Jurors in the harrowing Nixzmary Brown trial say they were divided over handing down a murder verdict, so instead they found Cesar Rodriguez guilty of first-degree manslaughter, as well as "endangering the welfare of the child and criminal possession of a weapon, including a belt used to beat Nixzmary." The Brooklyn DA's office argued 29-year-old Rodriguez's abusive actions amounted to second-degree murder in the death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, but one juror told the Daily......

The jury deliberating whether Cesar Rodriguez is guilty of killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter is reportedly close to a verdict. Even though the jury is on a break for the weekend, the Daily News suggests the jury's behavior indicates a verdict is near. The jurors endured 10 weeks of details about the short, horrific life Nixzmary Brown endured under her mother Nixzaliz Santiago and Rodriguez. The pair are being tried separately, and Rodriguez's defense is that......

The maternal grandmother of a 7-year-old abused girl who died in 2006 testified yesterday the child feared her stepfather. Her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, is on trial for Nixzmary Brown's murder; Brown's mother Nixzaliz Santiago will face a separate trial. The defense called Maria Gonzalez to support their claims a depressed Santiago struck the fatal blow. But Gonzalez, who only appeared because she was subpoenaed, said Brown and her siblings were scared of Rodriguez, "They had......

During his testimony for the defense, a former Suffolk County medical examiner said 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was not killed by child abuse syndrome but by a single blow. In spite of her malnourished state and various injuries battering her body, Dr. Charles Wetli said, "If you take away the head injury from this child, there is no reason that the child should have died in that time and place." The NYC Medical Examiner's office said......

The defense for the man on trial for murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown opened its case by presenting a DNA expert. The Daily News says Dr. Lawrence Koblinsky, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, "attacked the investigation but seemed to bore jurors." Cesar Rodriguez, accused of killing the little girl in January of 2006, has admitted to savagely beating Nixzmary, tying her to a chair, and more, but his defense has......

A city medical examiner spent two days testifying in the trial of Cesar Rodriguez, who face murder charges over his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown's death. Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson revealed two things: That the girl only gained one pound in two and a half years and that she was dead for seven hours before 911 was called. The Brooklyn DA's office has been trying to prove Rodriguez's actions led to the child's death.......

Photographs of a 7-year-old girl's battered body moved jurors in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial to tears yesterday. The prosecution showed crime scene photographs, featuring Nixzmary's dead body. The girl's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez is on trial for second-degree murder. Newsday thought it sounded like someone exclaimed "Jesus!" after seeing the pictures; other jurors covered their mouths. And with good reason: One of the pictures "showed bruised and scratched buttocks of the child with a spot......

After almost a week of delays, jurors were back in court for the Nixzmary Brown murder case. A expert said that the malnourished 7-year-old's blood was found under the fingernails Brown's stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, as well as on his jeans. Rodriguez faces murder charges for the malnourished 7-year-old's 2006 death. Rodriguez's defense lawyers said the blood was present because he had tried to save her after the girl's mother beat her to death, noting the......

The Nixzmary Brown murder trial took an interesting turn yesterday when the defense lawyer for Cesar Rodriguez entered a photograph of a mug into evidence. Rodriguez is on trial for second-degree murder of his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown. Though Rodriguez has admitted to beating her the night she died, lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz has been trying to argue that Brown's death was directly caused by her mother and not Rodriguez. Schwartz questioned a detective about a......

We hope the jurors in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial get this weekend to relax, because the first few days of the trial have been intense. After the emotional opening statements on Wednesday, the prosecution showed a glimpse into the 7-year-old girl's tortured life. The prosecution contends that stepfather Cesar Rodriguez's abuse of Nixzamary led to her death. Rodriguez and her mother Nixzaliz Santiago were raising a total of six children in a small Brooklyn......

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......

The death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown shocked the city in January of last year. The child was beaten to death in her family's Brooklyn apartment and a history of abuse, including being tied up to a chair and showing up to school with bruises (when she would appear in school on rare occasions), had been noted by the Administration for Children's Services who seemingly did nothing to intervene. Her mother Nixzaliz Santiago and stepfather Cesar......

Yesterday, there was a pre-trial hearing to determine whether a confession tape from Nixzaliz Santiago about the death of her 7 year old daughter Nixzmary Brown would be allowed. Santiago and her husband Cesar Rodriguez are accused of starving, beating and badly torturing Brown, who died in January. But before as lawyers were arguing about tape, Santiago surprised her lawyer with a letter, which stated that she wanted to remove him as her counsel. Santiago......

The stepfather of Nixzmary Brown, the 7 year old beaten and tortured to death last month, claims that Brown was a "devil" and that's why he had to beat her. Statements written by Cesar Rodriguez were made public: "With no intention of causing her death, I carelessly corrected my stepdaughter's actions. I took it upon myself to defend the safety of my other five beautiful children." Yeah, and that would be accomplished by hitting her......

Nixzmary Brown's grandmother is trying to get custody of her daughter's other five children. This may become a big case, as Newsday reports that one of the children's father has also petitioned for custody after7 year-old Brown's death at the hands of her stepfather and under the watch of her mother. This comes after the Daily News reveals that Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, told fellow inmates that her daughter deserved to be punished. One woman......

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes charged both parents of Nixzmary Brown, the 7 year old girl who died of abuse, with second degree murder. Stepfather Cesar Rodriguez had beaten Brown to death on January 10 as Brown's mother Nixzaliz Santiago did nothing, and originally Rodriguez was charged with second degree murder and Santiago with manslaughter - but yesterday DA Hynes said the grand jury found that Santiago "created a grave risk of death" for her daughter.......

Yesterday, New Yorkers flocked to the East Village to pay their respects to Nixzmary Brown, whose small 7 year old body was shown in an open casket wake at the First Avenue Ortiz Funeral Home. Brown, who was killed in an abusive fit by her stepfather Cesar Rodriguez as her mother Nixzaliz Santiago stood by, has become the symbol for everything that could be wrong with the city's protective services for children. Brown's relatives described......

Yesterday, Nixzaliz Santiago, the mother of 7 year old Nixzmary Brown who was killed at the abusive hands of Santiago's boyfriend Cesar Rodriguez - and Santiago herself - granted jailhouse interviews with the Daily News and NY Post. She tells the Daily News that she still loved Rodriguez. She does admit that she saw/heard Rodriguez "punish" Brown that fateful night (dunking the 36 pound child in the water-filled bathtub, hitting her head against the faucet)......

The last hours of Nixzmary Brown, who was starved, abused, tortured, and beaten to death at the hands of her parents during her seven years of life, included her stepfather Cesar Rodriguez holding her head under water and beating her, also hitting her head against the bathtub faucet, whlie she called out for her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, who never came. Rodriguez and Santiago pleaded not guilty to murder and abuse charges. Furor is emerging over......

A seven year old girl was found dead in her Bedford Stuyvesant apartment, beaten to death. Police discovered horrifying details of Nixzmary Brown's short life: A chair with ropes where she was bound, a cat litter box she was forced to use. A detective said, "When all the facts come out on this, it's going to be as bad as Lisa Steinberg." Her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, was charged with second degree murder and sexual abuse,......