Arapahoe County District Court Judge Valeria Spencer, who presided over the high-profile murder trial of Aaron Thompson, is set to leave the bench later this summer to become a federal prosecutor, officials confirmed Monday.
Spencer’s last day will be Aug. 10, said Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Department. She will be taking a job as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado, said that office’s spokesman, Jeff Dorschner.
Spencer had been a federal prosecutor for five years prior to being appointed to the bench in 2006, according to . Prior to that, Spencer worked as a prosecutor in the Denver District Attorney’s office.
“She has extraordinary talent as a prosecutor,” Dorschner said Monday of Spencer. “Her depth of experience in state and federal court both as a prosecutor and as a judge will benefit this office.”
As a district court judge, Spencer handled both civil and criminal cases. The most high-profile of her tenure involved Aaron Thompson, who was accused with his girlfriend of . Police believe it may have been two years before Aaroné was reported missing in 2005 — when she would have been 6 years old.
Thompson was convicted at trial but has never revealed where Aaroné is buried, though Spencer gave him the chance to do so at his sentencing hearing.
“You have failed as a father,” Spencer told Thompson during that hearing. “You have failed as a man.”
Spencer graduated from the University of Colorado law school in 1991. She earned her undergraduate degree in business administration from CU in 1984.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
