Judge says brain tumor records ‘complete fabrication’ — allows them as evidence in falsified child abuse trial

AURORA | A judge will allow evidence prosecutors say shows that a woman facing charges of making a false report of child abuse against an Aurora council member faked a brain tumor in order to get her case delayed or dropped.

Former Arapahoe County Department of Human Services employee Robin Niceta is facing charges of making a false report of child abuse as a mandatory reporter, a class 2 misdemeanor and retaliation against an elected official, a class 6 felony, in connection to a January 2022 report that Aurora city Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky was abusing her toddler son. The report was filed a day after Jurinsky criticized former Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson on a talk radio show. Niceta was Wilson’s romantic partner at the time

On Wednesday, Arapahoe County District Court Judge David Karpel also denied motions to strike from the court record part of an interview with a police officer, and to exclude evidence from the defendant’s work laptop and phone. 

Niceta pleaded not guilty to the false reporting charges in December.

This spring, Niceta’s former lawyers filed a motion asking for a determination of Niceta’s competency to stand trial. Her defense claimed that she had an aggressive brain tumor and was severely ill. That motion has now been sealed by the court.

The documents included medical records showing a purported brain tumor and a letter from Niceta’s doctor. After Niceta’s claims were reported by a local TV station, the veracity of the documents were called into question by a number of medical professionals, as well as the existence of Niceta’s doctor.

At a subsequent hearing in May, that motion was withdrawn and Niceta’s lawyers were removed from her case, citing irreconcilable differences. She is now being represented by attorney Frank Moya.

In an interview with the Sentinel this spring, Niceta’s mother Janice Dudley said Niceta had glioblastoma and had “a huge tumor on the right side of her head,” and that she required significant care from her parents to function.

“Just being able to handle day-to-day living is real tough right now,” she said.

Following the May hearing, Dudley did not respond to multiple follow-up inquiries from the Sentinel.

Niceta has been living with her family in New Mexico, according to her lawyers, and she had attended previous hearings remotely. At the May hearing, she was ordered by Judge David Karpel to attend all the remaining hearings in person, although on Wednesday he granted a request for her to attend a pre-trial readiness conference at the end of the month remotely.

Niceta did not speak at the hearing. Moya attempted to contest a motion from the prosecution to enter documents about Niceta’s brain tumor into the record for the trial, arguing that it could not be proved that she had knowingly committed wrongdoing.

Prosecutor Daniel Cohen said the evidence was relevant to the case, and that if it was permitted to be entered, he believed that Niceta’s former lawyers would testify under an exception to attorney-client privilege laws for fabricated evidence.

Karpel allowed the evidence to be entered but said that how the prosecution intends to use it during the trial is a matter for a later date. Based on a preponderance of evidence standard, he said the court finds that Niceta’s medical records were “a complete fabrication.”

Karpel also allowed evidence from Niceta’s work phone and laptop to be entered into the record, agreeing with the prosecution’s argument that since Niceta was a government employee, she had a very limited right to privacy to any data on those devices.

He additionally allowed the entirety of a 36-minute initial interview between Niceta and an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office sergeant to be entered into a record after a back-and-forth between the lawyers about whether Niceta’s Miranda rights had been violated.

Niceta was advised on her rights before the interview began, and 10 minutes in said that she wanted to invoke her right to remain silent after taking umbrage at something Sgt. John Turnidge said.

At that point, Moya said Turnidge said that was fine but that he had enough evidence to file a warrant for her arrest. After that, Niceta said she would keep talking, and the interview continued for more than 20 minutes.

Moya said that Turnidge telling Niceta he would be filing charges against her after she said she wanted to stop talking constituted a threat and wanted the rest of the interview thrown out.

Karpel said that while the interaction was a “close call,” some of Niceta’s statements later in the interview constituted a revocation of her right to remain silent and that he would allow the entire thing to be included.

Niceta reportedly said “I didn’t do it” repeatedly throughout the interview and at one point told Turnidge that if she had something to hide, she would walk away.

Jurinsky attended the hearing, but she did not comment after.

At the hearing in May, she said that Niceta’s alleged fabrication was appalling and that she hoped she faced additional charges.

“What she is claiming she has takes people’s lives within six months,” Jurinsky said in May. “This is no laughing matter, this is no joke, what she claimed she had.”

Niceta is scheduled to go to trial beginning Aug. 1.