January 17, 2008
7-Year-Old's Life of "Systemic Torture"
Yesterday, a jury heard opening statements in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial. Her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, faces charges of second-degree murder, after the 7-year-old Brooklyn girl spent her final hours beaten and having her head hit against the bathtub faucet and held under water, after a life where she was repeatedly beaten, tied to a chair, starved, and made to use a litter box.
The jurors cried when they saw a photograph of the child's dead body from January 2006. Per the Daily News, "the 8-by-10-inch picture showed the 7-year-old lying on a wooden floor, a pair of red sweatpants hanging off her malnourished frame. Bruises covered her torso. Her half-opened eyes were blackened." Her body also had "ugly cuts." To counter the power of the photograph and media coverage of the case, the defense strategy was to "blame the victim" - and the victim's mother.
Defense lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz said Nixzmary terrorized her siblings, "She was like a little Houdini trying to get out," admitting that Rodriguez would discipline her by whipping her with a belt.
The night she died, Schwartz said his client beat her because she stole yogurt (that Rodriguez specifically wouldn't allow her) but said, "When you’re poor and you can’t afford unlimited amounts of food and you have six children, you have to make sure that everyone gets what they’re entitled to get, so that you can ensure that everyone stays healthy.” (Nixzmary was severely malnourished, weighing 35 pounds, the typical weight for a 3 or 4-year-old.) Schwartz added that the girl was alive before her mother Nixzaliz Santiago tended to her, "And then, ladies and gentlemen, that's when Mommy Dearest takes over." Santiago will face murder charges in a separate trial.
Prosecutor Ama Dwimoh said of Rodriguez:
Daddies don't repeatedly pound their fists on their little girl's backs. They don't tie their hands and legs. Daddies don't bind their little girls to chairs. Daddies don't give their little girls two black eyes. Daddies don't let make their little girls use a litter box ... or pour icy water onto them in the middle of winter. Daddies don't beat their little girls to the extent that all they can do is moan. Daddies don't blame their children for their actions. Murderers do.Dwimoh described the child's life as one of "systemic torture," "It was how she died that tells us how she lived. And it was because of how she lived that she died."
The first witness, neighbor Ulvis Rivera who was called when Nixzmary was found unconscious, broke down on the stand. She admitted that Rodriguez was administering CPR, but said the girl was clearly dead, "She was on the floor. Her face was disfigured. She had no pulse. She wasn't breathing... She had bruises all over her face."
Nixzmary Brown's death, as well as others, forced changes at the Administration for Children's Services, which had been aware of problems in the home (teachers noticed the girl missed 46 days of school the prior fall). Last fall, the agency announced retired police detectives would work with caseworkers.
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Christ...I know everyone is entitled to have attorney representation, but god knows how Schwartz is sleeping through the night.
And Dwimoh seems like a pretty damn good prosecutor. She's got a way with words, that's for sure. McCoy would be proud.
disgusting awful parents. i hope someone bashes their faces up against a faucet. ugh, this world is sick, the more and more i read the news, the more my faith in humanity is decreasing by the minute.
I love this. A 7 year old was routinely beaten and terrorized and starved. And surprise--she doesn't behave well. Perhaps the attorney is not familiar with the "parents should model good behavior" part of child rearing.
The Times seemed to suggest that the jurors were horrified by Schwartz' defense. How he could mount a defense based upon the premise that the child somehow deserved her beatings is beyond comprehension.
She was a little Houdini? Oh, that makes everything OK. Not guilty!
I could understand the defense trying to pin the blame on the mother. But to blame 36 pound 7 year old girl is inexcusable and likely to offend a jury composed primarily of women with children. Her death was caused by a lifetime of torture at the hands of both parents. The only question left to answer is how much time will he serve.
poor with six children, so there's not enough food to go around? here's a crazy thought, see if you can stick with me on this one: have fewer children. use a f'ing condom or some other form of birth control. against your religion to do so? i think it's also most likely against your religion to starve and torture your children. i'm using some advanced reasoning here, i know.
thedroog, what you said makes totally no logical sense. i don't understand. poor people should have fewer kids? really? what?
@mdowning:
i didn't say poor people should have fewer kids. but if you can't afford to feed your own children, to the point where they are literally starving to death, do you really think you should be bringing more into the world? if so, do please justify that for me.
It would be awesome if people have to pay taxed for having kids...so they will have them ONLY if they can take care of them. WTF!?
how can we as humans procreate like beasts to then blame the lack of responsability on the kids...
It is ovbious thta procreating is the easiest thing that humans can do...not for that it makes good humans of the parents
Incredible abuse. As asult I'm ashamed of the brutality some people eveolve into with years.
there are plenty of poor people, who can barely afford to feed their children, that somehow still manage not to beat them to death. poverty is not to blame for this one.
i feel for that defense attorney, though. how can you make a case? unfortunately, anything less than zealous representation could result in an appeal that would get this sick fuck acquitted or a new trial.
what a disaster.
susan smith got life, so should they.
susan also got some guard action, too. I somehow think theirs won't be of the same type.
miss mess - no need to feel for the defense attorney. Schwartz accepted the case with full knowledge of the allegations. I bet he was expecting a plea bargain but the DA was holding out for 30+ yrs. Still, it is a high profile case so it will be good for business.
I call bullshit on not having enough food to eat in the house. I assume they collected food stamps which means they received an adequate amount, enough to feed all their children and them some.
Also having a child that was possibly hyperactive/ADHD is no excuse for beating the life out of them.
C'mon Chelly, can't you see that that kid was EVIL?!?!?! She was the devil personified. She deserved everything she had coming to her.
(I wonder how that defense will play out with the guy's cellmate in Attica.)
SO very tragic. All that poor little girl knew in life was beatings and abuse. That's so very upsetting. I hope that poor little girl is now at peace.
It never ceases to amaze me how much pain a so-called caregiver can inflict on a young charge. How do they live with themselves, with each other? Were the other children immune to their wrath? And how does a teacher not notice that one of her kids weights less than a Thanksgiving turkey?
Poor People should not have many children. Poor people have kids and those kids don't have enough money or attention and they fucking rob and rape your asses when they grow up. You should have as many children as you can afford, monetarily, psychologically, emotionally and timewise. How the fuck can a poor person have six kids? If you actually worked in a job to feed them you wouldn't have the time to raise them. There's an inverse pattern. People who have kids are fucking selfish as hell. They only care about the status of having children but not the actual raising and teaching.
There's no excuse for treating a child this way. None. Especially "poverty". My parents were not rich or socially entitled in any way. They gave me and my brothers the feeling that we were loved no matter what. When I grew up, I realized that the world is not as generous as all that. But I knew that unconditional love is the deeper truth. That's the beginning of human dignity, rich or poor; and the pre-condition to peace on earth.
What to do with a monster like this?
When will he have a society where people feel their true worth? Capitalism spawns idiots, rich and poor. Aspire toward middle-class values. Live and let live. Respect life. Its not about "family values". It's about a generosity of spirit and respect for life.
Off with their heads!