11 years in prison for Aurora man guilty of attempted murder in 2019 break-up
An Aurora man was sentenced to 11 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to attempted murder and aggravated stalking in a June 2019 breakup with his girlfriend.
Jordi Nieto, 21, of the 700 block of Spring Street, pleaded guilty to those two felonies, along with aggravated domestic battery, and was sentenced by Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler.
"Cases like this are why we invest significant resources into addressing domestic violence. Mr. Nieto is a violent criminal who believes it is OK to resort to violence when facing rejection," Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said. "It seems pretty clear that without the victim's quick thinking and the parents' intervention, this could well have ended with someone being killed."
According to prosecutors, Nieto was angry that his girlfriend, then 18, broke up with him and he went to her place of employment on June 20, 2019, climbed a security fence and entered her vehicle. When she came out on break and got into her car, Nieto grabbed her, threatened to kill her and drove to Nieto's uncle's house in Aurora, prosecutors said.
The two spent the night there and the victim left the next morning after her parents became concerned she didn't return home from work and later tracked her down, prosecutors said. It was not reported to police at the time, prosecutors said.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on June 25, 2019, the woman arrived home on the 100 block of North Street and found Nieto waiting for her while holding what she believed was a weapon, prosecutors said. She ran, but Nieto got into his car, followed her and rammed her vehicle.
The ex-girlfriend's 42-year-old mother stepped into the street to help her daughter and Nieto swerved - hitting his ex-girlfriend and running over her mother before hitting a parked car and then a tree, prosecutors said.
The ex-girlfriend sustained a minor leg injury, but her mother suffered a broken knee, heel and ankle and still needs physical therapy for her injuries, prosecutors said.
Aurora police officers responding to the area found Nieto wearing gloves and holding a knife with a 5½-inch blade, prosecutors said. Authorities found an ax in his vehicle, and a cellphone search showed he searched about a case from 2013 in which a woman was bludgeoned to death and her body set on fire.
Nieto gets credit for nearly a year served at the Kane County jail while the charges were pending.
Nieto also must pay $30,000 in restitution to the victim's insurance company for medical bills and her hospitalization.