Judge replaces lawyer for ex-social worker who called in fake child abuse tip against Aurora lawmaker

CENTENNIAL | The attorney representing Robin Niceta missed another hearing due to illness Friday, prompting a judge to remove him from the case and postpone Niceta’s sentencing for trying to frame an Aurora City Council member for child abuse to April.

Three weeks after attorney Michael Root called into Niceta’s original sentencing hearing and said he couldn’t attend because of “a really bad issue with some health stuff,” Judge Eric Elliff told a courtroom packed with Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky’s supporters that Root had once again fallen “extremely ill.”

Elliff threatened to clear the courtroom when some of Danielle Jurinsky’s supporters chuckled and made sarcastic comments at this announcement.

Since defendants are generally entitled to have their attorney present during sentencing, Elliff said his “hands are absolutely tied” and that he had no choice but to once again postpone Niceta’s sentencing.

“I know it pains all of you, and it pains me,” Elliff said. “I have every sympathy for the victims in this case, for Ms. Niceta’s family members, for everybody else who is here in this courtroom and is virtual this morning for this sentencing, but we can’t go forward.”

Root could not be reached by phone or through a contact page on his website following the Feb. 9 hearing.

In November, an Arapahoe County jury found Niceta guilty of attempting to influence a public servant, a fourth-degree felony, and making a false report of child abuse, a third-degree misdemeanor.

Investigators say Niceta called a child abuse hotline to accuse Danielle Jurinsky of sexually molesting her own son in January 2022 after Jurinsky went on a talk radio show to criticize then-Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson, who was Niceta’s girlfriend at the time.

Niceta faces up to six years in prison and $500,000 in fines for the felony charge and six months’ imprisonment and $750 in fines for the misdemeanor.

Friday’s sentencing was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. As the start time came and went with no sign of Niceta, Danielle Jurinsky paced anxiously through the public gallery, at times huddling with her father and other supporters.

“I’m having a f*****g nervous breakdown, and you can quote me on that,” she said.

She later told reporters that she has “lost sleep” for the past year and a half at the thought of Niceta dropping off the radar of law enforcement and becoming a fugitive.

At 9:10 a.m., Niceta walked into the courtroom without her attorney and sat down at the defendant’s table. The hearing itself didn’t begin until about 9:40 a.m., at which time Elliff announced the postponement.

While the delay means Danielle Jurinsky and Niceta won’t learn Niceta’s fate until April 12, Elliff invited those present to address the court on behalf of the two on Friday. Danielle Jurinsky, her father and Niceta’s former boss took Elliff up on his offer, asking him not to show leniency to Niceta.

Michelle Dossey — the child and adult protection services division manager for Arapahoe County’s Department of Human Services, where Niceta worked as a caseworker at the time of the fake tip — said Niceta’s actions had damaged the reputation of social workers across the state, endangering the lives of children who are genuinely at risk of abuse.

“If one person in our community has doubts about our child welfare system because of Ms. Niceta and hesitates or does not call, a child could really be needlessly injured or killed,” Dossey said. “We believe the punishment should fit the heinous nature of her crimes, and we respectfully request that she be punished to the full extent of the law.”

Jerry Jurinsky told Elliff how he felt helpless as his daughter was investigated and threatened with the loss of custody over his grandson. He stressed that Niceta acted deliberately and not spontaneously out of anger when she made the hotline call.

During the November trial, investigators presented digital forensic evidence downloaded from Niceta’s county-issued laptop and cellphone that indicated Niceta looked up information about Danielle Jurinsky and the child abuse hotline’s policies for retaining caller information shortly before the call was placed.

“Every lie and every evil criminal action committed by this defendant against Danielle and our family was planned — not random, spur-of-the-moment decisions, but planned and researched,” Jerry Jurinsky said. “She hoped it would succeed in removing a son from his home and destroying a family.”

Danielle Jurinsky wept openly during her father’s testimony and during her own comments to Elliff, saying Niceta’s actions went beyond intimidation.

“Those allegations were made with the intent of taking my son from me. What that means, your honor, is that those allegations were made with the intent of taking my life from me,” Danielle Jurinsky said.

She also described the ordeal as God’s way of positioning her as a “voice for the voiceless” and holding Niceta accountable for misconduct that was likely to have taken place before.

“I was chosen for encountering a terror that was Robin Niceta,” Danielle Jurinsky said. “Robin, may God have mercy on your soul. Judge Elliff, please, may you have none.”

After the hearing, she told reporters that the ongoing delays in the case were “nerve-wracking” and that she continues to fear Niceta will try to harm members of her family.

Niceta’s trial on charges that she tried to dupe the court into believing that she was suffering from brain cancer to avoid criminal penalties is scheduled to begin April 29.

Some of Jurinsky’s supporters wore matching T-shirts on Friday that read “All Brains are NOT Made the Same – Team Jurinsky,” which hearing attendee Melissa Ryan described as a tongue-in-cheek allusion to Niceta’s brain cancer claims.

A status hearing in the original case that would include the attorney appointed to replace Root was also set for March 1.