where she was found guilty Aug. 7 of three counts of contempt of court. This time she will be asked to explain why she hasn’t paid her fines of $1,500 and why she shouldn’t be held in contempt of court, again.
Cole-Hodgkinson had until Saturday to pay fines of $500 for each count of contempt.
Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson
The embattled former county attorney is ordered to appear to her show cause hearing Sept. 27 at 10 a.m., more than a month after Judge Audrey Barger also sentenced her to six days of house arrest.
On the day of her last show cause hearing, after she was found guilty, Cole-Hodgkinson told Barger she disagreed with the judge’s take on the law as it pertained to her situation and that she was going to file a writ of review to a higher court. As of this morning there has been no writ of review filed in District Court.
She has until Monday to give Barger proof she has served the house arrest sentence.
Cole-Hodgkinson, still the county attorney at the time, did not show up to Justice Court hearings July 16, 18 and 25. Her dog’s sudden illness and need for immediate attention was the reason she had to leave town, she told Barger. Then-Deputy Attorney Karen Alley — who has since been sworn in as the new county attorney — could not prosecute in the hearings because of a conflict of interest related to her time at the Regional Office of Public Defender. Cole-Hodgkinson’s main defense during the Aug. 7 show cause hearing was that she didn’t know she was needed because Justice Court was primarily handled by Alley and nobody told her any different. She supported her argument by reading out a litany of text and email messages between her, Alley, and defense attorneys involved in cases to establish a pattern of communication.
Barger told Cole-Hodgkinson her excuse of not knowing was “not credible.” She told the former county attorney that her behavior during her tenure was “unacceptable.”
Judge Audrey Barger listens Aug. 7 during Cole-Hodgkinson’s show cause hearing. / The Havre Herald
Cole-Hodgkinson’s 19-month tenure as county attorney was rife with controversy and the fodder of much bad publicity. There were multiple instances where she didn’t show up to hearings in District and Justice courts. Her official resignation became effective July 30, after which Alley, who had won the Democratic primary in June, was sworn in.
According to a Voluntary Resignation Agreement between her and the county commissioners, obtained by The Havre Herald after her resignation, Cole-Hodgkinson received over $49,000 and health benefits — through the duration of her term, Dec. 31 — to resign. The agreement says Cole-Hodgkinson and county officials had a falling out and the agreement’s purpose was to “induce” her to resign.
Further Reading on this topic:
Guilty of Contempt. What Next for Hill County’s Former Prosecutor?
Long End to a Short Tenure: Karen Alley Takes on Large Caseload as Hill County Attorney, Former Attorney Resigns
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