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Girl's Death Galvanizes City

Josh Getlin
Los Angeles Times
January 17, 2006

NEW YORK -- Nixzmary Brown will be buried Wednesday.

The 7-year-old was found beaten to death last week in a squalid Brooklyn apartment. Her stepfather, police said, at one point tied her to a chair, sexually abused her and forced her to eat cat food. Enraged that Nixzmary took yogurt from the refrigerator, he allegedly forced her into a bathtub, where she died from a violent blow to the head.

"The city is disgusted by this," resident Nora Baez said Monday as she stood in line in the bitter cold to attend Nixzmary 's wake at a Manhattan funeral parlor.

Nixzmary 's death has dominated local news for a week.

"We as a city have failed this child," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told reporters soon after Nixzmary 's death. "I want to assure all New Yorkers that a full investigation is under way. People will be held responsible for their actions in this tragedy."

Nixzmary was the fourth youngster in the last two months to have died while their cases were under investigation by New York child welfare workers, city officials said. There were 30 such fatalities last year. The annual number has fluctuated from 22 to 35 over the past 12 years, according to reports by city child welfare agencies.

The details of Nixzmary 's final days provide a stomach-turning picture of abuse, according to police and child welfare reports. They also underscore the difficulties of ensuring coordination among the many city agencies in charge of protecting children -- even though the policies for such follow-through are clearly spelled out.

City officials first learned of her case in May, when school officials told a child welfare hotline that Nixzmary had missed 46 days of school. Caseworkers from the Administration for Children's Services visited her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, and determined that there was no evidence of child abuse.

School officials subsequently reported that the girl was undernourished. Six months later, they told children's services that Nixzmary had come to school with a black eye and a two-inch gash on her forehead; they said she had missed 16 more days of school.

On Dec. 1, ACS workers again visited the girl's Bedford-Stuyvesant home. Joined by two child abuse detectives from the New York Police Department, they talked to family members and reported that all appeared to be well. A doctor later examined Nixzmary and reported her cut was consistent with a fall, as she had told caseworkers.

Child welfare workers tried to visit the home a week later, but were refused entry by Cesar Rodriguez, 27, the girl's stepfather. Upon learning that Nixzmary had missed another two weeks of school, caseworkers tried again to visit the family, with no luck. The phone was disconnected and there was no reply to notes left under the door.

Caseworkers did not seek a warrant to search the home, an option available to them, and did not have further contact with the family until Jan. 11. Early that morning, they were summoned to the apartment, where Nixzmary 's body was found. She was barely four feet tall, weighed 36 pounds and appeared to have been submerged under water before being hit on the head, police said.

A Brooklyn grand jury on Tuesday indicted Santiago for second-degree murder, unlawful imprisonment and reckless endangerment of a child; Rodriguez was indicted on similar charges, as well as sexual abuse and manslaughter in the first degree. Both face 25 years to life in prison if they are convicted, Brooklyn District Attorney Joseph Hynes said.

The couple's five other children are now in protective custody, officials said.

In the aftermath, city officials are facing tough questions from critics: Should school officials have reported the possible abuse to police as well as child welfare officials? Why did children's services caseworkers not seek a warrant to search the home? Should police detectives have conducted a more aggressive investigation of the family?

John Mattingly, who heads the city's Administration for Children's Services, conceded at a news conference last week: "We were in a position to have kept this from happening." He has vowed a top-to-bottom probe of what went wrong.

[Admin]

Mayor Says Everyone Had A Hand In Child's Death
ACS In The Middle Of Surging Storm

John Slattery
WCBS
1/14/2006

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The death of Nixzmary Brown, Mayor Mike Bloomberg said Thursday, should never have happened.

"It is a case that the city, you and I, all of us failed this child," Bloomberg said.

The child's naked bruised body was found tied up. Investigators say her stepfather Cesar Rodriguez had banged the child's head against a faucet in the bathtub of their Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment. He's charged with murder. The girl's mother is charged with manslaughter.

The Administration for Children's Services became involved after the child missed classes, and an injured eye. Then a doctor said it could've been from a fall. Last month, child welfare officials tried to investigate further but say they encounter difficulty from the family.

"A supervisor said get a warrant," Bloomberg said. "It never got to a judge. That's the break during this time."

It appears the school handled the case properly, trying to find out why the child was missing school.

"Someone did visit the home and if you're not allowed access what are you to do?" said Andrea Bailey, a parent and school volunteer. "We're not the police, or ACS. They have more resources and steps can be taken."

The head of the teachers union says schools have gotten too concerned with prepping for tests, instead ignoring the safety of our children.

"We have guidance counselors that have caseloads of 500 to 600 children," said Teachers Union president Randi Weingarten. "We don't have enough to help the children."

[Admin]

Neighbors: We Must Learn From Nixzmary's Death
People From All Over Brave Cold To Visit Nixzmary Memorial

Naomi Rivera
WCBS
1/16/2007

BROOKLYN (CBS) ― A bitter wind whipped the tarp protecting a memorial for Nixzmary Brown outside the apartment where the severely beaten and sexually abused little girl died Wednesday. Despite the chill, a steady stream of New Yorkers still visited to say a prayer or drop off a balloon or teddy bear.

"Too many kids getting hurt like this, a lot of times neighbors don't know," said Greta Hunter, who dropped off a teddy bear. "You don't know what happens behind closed doors. But the family does. And it's just a shame."

One neighbor, who used to see Nixzmary visit this corner store, says in hindsight the usually happy second grader seemed different in recent weeks.

"The last time I seen her, she walked with an awkward walk, like hurt," Tyrone Houston said.

The apartment where Nixzmary died remains sealed by police. Other occupants of the building declined to comment.

For some, the crime has brought back memories of the equally brutal murder of Lisa Steinberg, killed by her adoptive father, Joel, in Greenwich Village in 1987.

The crime spurred Ed Alvarado to write a poem for Lisa. On Sunday, he brought a copy to the funeral home where Nixzmary's wake will be held Monday and Tuesday.

"These kids, they can't defend themselves," Alvarado said. "It's the same as an elderly person. They cannot defend themselves. Something's gotta be done."

Also Sunday, state assemblywoman Naomi Rivera held a news conference at Bronx County court about the need for stiffer penalties for child killers.

"We don't want to hear that there's an investigation," Rivera said. "We want to know the results of that investigation, and we want to know who will be held responsible for Nixzmary's death."

In the wake of this tragedy, city officials are asking anyone who has information that a child is being neglected or abused to call 311 or 911 if the child is in imminent danger.

[Admin]

GIRL'S BEATING DEATH SHOCKS CHILD-PROTECTION ADVOCATES

Adam Goldman
Miami Herald
January 22, 2006

In the eyes of her stepfather, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was an out-of-control troublemaker. She stole money from her parents and broke her siblings' toys and their computer printer, he said.

And when he found that she had gone into the refrigerator and taken a cup of yogurt she was not supposed to have, he flew into a rage. Police say Cesar Rodriguez beat the little girl to death, then tossed her on the floor of what was known in the family's apartment as the ``dirty room,'' a rodent-infested room where she had been tied up and left with only a litter box as a toilet.

During a jail interview with newspaper reporters, Rodriguez did not admit fatally beating his stepdaughter but said: ``I have a lot of guilt.''

Nixzmary 's killing reverberated throughout the city. Hundreds of strangers showed up at her funeral, and the case has been a daily fixture in the tabloid newspapers. It also has forced a major shake-up at the city's child protection agency.

``It touched everyone,'' said Caridad Ramos, 44, Nixzmary 's great aunt.

Rodriguez, 27, and Nixzmary 's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, are charged with multiple felony counts, including second-degree murder. Rodriguez is also accused of molesting Nixzmary and abusing her five siblings. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The case has shocked the most seasoned investigators and child advocates.

``The circumstances of the abuse this girl suffered were horrifying and among the most tragic that I've ever come across,'' said Erik Pitchal, director of the Center for Family and Child Advocacy at the Fordham School of Law. There had been warning signs.

Last May, a guidance counselor at Nixzmary 's school reported the child had missed 47 days of school. The city's Administration for Children's Services responded immediately but closed the case weeks later.

The agency failed to find ``educational neglect when it was clear the girl had not been attending school,'' said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.

In early December, ACS received another complaint about Nixzmary . She, her siblings and her stepfather were interviewed but Mattingly said caseworkers were unable to gain access to Nixzmary 's home. The case stalled.

Santiago's relatives lost contact after Nixzmary moved from Puerto Rico to New York several years ago.

Ramos, Santiago's aunt, said she hadn't seen Nixzmary in four years.

``If the family had been aware this never would have happened,'' Ramos said. ``Never. Never. Never.''

An indictment alleges that, beginning on New Year's Day, Rodriguez used anything he could to subdue the little girl he described as ``a handful,'' including a belt, a piece of wood and a bungee cord.

On the night of Jan. 10, Nixzmary 's mother discovered a yogurt cup missing, and she went to Rodriguez. The frightened girl denied taking it, but one of the other children tattled, authorities say.

Later, Rodriguez discovered his computer printer was broken.

He stripped Nixzmary of her clothes and beat her in front of Santiago, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

He dragged her into the bathroom and repeatedly dunked her head under cold water, and loud banging noises and screams of ``Mommy'' were heard throughout the apartment, authorities say. Rodriguez carried Nixzmary 's limp body into the dirty room and tossed her to the floor, Hynes said.

Along with Nixzmary 's slaying, the ACS's record has been highlighted by the bumbling of two recent cases in which another 7-year-old girl was murdered and a baby drowned.

The agency has received 2,170 reports of child abuse and neglect, a 71 percent increase from the same period a year ago.

[Admin]

Mother and boyfriend charged in latest child death in New York City

By Tom Hays
Associated Press
February 1, 2006

NEW YORK – The latest child to die in a series of abuse cases that has rattled the city's child welfare agency was slammed into walls and beaten by his mother's boyfriend while she did nothing to stop him, police said.
Investigators believe 4-year-old Quachon Brown died Sunday following a beating by Jose Calderone, who later claimed he was angry because he thought the child caused a television to fall over, police said Tuesday. The child's mother, Alicia Smith, didn't report any trouble until early Monday.

Smith, 26, was arrested Tuesday on a manslaughter charge; Calderone, 18, was charged with second-degree murder.
It was unclear whether the suspects had attorneys, and prosecutors had no comment.

Police said they suspect the abuse began last summer, after Calderone moved into the apartment with Smith, Quachon and his four sisters. Two of the girls, ages 6 and 9, have told investigators that the boyfriend singled out the boy for regular beatings, which included shoving him face-first into walls.

Autopsy results were pending, but police said there was preliminary evidence that the child had a fractured skull, a damaged liver and atrophied leg muscles.

Police responding to a 911 call around 3 a.m. Monday found Quachon dead in the family's filthy Bronx apartment. They said the apartment was in disarray, with cold air blowing in through a broken window, no food in the refrigerator and the children poorly clothed.

Smith had told police the television fell on the boy Sunday and that he began vomiting blood the next day.

In November, Administration for Children's Services caseworkers had visited the apartment and reported it “to be in order,” agency head John Mattingly said.

The agency underwent a shake-up after the Jan. 11 death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown, who was allegedly tortured, abused and beaten by her stepfather. Reports of her suffering had been made to several agencies, including schools, police and child welfare. Her death followed recent homicides of three other children known to the agency.

[Admin]

ACS To Mimic Police Tactics To Track Children

By Jill Gardiner
The Sun
March 24, 2006

Nearly three months after a 7-year-old girl was found beaten to death in her Brooklyn home, the city's child welfare agency is beefing up its enforcement tactics with a new program modeled after the Police Department's crime tracking system.

The ChildStat program is one of dozens of new measures the Administration for Children's Services unveiled yesterday, two months after Mr. Bloomberg announced a $16 million cash infusion for the agency and ordered it to review all 16,000 of its open cases and come up with a plan of action.

"Sadly, Nixzmary Brown is dead. We can't bring her back," Mr. Bloomberg said. "What we can do is try to continue to improve an agency that is the model for this country and make it even better."

ACS has come under intense attack for letting the Nixzmary case and several others slip through the cracks.

In addition to ChildStat, which will track data and deploy resources to problem areas, the agency is hiring and training hundreds of new caseworkers, bringing in law enforcement experts, and deploying new field office managers.

The agency also will establish "scorecards" to monitor how each field office is stacking up and a "leadership academy" for ACS managers.

Some of the hires and new programs will be paid for with the $16 million the mayor pledged to the agency in January; others will be offset with $9 million that ACS is redirecting from its existing budget.

The commissioner of the agency, John Mattingly, said that because of a spike in the number of child abuse reports since Nixzmary's death, some caseworkers are handling up to 20 cases, far higher than the target of 12.

"That's too high and it's got to be brought down and it will be brought down," he said.

He said 275 new workers already have been hired and are being trained.

The "2006 Action Plan," as it is called, represents the first major restructuring of the child welfare system since a little girl named Elisa Izquierdo died and became the poster child for the city's flawed child welfare agency a decade ago.

The Police Department's Comp-Stat program - which was established under Mayor Giuliani and his police commissioner, William Bratton, in 1994 - is considered hugely successful.

[Admin]

Task Force Recommends Better Communication Between ACS, Other Agencies

NY1
March 29, 2006

A mayoral task force appointed in the wake of the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown to improve the city's child welfare system released its recommendations Wednesday.

Nixzmary was killed in January, allegedly at the hands of her stepfather, after years of abuse.

Shortly after the little girl’s death, the Administration for Children’s Services announced a major shakeup, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg allocated millions more in funding for the agency and commissioned the task force to improve ACS.

The recommendations concentrate on intra-agency communication among the ACS, the NYPD and the Department of Education.

For each police precinct, a supervisor will be named the point person for children services cases. Likewise, each school will have an educator who will act as the ACS liaison, and for the first time ever an NYPD supervisor will be assigned to ACS headquarters.

The city says it has already begun implementing some of these changes. However, to avoid delays the task force is putting into place these deadlines: If a child is missing school too frequently, the school will have 10 days to investigate, then they must pass it on to a DOE supervisor, who will have five days to resolve it or pass it on to the ACS.

The mayor says the task force he appointed has come up with solutions to make sure the same tragic situation is not repeated.

“I think you can always make your protocols better. Sadly, what really happened with Nixzmary Brown is her parents killed her,” said the mayor. “We as a society didn't recognize the danger that the child was in and respond fast enough, obviously. Could we have done better? Yes."

Union officials praised the mayor's moves, but added that more guidance counselors and attendance counselors would also help him achieve his goals.

As for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, he hopes that these new guidelines will help bring more cases to the forefront before it's too late, like in Nixzmary's case.

“I'm glad that our procedures will be clearer, more routinized, that there will be greater lines of accountability, that there will be appropriate out-of-school review of school determinations when there is excessive absences, there will be greater follow-up and follow-through," said Klein.

The mayor says the complete list of changes will be fully implemented over the next three months, although he admits it could take years to see their positive effects.

[Admin]

Open Abuse Investigations Increase at Child Agency

By Sewell Chan
The New York Times
June 1, 2006

The New York City child welfare system, which has been struggling with a surge in reports of neglect and abuse since the death of a 7-year-old girl in January, has a backlog of 4,000 investigations that have not been closed within the mandatory 60-day deadline, officials said yesterday.

Zeinab Chahine, executive deputy commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, disclosed that the agency had 14,000 to 15,000 open abuse and neglect cases in total, about 40 percent more than a year ago.

"At any point in time we're receiving approximately 300 reports of child abuse and neglect every day," about twice as many as a year ago, she said during a City Council hearing on the agency's proposed budget of $2.4 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The case of the 7-year-old, Nixzmary Brown, who the authorities say was beaten, starved and abused in her Brooklyn home, prompted a surge in calls and complaints by caregivers, neighbors and educators.

"In some ways, that's good news because we've found a large number of youngsters who were at risk, who were in danger — especially groups of brothers and sisters who had been hurt badly," said John B. Mattingly, the agency's commissioner. "They came to our attention for the first time because of the public's interest in recent cases, and that's actually good news. But it places great stress on an agency that needs to train its workers before we can increase our numbers."

The annual attrition rate for child-protection specialists — the front-line caseworkers who investigate reports of neglect and abuse — has risen to 28 percent from the recent average of 22 percent, he said, and the agency is girding itself for the possibility that the rate could rise to 35 percent over the next year. Mr. Mattingly said his goal was to reduce the attrition rate to less than 20 percent.

A crucial statistic, the average caseload per worker, also has increased, to 19.6 from 15.2 one year ago, Mr. Mattingly said in an interview after the hearing. The caseload figure varied significantly across the boroughs. It was highest in Queens (25.4), followed by the Bronx (24), Manhattan and Staten Island (20.7 in each) and Brooklyn (15.2). The city's goal is no more than 12 cases per worker.

"Those cases are going to be coming down this summer, quite dramatically," Mr. Mattingly told Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, the head of the General Welfare Committee. "They have to and they will. When we will get to 12, I cannot predict right now, but we will be in a much more reasonable range by the end of this summer and we will be back where we were by early next year. But we need to get to 12, and we're going to keep at it."

Mr. Mattingly said the agency was hiring social workers as quickly as it could without sacrificing the quality of applicants. It had 977 caseworkers yesterday, compared with fewer than 900 a year ago, he said. He added that he expected to have 1,100 caseworkers by July — meeting a goal of hiring 525 this fiscal year — and to hire an additional 400 over the next fiscal year. It was the revelation that some one-fourth of all cases were not being closed within the state-mandated deadline that most surprised some council members and children's advocates.

"Any delay in the timeliness of investigations is a cause for concern," said Gail B. Nayowith, executive director of Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, who sits on an advisory committee that meets regularly with Mr. Mattingly.

Mr. Mattingly told of several efforts to improve low morale among caseworkers. They include $2.4 million in additional city money each year for office supplies, cellphones, MetroCards and vehicle maintenance; a phone-based translation service that allows caseworkers to find an interpreter for any of 150 languages in less than five minutes; and an experiment in which workers are trying out 12 models of laptops and handheld computers to download and transmit information about cases more quickly.

He also described efforts to improve coordination with the Police and Education Departments and to develop a computerized system, ChildStat, that will allow better tracking of the agency's performance.

[Admin]

Lawyer: Nixmary's Mom Too Abused To Help Her

WCBSTV
July 7, 2006

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― A lawyer for the mother of murdered 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown says his client plans to tell a jury she was too abused and depressed to defend her daughter.

The lawyer said during a court Brooklyn court hearing yesterday that 28-year-old Nixzaliz Santiago will blame the girl's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez for the girl's death in January.

Investigators have said the girl was bound and tortured before a blow to the head killed her.

Santiago's lawyer says his client was incapable of protecting her daughter from her controlling husband.

Rodriguez and Santiago have both pleaded not guilty in the girl's death.

[Admin]

Nixmary's Mom Accused of Talking To Her Other Kids

WCBS
July 7, 2006

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― The mother of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown has allegedly been having illegal conversations with her other five children -- the same kids who might one day be called to testify against her.

Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, and her husband, Cesar Santiago, 29, face up to 25 years to life if convicted of beating the little girl to death in Brooklyn in January. The girl was apparently tied to a chair, tortured, sexually molested and starved for weeks before being killed by a blow to the head.

Authorities have barred any unauthorized contact between the couple and the girl's five surviving brothers and sisters.

But prosecutor Linda Weinman says yesterday that three of the kids -- now in foster care -- say their grandmother let them speak with their mother on the phone three times during unsupervised visits this month.

Weinman has asked that the mother's phone privileges be revoked.

But Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Hall refused to enforce phone restrictions.

Meanwhile, a family court just has ordered that visits with the children's grandmother be supervised.

[Admin]

HOME SHE NEVER HAD FOR SIBS OF NIXZMARY

By Lorena Mingelli
The New York Post
August 21, 2006

Nixzmary Brown's grandmother wants the slain little girl's five siblings to enjoy the happy childhood that their sister never had.

Maria Gonzalez long ago cleared out of the squalid Brooklyn apartment where the tragic 7-year-old was bound, beaten, sexually abused and starved - allegedly at the hands of her parents - taking only the children's clothing, toys and books.

She relocated to a bright, renovated Bronx home across from an elementary school, and hopes a judge will send Nixzmary's sister and four brothers to her.

"My only wish is to raise them here with me," Gonzalez said.

"Losing a grandchild is difficult and painful," Gonzalez added. "But I have to be strong for my grandchildren and their future."

The refrigerator and pantry are already stocked. Selena, the girl, is slated to have the bedroom closest to her grandmother's.

"I know they will be happy here. I can already hear them running up and down the hallway," she said.

She has been seeing the kids at an undisclosed location - and never for more than two hours.

"I'm glad they're doing well. But I want them to come home with me," she said, choking back tears.

An Aug. 28 hearing will determine who gets custody of the five kids. Carlos Batista has also requested custody of his son, Javier, Nixzmary's oldest brother, who was living with mom, Nixzaliz, and her boyfriend, Cesar Rodriguez, both of whom have been charged with murder for the little girl's death.

The grandmother fears the kids will end up in different houses.

"We want the judge to keep the kids together with their grandmother," said family spokeswoman Awilda Cordero, who furnished the Bronx apartment. "After all the kids have been through, they deserve this."

Meanwhile, Gonzales has been gearing up for her new role by taking foster-parenting classes offered through the Administration for Children's Services.

"It's been teaching me how to be a professional parent. It's a full-time job, and I want all the expertise I can get," Gonzalez said.

The city agency came under fire after it was revealed that Nixzmary had been left in the home despite glaring warning signs and multiple caseworker visits and calls to the Brooklyn home.

When asked if she'll be putting up a photo of Nixzmary, the grandmother shakes her head.

"Not right now," Gonzalez said. "I don't want to bring up any negative memories. I want them to have a normal, happy childhood."

[Admin]

Letters From Mother Cited in Hearing on Abuse Death

Michael Brick
The New York Times
September 14, 2006

The siblings of a 7-year-old girl found beaten and starved to death in January have received dozens of letters from their mother, who is charged with the murder of their sister, and have visited their maternal grandmother without supervision, lawyers said in court yesterday.

The children, a sister and four brothers of Nixzmary Brown, have become the subject of a complex, closed proceeding in Family Court in Brooklyn, while Nixzmary’s mother and stepfather await trial on murder charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

The new disclosure of communication from the mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, to her children emerged yesterday in an unusual hearing before Justice L. Priscilla Hall of State Supreme Court, who is overseeing the criminal cases. Justice Hall has issued orders of protection barring contact between the defendants and the children, but granted the Family Court judge leeway to allow exceptions, a standard measure.

The criminal case against the stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, who is charged with beating Nixzmary to death, is essentially ready for trial. The case against Ms. Santiago, who is charged as a willing participant in the abuse, has been slowed by an unusual series of miscommunications and redundant arguments.

After several delays, Ms. Santiago’s criminal lawyer gave prosecutors a copy of a psychological evaluation of his client yesterday.

The siblings — all under 10 — have been in the custody of the city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, said Sharman Stein, a spokeswoman for the agency.

In June, a family court judge, Nora Freeman, wrote that social workers had found the children “exhibiting symptoms consistent with those of children who have been severely traumatized.” She ordered the hearings closed to the press.

“These children have lost a sister under devastating circumstances,” Judge Freeman wrote. “They have lost any hope of a ‘normal’ childhood, let alone a happy one.”

Carlos Batista, a firefighter from Puerto Rico who is the biological father of one of the boys, was granted custody of his son last month. The child welfare agency has approved Mr. Batista’s taking the boy to Puerto Rico. Maria Gonzalez, the mother of Nixzaliz Santiago, is seeking custody of the other children.

Prosecutors have indicated they might call the children as witnesses.

An assistant district attorney, Linda Weinman, said in criminal court yesterday that law guardians, who represent the children’s interest in court, have screened “inappropriate content” from Ms. Santiago’s letters to her children. She also said the children have been visiting Ms. Gonzalez, their grandmother.

“The children are now going to Ms. Gonzalez’ home,” Ms. Weinman said. “These are unsupervised visits.”

Ms. Weinman asked Justice Hall to instruct Ms. Santiago not to try to circumvent the law guardians by sending letters directly to Ms. Gonzalez. She offered no evidence that Ms. Santiago had tried that, and did not suggest that the orders of protection had been violated.

A lawyer who represents Ms. Santiago in Family Court, Rick Stein, was allowed to address the criminal court hearing on the topic of orders of protection. Mr. Stein said that Ms. Santiago has sent more than 40 letters to her children and that only four sentences were deemed to contain “inappropriate content.”

“These children are very much saying that they do want to have contact with the mother,” Mr. Stein said.

Justice Hall said that Ms. Santiago should not send letters directly to the grandmother.

[Admin]

As Time Stands Still in Court, Justice for a Broken Girl Waits

Michael Brick
The New York Times
September 23, 2006

The friendless death of Nixzmary Brown in Brooklyn last January demanded a reckoning. She was broken and starved, 7 years old, left in a den her brothers and sisters called “the dirty room.” Child welfare workers, teachers, the police and the parents all came under scrutiny.

In some quarters, consequences were swift. A week after Nixzmary was found, the child welfare agency suspended or reassigned six city workers. Soon hundreds of children were placed in foster care, the police commissioner was summoned before the City Council, and the mayor created and filled a new position for the protection of children.

But the case against the girl’s mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, and her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, has followed a different schedule.

They were charged with murder in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where the clocks sometimes seem to serve a decorative function. So far, the case against Ms. Santiago has accomplished little more than holding back the prosecution of Mr. Rodriguez.

Lawyers have asked to seal the case; invoked the Federal and State Constitutions; alluded to Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson; asked for joint trials; asked for separate trials; asked for psychological tests; asked to withhold the results of those tests; and then asked for new psychologists.

And that was just to start the process of disclosing evidence. The trial date is anybody’s guess. “It won’t be this year,” said Justice L. Priscilla Hall, speaking from the bench.

Justice, when it arrives, comes by famously slow means, and the Brooklyn courts offer no special chariot. And defense lawyers often stall as a tactic, knowing that witnesses can disappear or forget details, and that the passage of time, in general, is bad for prosecutors. But the case of People v. Nixzaliz Santiago, through a series of redundant arguments and colorful court filings, has elevated inaction to something approaching spectacle, on display every few weeks with no end in sight.

“The defendant has a strong incentive to slow things down,” said James A. Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University. “If the judge is putting up with all this nonsense as far as motions, it seems the judge needs to put her foot down.”

Prosecutors have become so frustrated with the pace of proceedings in this case that they have now asked to try Mr. Rodriguez separately. “There’s a public expectation that charges like these are resolved within a year,” said Roger B. Adler, chairman of the criminal justice section of the State Bar Association.

Outside the courtroom, neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers would openly discuss their strategies. When the parents were arrested last winter, the case started at a quick pace.

On Jan. 17, six days after Nixzmary was found, a grand jury handed up charges of second-degree murder. Prosecutors said that Mr. Rodriguez had tortured and beaten the girl, and that Ms. Santiago had been a willing and active participant.

Ms. Santiago, 28, has a plump face and almond-colored hair, dyed the burnt side of golden and worn in a long ponytail. She dresses for court in loose pink T-shirts and sweat pants, and she walks with a shuffle. She has a Spanish interpreter.

At a hearing on Feb. 1, Ms. Santiago was ordered held without bail, but after that her case slowed considerably. Ever since, she has been joined in court by Robert W. Abrams, leader of an expanding, contracting, secretive and highly combative defense team. His rhetorical specialty is the considered restatement. “I’ve tried to get her to change her mind by writing her and saying, ‘Please change your mind,’ ” Mr. Abrams said of one potential witness. “Well, I didn’t say, ‘Please change your mind,’ but I asked her to reconsider.”

Mr. Abrams wears a floppy fedora and, over his right eye, a black patch under his glasses. He enlivens legal memorandums with sarcastic quotation marks.

At a hearing on April 21, Mr. Abrams said he would offer psychological evidence, in particular an evaluation of Ms. Santiago. He also asked the judge to order lawyers not to speak to reporters, mentioning that his own sister had remarked on the horror of the crime. The judge told him to put his request in writing. After the hearing, Mr. Abrams gave interviews. Two weeks later, he filed his motion to keep participants from speaking to reporters.

“As a result of this publicity barrage,” Mr. Abrams wrote in the motion, “your affirmant has received telephone calls from at least 13 people telling me that I should be ashamed of myself for representing such a bad person as NIXZALIZ SANTIAGO. (‘Bad person’ is my euphemism for more hateful words and phrases.)”

In hearings over the next few months, variations on a single argument played out. The judge would ask to see the psychological report, or a draft of it, or a description of what it might say, and Mr. Abrams would tell her that was not possible.

On Aug. 23, prosecutors withdrew their request for a joint trial, seeking to proceed against Mr. Rodriguez separately. His case, which began with a separate indictment on the same day, is already set for a jury.

On Aug. 30, the lawyers appeared in court to resolve the matter of the psychological report. Mr. Abrams told the judge that a psychologist named Klein, whose given name he would not disclose at the time, had interviewed Ms. Santiago. But, he said, he did not have the report because he had spent the night at his sister’s house. He said he could get the report, but he would rather not file it anyway. This Dr. Klein, he said, had recently revealed that she would be unable to testify. Mr. Abrams added that Dr. Klein was on vacation.

“I suppose she’ll be back on the 5th,” Mr. Abrams said, “but I don’t know if she’ll be back.”

Then he argued that turning over the psychological report would force Ms. Santiago to incriminate herself, creating a conflict between state evidentiary procedure and the Fifth Amendment. Justice Hall ignored this tack, for the moment.

“When did Dr. Klein say she would be unavailable?” the judge asked.

Mr. Abrams said: “Two weeks ago. I got an e-mail from her within the last two weeks.”

The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Jane S. Meyers, asked the judge to demand the report.

“Every time we come in here, there’s yet another reason why these things can’t be turned over to us,” Ms. Meyers said. “It’s almost September now. It’s been this, it’s been that. The latest is, ‘I got an e-mail.’ ”

Then Ms. Meyers turned to the argument about the Fifth Amendment.

“There’s no constitutional issue involved in any of this,” Ms. Meyers said, offering case law citations. “That issue was decided 35 years ago.”

A newspaper reporter yawned. Ms. Santiago’s mother flipped the pages of a newspaper. Mr. Abrams argued that case law was fallible. He told the judge that courts “upheld ‘separate but equal’ for nearly 100 years.”

At the next hearing, last week, Justice Hall ordered Mr. Abrams to turn over the report, and he did. Then he asked to start over with a new psychologist.

The lawyers argued over rights to more documents, then agreed to consult a transcript of an earlier hearing to determine whether the issue at hand had already been resolved.

“I want to ensure,” the judge said, “we’re not going on forever.”

The judge ended the hearing and called the lawyers to the bench for a private conference. A cellphone started playing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” a court officer shouted to shut it off, and Mr. Abrams’s partner ran to get it.

Ms. Santiago sat there in handcuffs beside her silent interpreter, them both watching the lawyers argue in English while the music played.

[Admin]

The Night Nixzmary Died: Retold in Family Court

By Michael Brick
The New York Times
October 18, 2006

Cesar Rodriguez turned in his chair and waited for the image of Cesar Rodriguez to appear on the courtroom wall. He sat there beside his translator and his wife and their lawyers and his extended family and their lawyers and translators and the city lawyers and the court officers who had handguns.

He had come to this civil proceeding yesterday from jail, where he and his wife, Nixzaliz Santiago, await trial on murder charges in the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Nixzmary Brown. Although one of Nixzmary’s four brothers is in the custody of his biological father, it has fallen to Judge Nora L. Freeman of Brooklyn Family Court to determine who is fit to raise the other three brothers and a sister, none older than 10, and all in the custody of the city’s child welfare agency.

To show that the answer is not Cesar Rodriguez, city lawyers played a videotape of his statement to an assistant district attorney, Linda Weinman. The image of Mr. Rodriguez appeared on the wall, and the live Mr. Rodriguez watched this simulacrum, both of them turned and leaning and poker-faced. In the image, his hands were clasped. He sat next to a clock with a sweeping second hand that went around and around so the police could show that the recording had not been altered.

Ms. Weinman asked Mr. Rodriguez to tell her what had happened the night Nixzmary was killed, Jan. 10. He said, “I don’t know where to begin.”

Then he spoke of a shopping trip, of returning to their Bedford-Stuyvesant home and distributing yogurt to reward good behavior, of Nixzmary’s exclusion from this treat. He listed flavors, berries and cream and chocolate. Nixzmary, he said, was in a back room with the cat box and some mattresses, a chair and a rope on the door. He had been restraining her there, he said, “by putting duct tape on her hands and tying her to the chair.”

Mr. Rodriguez said Nixzmary had been misbehaving since before Christmas, beating up her four brothers and one sister and telling him lies.

“Sometimes she used to get me real angry,” Mr. Rodriguez said, “and I used to just throw her.”

Throw her where, he was asked.

“On the floor.”

Things would go missing in the apartment, things would get broken, Mr. Rodriguez said, and always the other children would blame Nixzmary and he would believe them and Nixzmary would lie.

Ms. Weinman said, “Why do you think she’s lying to you?”

Mr. Rodriguez said, “Because she’s always lying to me.”

That night, he said, yogurt vanished and computer gear was broken and again Nixzmary lied and he threatened her with a belt. He said he asked her to explain but she only nodded. Nodded how, he was asked.

“Like this,” Mr. Rodriguez said, “like she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

He said he threw cold water on her and dunked her head in the bathtub. Ms. Weinman showed him pictures of her injuries. In the pictures the girl was lifeless and skeletal. Her eyes and nose and chin looked like black flowers, dark abrasions circled her ankle, and her back was pounded to tenders. The judge ordered the tape stopped. In the courtroom, Ms. Santiago was sobbing.

“Mi hija,” she cried, and the court officers brought tissues.

The tape resumed: Mr. Rodriguez said Nixzmary’s black eyes had been self-inflicted. He said his wife had found Nixzmary alive after the last beating. He could tell because she was making a noise, he said. The prosecutor asked him to describe this noise.

“Like when you have a pain,” Mr. Rodriguez said, “and you just go, ‘Ohwwwwwwwwwwwhn.’ ”

[Admin]

EVIL STEPFATHER CONFESSES ALL
CHILLING TALE OF NIXZMARY ON POLICE TAPE

Alex Ginsberg
The New York Post
November 23, 2006

This is the chilling moment when accused child-killer Cesar Rodriguez admits that he flew into a rage and abused 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown - because some yogurt was missing from the refrigerator and his printer was jammed up with toys.

"I got angry and I tried to fix it, and when I couldn't fix it, I got more frustrated," he tells investigators on the videotape recorded at Brooklyn's 79th Precinct station house Jan. 11.

"I took her and I threw cold water on her."

During the approximately 45-minute tape, the stepfather coldly tells cops and a prosecutor that he routinely turned his fists and his belt on the child - as well as tying her up, duct-taping her and throwing her - because she was a discipline nightmare.

"Sometimes I would get real angry and just throw her on the floor," Rodriguez, 28, said. "It wasn't like I was keeping a routine, and I would say, 'Well, I'm going to go beat up my daughter today.' "

But Rodriguez refused to admit that his rough treatment of the girl led to her death on the night of Jan. 10 inside the family apartment on Greene Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

"I never banged her head against anything in the bathroom," he says.

Shown a series of horrific crime-scene Polaroids of the dead girl's body, Rodriguez admitted to a pattern of abuse, including pummeling his stepdaughter with fists and a belt and tying her with duct tape and a bungee cord.

But confronted with the most haunting of the photographs, and image of the dead child's face with two dark circles under her eyes, Rodriguez refused to acknowledge responsibility.

"The black eyes, she managed to do to herself," he told Assistant DA Linda Weinman.

"So she self-inflicted two black eyes on herself?" a clearly skeptical Weinman shot back.

"Yes."

The tape was previously shown in Brooklyn Family Court in October during parallel proceedings to deprive the parents of custody rights.

Yesterday during that hearing, playback had to be stopped when the girl's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, broke down in tears.

Both Rodriguez and Santiago, also 28, face up to 25 years to life in prison for the girl's murder.

Rodriguez's lawyer, Jeffrey Schwartz, said it was inappropriate for the video to be made public at this point because the purpose of yesterday's hearing was to determine its admissibility.

"I think it is wrong for the public to be given the evidence before it comes out at trial," he said, but also noted that his client does not admit on the tape to delivering the killing blow.

Still, the detective who interrogated Rodriguez, Steven Sneider, testified that Rodriguez did admit to hurling the girl onto the floor and beating her during portions of the interview that were not taped.

Sneider said Rodriguez asked him what charges he was facing and what was happening to his five other children, then conceded: "I did go too far."