By: Dovesblood
There was a cat fight in the courtroom today. Thursday, May 29th. 2008, there was a pretrial hearing for Nixzmary Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, held at Brooklyn Supreme Court. Lead DA and Chief of the Crimes Against Children's Unit,Ama Dwimoh, (ja-mo) called saying she was stuck in traffic and would be late. The court clerk, Peggy, said to someone, "God forbid the other two should handle it" (referencing the other da's Anthea Bruffee and Linda Weinman) Nixzaliz attended a domestic violence program called STEPS and since the prosecution subpoened their social worker records, STEPS sent a lawyer, Selene something or the other, to fight the subpoena. Another woman named Kathleen Mullin who knows Selene and Nixzaliz's lawyer, Sammy Sanchez, was in the courtroom. She was sitting in the first row with Selene.
When court started, Judge DiMango asked Sanchez if he was consenting to have the STEPS records released. He said he had a video conference with Nixzaliz, she left the decision up to him and he said that since the court will probably order the records released anyway, that he's consenting. I was like "huh"? Sanchez could've potentially used the courts ruling to have confidential records released as a basis for appeal. He can't do that now that he's consenting. Dimango said that whether he consents or not, she's rendering a decision today in writing.
DiMango said that the prosecution has in their possession, Waterbury, Connecticut social service records. (Nixzmary was born and lived in Connectitcut)
DiMango said that in reference to voir dire, (vwa-deer) asking potenial jurors questions, that the prosecution and defense should have a set of questions planned out and she'd be questioning the jury. She said that they'd need 270 potential jurors and should allocate a set time, 30 minutes. I'm not sure if she meant 30 minutes per person?.
DiMango said she wanted to start jury selection and set the trial date for June but DA Dwimoh objected saying she needs her psychiatrist to look at the STEPS records and write out a report first.DiMango said that Dwimoh should fax the STEPS records to the dr. and have him write out a report over the weekend. Dwimoh said she can't say how long it's going to take for the Dr. to write out a report, then DiMango said there's nothing in the STEPS records that would make the Dr. come to any different conclusion. (the judge is not a psychiatrist so she really shouldn't have said what conclusions the doctor would or wouldn't have drawn from the records)
Dwimoh also said that 2 of her witnesses, Detective Georgina Valentine (who questioned Nixzaliz and translated her statement from Spanish into English) and Det. Steven Snyder (he arrested Cesar) were unavailable during June. DiMango asked why and Dwimoh said that Det. Valentine resides out of state, had a death in the family and had to go to Puerto Rico. Dimango said that the DA's office has the resources to fly Valentine to New York but Dwimoh objected saying Valentine is still dealing with the death. Judge DiMango still wants a June trial but DA Dwimoh requests mid July for the trial date.
There's a bench conference and DiMango says to Dwimoh at the bench "you're never gonna be able to pick a jury in the middle of the summer, are you kidding me?" She also said that people aren't going to want to spend 5-6 weeks in court. Dwimoh says she doesn't feel it will be a problem, saying, "people want to be on this jury". DiMango says something to Dwimoh which makes Dwimoh step back and turn her head away. (this is all happening at the bench) Then Dwimoh replies emphatically, "I'M NOT AFRAID TO TRY THIS CASE!!!!! I'M THE CHIEF!!!!!" "I know you're the chief", says DiMango. The two of them started arguing at the bench. I couldn't hear it but you could tell from the body language that it was intense. (shaking heads, moving away from the bench etc. by Dwimoh)DiMango asked Sanchez at the bench if he was ready to try this case right now and he says "yes". Why he said that is beyond me because it's not in his interest to start this trial now. All the publicity surrounding Nixzmary's stepdad's Cesar's verdict is still fresh in people's heads. The potential jurors still have the news and emotions fresh in their minds. If the trial is delayed, the story and strong emotions will fade from people's minds. That helps the defense. Sanchez seems nice enough but I really feel that he needs to think things through and think about future consequenses before he talks. The bench conference ends.
DiMango again says that she wants to start the trial in June but Dwimoh said that assistant d.a. Linda Weinman has a vacation planned starting on July 7th so the case can't start in June because Linda Weinman won't be there in the middle of it. Weinman said she planned her vacation one year ago. DiMango wasn't buying it. She said to Dwimoh "that's not what you told me" and that " you said you couldn't start in June because two of your witnesses were unavailable". Dwimoh said she didn't want to use Weinman's vacation as an excuse that's why she didn't say it earlier. DiMango said that if they start the case right now it will be done before early July and Linda Weinman can go on her vacation.
DiMango then said to the three prosecutors "you three want to try this case together, is that right?" The three d.a.'s stared at her but didn't say anything. Dimango asked again but still got no answer. The da's were like Lot's wives, frozen.
Then DiMango said that when this case was given to her in March of '08, it was presented to her as trial ready. Then Sammy Sanchez says that there were issues that Judge Hall never resolved. DiMango pointed out that it's not that Judge Hall never resolved the issues it's just that they were never presented before her.
DiMango asked Dwimoh "how long has this case been going on"? "two years" replied the DA. (technically, those 2 years were spent in preparation for Cesar's trial not Nixzaliz's).
Then DiMango dropped a bomb! She said she was setting the trial date for June 9th!...Silence. Everyone in that room froze like statues. No one moved, You could hear a pin drop. You could hear the crickets. TIME STOOD STILL IN THAT ROOM. Dwimoh broke the silence and asked to approach the bench. DiMango said no, to say it on the record. Dwimoh says, "LET ME SEE IF I GOT THIS STRAIGHT. YOU WANT TO START THIS TRIAL IN JUNE AND YOU WANT ME TO TRY THIS CASE ANY OLE WAY"? DiMango was taken aback by the statement and asked Dwimoh if she felt that was an appropriate thing to say in open court, "to try this case any OOOLE way" DiMango repeated. The Judge was offended. DiMango said to Dwimoh, "I am furious with your comment to me"!!!!!!!! Then the d.a. and the Judge started arguing at the same time. DiMango raised her voice over Dwimoh's and said angrily, "YOU SEE THIS WOMAN"? (pointing to the court reporter) and said that "WHEN THERE'S MORE THAN ONE PERSON TALKING, WHO'S WORDS DO YOU THINK SHE'S RECORDING? IT'S MY WORDS THAT ARE RECORDED"!!!!! DiMango was so furious that she took a 5 minute break out in the hallway and said to the lawyers before she left the room, "talk to Selene" (the STEPS lawyer) to see if they were consenting to release the STEPS records.
When DiMango came back, she again asked Sanchez if he was consenting to release the STEPS records. This time he said "not at this time". (contradicting his earlier statement of "yes"). DiMango ruled that she's ordering Nixzaliz's STEPS records released to the prosecution, saying that because Nixzaliz is claiming to be a battered woman that she waived her rights.
The prosecution said they were turning over 77 items to Sanchez and Dwimoh handed him two manila envelopes that were stuffed to the brim.
Sanchez said he's been on the phone everyday with asst. DA Anthea Bruffee and plans on going to the DA's office after court to look at evidence.
Sanchez also said to DiMango that it might be best if they try this case in September. DiMango then asked both lawyers what day would be best for an adjournment. ( at this point, we all know the June trial is off without her having to say so) Both lawyers had conflicting schedules and couldn't agree. Then DiMango said if you're available on Monday raise your hand. One hand was raised, the other wasn't. She kept listing the days of the week and asking them to raise their hands for Tuesday, Wednesday etc. DiMango said, look how long it's taking us to set an adjournment date, how long is the trial gonna take? Finally, they all agreed on a date to adjourn.
Kathleen Mullin and the STEPS lawyer, Selene were sitting together in the first row. Sanchez told Nixzaliz to turn around and say hi to one of them. Nixzaliz turns around, smiles and waves to one of them. I couldn't tell which one she was waiving to.
As they were taking Nixzaliz out of the courtroom, DiMango stops her as she's half way out the door and tells her she's not to have any contact with her children. Then the translator had to be called back to go to the door and translate.
DA Dwimoh, standing up at the desk said that she wanted to apologize if she offended the court by her comments. This only makes DiMango more furious because she said to Dwimoh "IF". "YOU DON'T FIND THOSE COMMENTS TO BE OFFENSIVE"??!!!! "THAT YOU WANT ME TO TRY THIS CASE ANY OOOLE WAY, YOU DON'T FIND THAT TO BE OFFENSIVE"???!!!!!(personally, I thought it was funny that they were fighting over the word "ole". maybe if Dwimoh had said "fuh geeet abaaat it" DiMango would have let it slide) Dwimoh never answered. Dwimoh said "OK . Well obviously I offended you and I'm apologizing". DiMango shouted back,"YOU SAID "IF" YOU DON'T EVEN FIND YOUR COMMENTS TO BE OFFENSIVE"!!! Dwimoh stands there, her patience being tested. "I apologize" said Dwimoh. "THANK YOU"!! said DiMango.
As the DA was walking out of the room, her eyes were red and looked teary, but she still managed to wink to Natasha, a Nizmary supporter, sitting in the audience. That was everything that happened at the hearing on May 29th.
SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS: Judge Hall was widely criticized by the media for letting Cesar's trial go on for 3 months. Maybe, and I'm just guessing, that's why Judge DiMango wants to get the trial going ASAP so she won't be accused of dragging it on like Judge Hall? In defense of Judge Hall, she had to do what she felt was fair and not make decisions to satisfy the press.
In re. to the prosecutor having two years to prepare, that was for Cesar's trial. How they prosecute Nixzaliz is going to be different than how Cesar was prosecuted because her defense arguments are different from his. The prosecution only just had it confirmed that Nixzaliz was going to be using battered woman's defense.The DA needs time to build a case. and the defense will also be helped by delaying the trial so the publicity fades.
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