Guilty Verdict In NYC Child Abuse Death

Stepfather Convicted Of Manslaughter In Violent Death Of 7-Year-Old Nixzmary Brown

(CBS/AP)  A jury convicted a man of manslaughter Tuesday in the death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter after a trial that detailed years of horrific abuse and cast a spotlight on the city's troubled child welfare agency.

Brooklyn jurors deliberated four days before finding Cesar Rodriguez guilty of lesser charges in the death of the tiny, malnourished girl who was severely punished after she was caught stealing yogurt. Prosecutors, who alleged the girl was the victim of years of abuse and neglect comparable to torture, had sought to convict Rodriguez of murder.

Rodriguez, 29, faces 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison, reports the New York Daily News.

Evidence in the nearly three-month-long trial in state Supreme Court included grim crime scene photos from the room where Nixzmary Brown was bound to a chair, starved and forced to urinate in a litter box. More than once, court officers passed out tissues so weeping jurors could dry their eyes.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Ama Dwimoh displayed a large photo of the victim's body - bruised, topless and splayed on a wooden floor in the family's ramshackle apartment - as she stood in front of the defense table and berated Rodriguez.

"You battered a little girl who weighed 36 pounds," she said last week. "When she was on the floor in that room you imprisoned her in, you turned your back."

Gazing up at the photo, she argued: "There is nothing that 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown could ever do to deserve that."

On Monday, jurors returned to the jury box four times, jumping from a re-reading of the most serious charge -- second-degree murder -- to the reading of a much lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter, and just before lunch, a notch up to first-degree manslaughter, reports New York Newsday.

Despite the emotion surrounding the case, defense attorney Jeffrey Schwartz stuck to a bold strategy of casting Nixzmary's mother as the real killer, labeling her "Mommy Dearest."

He also portrayed the victim as a violent and uncontrollable "little Houdini" - a reference to her supposed knack at slipping out of the makeshift restraints devised by her parents to keep her from attacking her younger siblings.

Schwartz asked the jury of two men and 10 women to focus on the testimony of a jailhouse snitch, who claimed that behind bars the mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, described a fatal beating.

It was "the confession of the sick, of the demented, of the disturbed mother," he said.

Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter and other charges in connection with the girl's death on Jan. 11, 2006.

In a videotaped statement played for the jury, Rodriguez said that on Nixzmary's last night, he punished her by sticking her head under running bath water "to make her think." Investigators suspect the girl's head was smashed against the faucet - something her stepfather denied doing.

The stepfather admitted he had abused her but denied killing her, saying on tape, "Sometimes she'd get me real angry, and I used to just throw her on the floor. ... She was always lying to me about everything."

Rodriguez admitted on video that he restrained the girl "by putting duct tape on her hand and tying her to a chair," reports Newsday.

Schwartz contended that Rodriguez was a hard-working security guard and overwhelmed parent who was "guilty of child abuse." But he said the case was plagued by sloppy police work and a rush to judgment, and told jurors, "You have not seen evidence in this courtroom that has proven murder or manslaughter charges."

Schwartz also sought to blame the city's overburdened Administration for Children's Services for doing too little to stop it.

There had been warning signs for years before the little girl died. School employees had reported that she had been absent for weeks the previous year.

Neighbors noticed unexplained injuries and noted she appeared underfed and small for her age. Child welfare workers had been alerted twice but said they found no conclusive evidence of abuse.

The case, coupled with a series of other high-profile deaths of children known to child welfare workers, sparked public demands for reform.

City officials and lawmakers responded by bolstering the corps of caseworkers and drafting legislation to give life in prison without parole to parents who cause the death of a child under 14 through abuse.

[whatithink-2009]

jeff92706,

These people are Puerto Rican, nothing illegal about them.

[klingon69]

Posted by closethippy1 at 06:02 AM : Mar 19, 2008
First off; We do not, and never have lived in a democracy. We live in a republic. Secondly, this story has absolutely NOTHING to do with Bush, Cheney, Pelousy...etc. This is the story of a sad abused little girl and the scum who got out of true justice for her MURDER. This connecting Bush with everything you see is like a delusion. Admittedly Bush is probably the worse president ever, and a pretty worthless human being. However with that being said, this type of abuse has been going on for decades, centuries. It is not something that just cropped up in the last 7 1/2 years. And of course the authorities have always been less that they should be in investigating these kinds of cases. Blame should also be placed on the jury. They felt that the treatment, abuse and neglect this little girl endured was enough to warrant a manslaughter charge, but not murder. Either way, the little girl had died after suffering untold horrors at the hands of this creature(s), and the libs would whine, cry, wring their hankies and hold a candlelight vigil for him if he was to be executed.

[klingon69]

Posted by closethippy1 at 09:04 PM : Mar 18, 2008
I knew someone would say it weas Bush''s fault.

[closethippy1]

they are getting away with murder because the bleeding heart liberal masses (who whines the most) has this misguided way for fixing the ''''problem''''..
Posted by libsrweak at 09:47 PM : Mar 18, 2008

So what is this "misguided way" you talk about, prey tell.
You mean like following the law and respect the balance of power between the three government branches?
Respect the Constitution?
Understand what the limits of Presidential powers are?
Cooperate with Congress whenever there''s an investigation?
There''s nothing "misguided" about trying to live in a true democracy and not one created by rightwing nuts like Bush and Cheney to their liking.

[ranger1948]

What could this child possibly have done to be treated like this, especialy by someone who is suposed to love and protect her. I think the curts failed in not getting a murder conviction . I also wonder if the mother i going to be charged and tried.

[apndrgn]

Here goes another addition to the greater than 1% of U. S. Americans incarcerated. Funds are allocated to ensure jail makers get their share to build the jails, inner city is ignored.
Its like going to one side of a basin and building a vacuum torture device with the money that the poorer family needs to maintain its sanity at the other side of the basin.
Apparently it is entertaining, otherwise why is it done like this? The vicious circle is such that the mob demands more jails, judges, lawyers, police, and the social workers get less and are unable to function.

[libsrweak]

All you have to do is make up a reason and you''''ll get away with murder.

Posted by closethippy1 at 09:04 PM : Mar 18, 2008
+ report abuse

************

they are getting away with murder because the bleeding heart liberal masses (who whines the most) has this misguided way for fixing the ''problem''..

I am willing to discuss this with you as long as long as you dont act like a 4th grader

[graceesmom]

This person should be charged with Capital Murder. The child clearly needed help in the worse way. I can''t believe that he was only convicted of manslaughter. It''s like he would be into more trouble for killing an animal. I hope when he is locked up he gets a whole lot of what he deserves. There is no justification in killing a child. Her weight was 36 pounds at 8 years old. She was starving. My heart is broken. I will never forget about this little girl. She is now an Angel and as bad as it is, she is a whole lot better off than being where she was. Sad to say that but its true!!!

[ladyephesus1]

THE MAN IS JUST STRAIGHT SICK AND SO IS THE MOTHER.
ROT IN HELL!!

[theusa1st]

this is just disgusting...all of it...poor child.
the jurors are ignorant and deserve evil done to them...may his lawyer rot in hell with this piece of human trash and the childs mother...disgusting.