I have written about the case of Nixzmary Brown several times. Nixzmary was a little 7-year-old girl in New York who was treated like an animal, tied to chairs, forced to use a cat litter box, starved, and eventually beaten to death for taking a yogurt out of the refrigerator.
Although I first heard and wrote about this case over two years ago, and am pretty much hardened to the realities of crime by virtue of what I do for a living, this case still brings tears to my eyes. Here are some short excerpts of my previous entries, which can be read in their entireties here and here:
This monstrous stepfather stripped the little girl nude and beat her with everything he could get his hands on - a belt, a piece of wood, a bungee cord - right in front of her mother. And that bitch didn’t do a damn thing to protect her own little girl.
Then, he dragged the little girl into the bathroom, repeatedly dunking her head under cold water. It’s unclear what else he did to her in that bathroom, but loud banging noises and the little girl screaming for her mommy were heard throughout the apartment. Mommy didn’t help her. Mommy didn’t do shit. Mommy is a piece of shit.
Then he picked up Nixzmary’s limp lifeless body and threw her onto the floor in the “dirty room” like so much trash.
The attorney claims Nixzmary bought [the "World's Greatest Dad" mug] for her stepfather. The truth is, her whore of a mother had six children, all with different fathers, so who knows where that mug came from or who bought it. What we do know is that a seven-year-old who was being kept in “the dirty room”, treated like an animal, tortured, beaten, and eventually murdered was unlikely to have any money, or any way to buy that asshole a gift even if she wanted to do so.
Even if it can be proven that Nixzmary bought it for him, all it really proves is that Nixzmary was nowhere near the monstrous child her stepfather has painted her to be, in his incredibly sick and twisted quest to blame Nixzmary for her own death.
Well, I guess you have an idea how angry this particular case makes me.
Nixzmary’s stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, has been acquitted of second-degree murder, which would have carried a life sentence, but found guilty of first-degree manslaughter. He faces up to 25 years in prison. Jurors said they wanted to find him guilty of murder, but the prosecution didn’t give them enough evidence to rule that way.
To find him guilty of murder, the jury had to find that he acted in depraved indifference to human life. To find him guilty of manslaughter, the jury had to find that he recklessly engaged in conduct which posed a risk of grave physical injury. There’s not much difference between the two charges, but obviously the sentence is quite different. The only real difference is that the former is almost intentional (i.e., the person didn’t care if the other person died) while the latter is accidental.
I very rarely question a jury’s judgment, but in this case I do. If there was enough evidence in this case to find him guilty of first-degree manslaughter, then there’s enough evidence to find him guilty of second-degree murder. He didn’t care if Nixzmary died, and I suspect he’d have killed her outright if he thought he could get away with it.
Not at all surprisingly, his defense was that it was little Nixzmary’s fault that he beat and tortured her, and that it wasn’t him who struck the fatal blow to her little head. He blamed that on her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, who goes on trial later this year. How convenient.
Is anything Cesar Rodriguez’s fault? Apparently not in his mind. I hope the judge gives him the maximum sentence, and I hope the general population in the prison is informed of what he did, so he can get a little taste of what he did to Nixzmary. Truthfully, I hope another inmate kills him. That might be a terrible thing to say, but death is what I think he deserves for what he did to that child.
In fact, I think states need to seriously reevaluate the way they handle cases involving murder by child abuse, and especially murder by child abuse when the case involves torture of some type. I think that anyone who tortures a child - and the child dies either directly or indirectly as a result of what that person did - should be given the death penalty. My reasoning for this is that it is so abnormal to treat a child in that manner, that the murderer is a danger to society as a whole and thus should be permanently removed.
I think the baby raper I wrote about the other day should be executed as well, even though the poor little five-month-old baby miraculously lived. Some behaviors are just so repulsive, and are so clearly indicative of a sick, perverse mind, that we should not tolerate those who engage in those behaviors remaining in our midst.
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Source: New York Times
These are exactly the kind of abusers that we — as a society — need to get smarter about catching, prosecuting and putting away. First we need to detect the child abuse. Among all the mandated reporters, teachers are our best bet for noticing signs of child abuse. The problem is, many teachers don’t know how to talk to a child whom they think is being abused. After all, this conversation is a legal and emotional minefield. I have one suggestion. There is a new online role-playing course that lets teachers rehearse a conversation with a possible child abuse victim, getting feedback after every choice. There’s a free version, and a CEU-credit version for teachers. No, it won’t end child abuse overnight. But maybe it’ll help some teachers take more effective action to detect and report child abuse by people like this guy Cesar Rodriguez. So that maybe kids like Nixzmary Brown could finally stop being afraid of being at home.
One of my biggest fears is that my Babyhead (and soon to be Babygirlhead) will call out for me to help them, to save them, to comfort them…and I will be unable to answer that call.
It just rips my heart to shreds to think that a child would call out for their mother … the one person in the world that should protect their child at all costs … and that mother never show up.
She wasn’t a mother. She was an incubator. It is a shame that such a beautiful little girl didn’t have a chance to know the love of a TRUE parent…a REAL mother.
As for him…he is nothing…therefore is not deserving of any kind of mercy (like the baby raper). Of course it was her fault or her mom’s fault….ALL abusers always find someone else to blame their behavior on. That is what they do.
We can only hope that Karma find it’s way to both of them swiftly.
I agree, Sandy. Many years ago, I had a nightmare that Elf was calling out to me, and I couldn’t get to him, he kept going further and further away. To this day, just thinking about that scares me.
I cannot even imagine a mother not protecting her child. As a mother myself, it is unimaginable.
This guy blaming Nixzmary’s death on Nixzmary sealed my opinion of him. I honestly do hope he (and the baby raper) are murdered in prison by another inmate. It won’t hurt my feelings one bit when that happens, because those monsters do not deserve to live in the same world as decent people.
I think you make a very valid point, Geoff. However, it would not have helped little Nixzmary, unfortunately, since her parents had stopped sending her to school.
I think all loving mommy’s would agree that they would give their own life to save their children, what these 2 monsters did to poor Nixmary is an outrage, I hope they live in pain and fear for they rest of their lives.
It’s amazing how meny people love Nixmary in death and she didn’t have one person to love her when she was alive.
I think they should all be held accountable for her death,they teachers, social services, the family, the grandmother who didn’t waste anytime announcing that she is planning on suing the city, she should give whatever money she gets to a special fund in Nixmary’s name,
Happy Easter Sweetie. We All Miss You.
Hi, Pattie. I was unaware that Nixzmary’s grandmother is suing the city. Like you, I wonder what she did for Nixzmary, when Nixzmary was alive. Did she try to help her? Did she try to get help for her? Or, is this child’s death just a financial windfall for her?
It’s a sad situation, all around.
IT IS A HORRIBLE SHAME THAT THIS MAN TOOK HER LITTLE LIFE WHEN SHE HAD SO MUCH OF IT LEFT TO LIVE. IT IS MORE OF A SHAME THAT THIS ANIMAL WILL BE OUT IN TIME TO ENJOY SOME OF HIS LIFE. I FEAR THAT THERE WILL BE NO JUSTICE FOR NIXZMARY BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT HER MOTHER WILL GET OFF FOR BEING INSANE. I JUST HOPE THIS LITTLE GIRL DID NOT DIE IN VAIN.
[...] through violence or gross neglect should get an automatic sentence of life without parole; and in especially heinous cases, such as Nixzmary Brown, they should get the death penalty. Either way, anyone who is violent toward the most helpless in [...]
[...] 7, 2008 by ElfNinosMom Cesar Rodriquez, the stepfather of Nixzmary Brown, previously covered on this blog, has been sentenced to the 29 years maximum [...]
I think what this monstrous man did to little, poor, defesnsless Nixzmary brown was disgusting and cruel. As i read this my stomach churns in the fact that he raped, beat, and torchered her. She had never done a thing to him. Nixzmary had a chance to live! But this monstrous stepfather took it away. If Caesar Rodriguez reads this i would say, “If you thought that little Nixzmary committed a crime of living, we are ALL guility because we have all lived including you, your pathetic and u deserve everything you are going to get!!!!!”
P.S. this is written by a 7th grader!
YOUR DISGUSTING YOU SICK COWARD! YOUR SOOOO DAMN PATHETIC AND IF I EVER SEE YOU I WILL PRAY THAT GOD HAS MERCY ON YOU SOUL. BUT I DO NOT CARE ANYMORE! JUST REMEMBER AS YOU COME OUT OF JAIL (IF YOU EVER READ THIS) YOU WILL BE SURRONDED BY RAGE JUST AS LITTLE NIXZMARY WAS! BY YOU! I DO NOT HATE YOU BUT I FEEL BAD FOR YOU! AS I LOOK AT YOUR PICTURES IN NEWSPAPERS I SEE A COWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!