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 of what appeared to be fresh blood." An NYPD detective said the 7-year-old who weighed only 36 pounds "was extremely thin, you could see bones through the skin."
The previous day, a video of Rodrigeuz discussing Nixzmary's wounds to a Brooklyn ADA right after the girl was found dead was shown in court (but not the jury). After claiming that a mark above Nixzmary's eye as well as her two black eyes were self-inflicted, Rodriguez claimed responsibility for many others. From the Daily News:
The prosecutor showed a photo of Nixzmary's battered back.
"That's from me beating her with the belt," Rodriguez said, referring to marks on her buttocks.
He was less sure about some marks on her waist.
"Same thing - from the belt or my hands," he said. "Maybe pound her on her back."
"What about this mark on her ankle?" Weinman asked later.
"That was from the bungee cord," Rodriguez answered.
"That was from the bungee cord when you tied it around her leg so she couldn't leave the room?" Weinman said.
"Right," replied Rodriguez.
It's expected the video will be shown next week. Rodriguez's lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz managed to get sections where Rodriguez was asked about sexual abusing Nixzmary redacted, but was not successful in redacting parts asking him if the girl was fed cat food (the News heard him say, "There's calories in cat food," Schwartz said, quickly adding, "I'm not saying it's appropriate to feed it to a child.")
Schwartz has also claimed his client's statements were taken illegally and Rodriguez was trying to cover for his wife. The defense's argument is the fatal blow that killed Nixzmary was really from her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, who will face murder charges in a separate trial.
Photograph of Nixzmary Brown's grave at the Cypress Hills Cemetery via Find a Grave
