Nixzmary Brown (July 18, 1998 – January 11, 2006) was a seven-year-old American girl from Brooklyn, New York, whose physical abuse, parental neglect and murder led to reforms in New York City's Administration for Children's Services.
Murder Brown had endured torture, and was later learned to have been bound, molested, beaten, and killed by her stepfather César Rodriguez, in a state of rage that began over a cup of yogurt and a broken printer that he claimed was her fault.
On the night of January 10, 2006, Rodriguez beat Brown to death with both fists and his thick leather belt. Her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, ignored Rodriguez as he slammed Brown's head into a bathtub and doused her with cold water. Both Santiago and Rodriguez were charged with second-degree murder and child endangerment. Rodriguez was convicted on the verdict of first-degree manslaughter and other charges and was sentenced to 29 years in prison. Rodriguez and Santiago each accused the other of inflicting the final, fatal blow. Traces of Brown's DNA were found on Rodriguez's belt.
Previous abuse Evidence of previous abuse inflicted on Brown came to light, and the news coverage of her murder case later drew public attention to New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS). ACS had received two complaints about Brown's family. The first, made in 2004, remained unsubstantiated. The second complaint was made on December 1, 2005, when Brown showed up at school with a black eye. Another story in January 2006 brought more details of the ACS involvement. Blame was eventually assigned to the ACS by the news media and six Children's Services employees were disciplined. The Bloomberg administration noted that the ACS was responding by hiring 525 more workers.
In March 2006, a city panel—created by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in response to Brown's death—advocated multiple changes, some of which included better communication with school officials regarding absenteeism, a 24-hour hotline, instant-response teams, and new training for police personnel regarding sensitivity to abused children. The key changes included:
[T]he police for the first time will assign a full-time supervisor, a lieutenant, to child welfare headquarters to be a liaison between the two agencies. Caseworkers will be required to seek entry orders when denied access to the home of a child suspected to be at risk of neglect or abuse. And school officials will have more licenses to alert the authorities when a student has too many unexplained absences.
Funeral Nixzmary Brown's funeral was held at St. Mary's Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side, although her family had never lived there. According to a Newsday report, there was considerable anger during the burial, with two sides of Brown's family present. Rodriguez's sister, Iris, showed up unexpectedly and her appearance prompted shouts by others to leave, and at least one comment of "not being welcome."
Immediate aftermath In a City Council hearing on the ACS in September 2007, announced by then-Councilman Bill de Blasio, the chairman of the General Welfare Committee, which has jurisdiction over the ACS, De Blasio cited the death of 21-month-old Hailey Gonzalez after she was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend and the death of a two-month-old after the child was allegedly shaken by his mother in a homeless shelter. The Councilman said that the ACS had made some progress but noted that children were still being lost.
On January 13, 2008, a former ACS supervisor, Roger Moore, came forward to discuss with the New York Daily News the failure of the ACS and how opportunities were lost because of another child-murder involving a 16-month-old boy and other factors. Moore discussed that because of the issue of the drowning of the little boy in a bathtub, the issue of Brown was not even discussed. There were discussions of a lack of follow-up work not being done by caseworkers and supervisors in Brooklyn regarding the abuse in Brown's case. ACS Commissioner John Mattingly mentioned to the Daily News editorial board that there were various methods that could have been used, but were not. He also mentioned that the ACS could have brought pressure on Brown's family to reveal more about the girl's condition; that they could have paid more attention to reports from Brown's school staff and could have sought a warrant to enter into Brown's home, but none of these measures were used. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had entered into the discussion by asking in this Daily News article: "Why the caseworkers didn't push further, that's what we are investigating today."
By March 2008, the ACS had launched a $1M recruitment drive for new child welfare caseworkers. It was reported that the agency was getting many applications, but retention of caseworkers was a great problem. It was further reported that in 2007, 17 percent of the city's caseworkers had quit. The pay for the position was reported as starting at $39,000. Videos and other illustrations of the difficulty of the position are currently being used in the recruitment process.
Numerous child felonies had surfaced and were reported in the news media in 2008, including the murder of an 8-month-old named Elijah Rodriguez. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum stated in October 2008 that at least 28 children had died since 2004 "under suspicious circumstances".
Legislation "Nixzmary's Law" was proposed in January 2006 by New York State senator Joseph Bruno, shortly after Nixzmary's murder. The law is designed to deter or prevent child abuse related crimes by charging parents connected to the crime of the death of their children with first degree murder, the maximum punishment for which in New York State would be 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Since passage of the law, reports have increased to New York State's child abuse hotline. According to an article published by the New York Daily News regarding the law, "Driving the trend is increased public awareness of the hotline."
Legislation in the form of a Bill sent to New York Governor Paterson was approved by the state's Senate to target those individuals who have killed a child, especially in a "cruel and wanton manner".
Cesar Rodriguez's trial
Start of trial Jury selection had begun during the week of January 6, 2008, and the defense objective was to focus on the ACS and the parents. The defense lawyer for Rodriguez was Jeffrey T. Schwartz, who had competed in 2006 to represent Darryl Littlejohn in the murder case of Imette St. Guillen.
Prosecutors were insistent that the judge allow jurors to see seven pictures of the dead girl at the start of the testimony. The assistant district attorney (also known as or simply ) wanted one of the pictures introduced to "refute claims by Rodriguez and the girl's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, that she (Nixzmary) drowned." The issue of child discipline was also raised by the prosecutor. Prosecution had planned to show crime-scene photos at the trial, calling it a case of torture.
The jury composition was ten women and two men; nine of them had children of their own. The jury was composed of nine black females, one black male, and two white females, with almost all of the women having children. The lawyers had selected six alternate jurors in case any jurors could not continue during the trial period.
During opening remarks given on January 16, 2008, Assistant DA Ama Dwimoh told the Brooklyn jurors that "It was inevitable her life would end the way it did: battered and beaten, left alone on the floor, moaning until she could no longer hold onto life". Defense lawyer Schwartz countered D.A. Dwimoh's remarks by indicating that Rodriguez was "a loving family man"; that Brown's mother was "deeply, deeply disturbed," and that the little girl herself was troubled.
Details and evidence of Brown's abuse and death It was reported that Brown was confined to a spare room in the apartment with dirty mattresses, a broken radiator, an old wooden school chair with a rope, and a litter box. Further, Brown was said to be "routinely tied to the chair, raped, [and] beaten repeatedly with a belt and fists. Also reported were crime-scene photos taken in the family's three-bedroom apartment, as well as a videotape of Rodriguez casting blame on Brown." Schwartz had said outside of the courtroom on Wednesday that his client was only guilty of being "a strict disciplinarian" and he then reiterated claims that Brown's mother was responsible. He then made a statement that as the trial continued, the jury would soon learn who the actual "monster" [sic] was in Brown's murder.
On January 18, the trial focused on household items which were transformed into instruments of torture for Brown. The chief object was the chair that Brown was tied to. A white nylon cord was still attached to the chair. A bungee cord and duct tape, which Rodriguez allegedly used to cinch Brown's ankles to the chair, were also shown to the jury.
It was reported on the January 21 trial portion that "Brown weighed just 36 pounds when police found her beaten to death on the floor of her Brooklyn apartment, but her family's fridge was anything but empty." Jurors saw crime-scene photographs "of a well-stocked refrigerator full of milk, pancake mix, salami, tortillas, cream cheese, lettuce—and the yogurt that Nixzmary was punished for stealing the night she died."
In an attempt to show Rodriguez in a favorable light, a drinking mug was shown at the Tuesday portion of the trial by the defense lawyer with the title "World's Greatest Dad", to show the jury that Rodriguez did not murder Brown. Schwartz commented on the relationship between Brown and Rodriguez. Assistant D.A. Ama Dwimoh rebuked the whole idea of Rodriguez ever being a good father to Brown. Further court discussion centered on the black leather belt that Rodriguez used to allegedly hit Brown. According to prosecutors, there were traces of Brown's DNA on the belt.
New evidence and trial delays New evidence was presented at the close of the trial on January 23, 2008. A gag order was issued by the court. Mention was made of Rodriguez's "petty criminal record". It was anticipated that this new evidence would be revealed on or after January 23. However, for a second time, jurors were sent home on Thursday. It was reported that both sides in the court case refused to talk about developments. A 'gag' order was in place and the Daily News was attempting to lift the order. The next time that jurors would meet would be on January 28, 2008.
The trial was delayed on January 23 and continued for a fourth day. It was later revealed that the unexplained delays were due to a new witness. Judge Priscilla Hall held a "sealed hearing" because of witness' safety concerns. The gag order remained to prevent either side from speaking about the case. A number of newspapers had filed papers seeking to lift the gag order. It was further revealed that Brown's blood was found in numerous areas of the spare room she was kept in. The expert brought forth to testify, Taylor Dickerson, said that her DNA profile was clearly present. The chief prosecutor said she was tortured and the blood found on the jeans that her stepfather wore on January 11 belonged to Brown.
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