Hill County being sued for $1 million over county attorney

Martha Hernandez of Havre is suing Hill County for $1 million on grounds of gross incompetence by the county attorney.

The incompetence of Hill County Attorney Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson, the amended complaint says, has potentially endangered the life and well-being of Hernandez. The county attorney’s “negligence” and “unpreparedness” was the reason assault charges against Hernandez’ former boyfriend, Eric James Hawley, were dismissed Feb. 27, the complaint says.

Cole-Hodgkinson has said the reason for the dropped charges was because she lost contact with Hernandez a day before the trial. She had invited media coverage of the trial four days before it was scheduled to happen.

The assault charges against Hawley were refiled last week by Montana Prosecuting Assistant Attorney General Joel Thompson, who will be prosecuting the case in place of Cole-Hodgkinson.

Hawley was released March 19 from Montana State Prison, where he served the remainder of a revoked sentence for partner or family member assault. He is now in Hill County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond. Hawley has been convicted of five partner or family member assault charges, three of them felonies.

Hawley “violently attacked” Hernandez July of 2016, the complaint says, and her two sons, 13 and 16, were witnesses. The younger son called 911 at the time, and Hernandez has said that both boys were ready to testify along with a friend of hers during a jury trial scheduled for Feb. 28.

Hernandez had been ready to testify since the attack, and by Feb. 23, she still had not been told the date and time of the trial, the complaint says. During a phone conversation that day, Cole-Hodgkinson told Hernandez she didn’t expect to go to trial, but she instead anticipated Hawley to accept a plea deal, the complaint says. When Hernandez asked the county attorney what was in the plea deal, Cole-Hodgkinson said “she couldn’t locate the plea deal at the moment due to amount of paperwork on her desk,” the complaint says.

One day before the Feb. 28 scheduled trial, the complaint says, District Judge Daniel Boucher did not grant Hawley’s motion to continue the trial to another day, leading Cole-Hodgkinson to try and contact Hernandez by phone and in person at her residence.

That was when she found out she lost contact with the victim, Cole-Hodgkinson has said. She and a deputy attorney called Hernandez on her cellphone, visited her home and enlisted the help of a victim advocate worker at District 4 Human Resources Development Council to try and help find Hernandez at work. But there was confusion about her official name and the name Hernandez goes by, Mimi, Cole-Hodgkinson has said.

Hernandez has said that her phone was not working that day, but she said it was likely no one ever came to her home. One of her sons was home all day with her toddler, and he told her no one ever knocked on the door, she said.

“However, no attempt was made to contact Ms. Hernandez at her place of work (of which she has been employed for the last six years) or through an alternate contact number provided by Ms. Hernandez to (Cole-Hodgkinson),” the complaint says.

Cole-Hodgkinson has not commented on the lawsuit and all three county commissioners have declined to comment on the lawsuit in the past.

Commissioner Mark Peterson said the case will be dealt with by the county attorney.