(Photo: P.O. Eric Nolan)By: Dovesblood
On Sept. 19th.,2008, the prosecution called their first witness in the murder trial of Nixzmary Brown's mom, Nixzaliz Santiago. First, I'll say what happened in a nutshell, then I'll go into detail about his testimony.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED IN A NUTSHELL: The defense impeached the prosecutor's first witness.
The prosecution's first witness was Police Officer, Eric Nolan, the first cop to arrive at the scene. Nolan filled out a police report called a DD5 where he tells Detective Ferrera that Nixzaliz was in a "frantic" state of mind and that she was crying out "my child, my child, my child". So that's in black and white on the police report. Later, when he testifies at Cesar's murder trial, he admits meeting with the prosecution before hand to discuss his testimony and then proceeds to testify that Nixzaliz NEVER cried.This contradicts his statement to Det.Ferrera 2 years ago where he said she did.
Here's the testimony in detail: The day started out when the judge, Patricia DiMango, notified everyone that the female prisoners were produced late so that would cause a delay. Judge DiMango was wearing a black dress with spaghetti straps. The 3 prosecutors, lead d.a., Ama Dwimoh (ja-mo), Linda Weinman and Anthea Bruffee were dressed in gray. Nixzaliz's lawyer, Sammy Sanchez wearing a light grey suit. Defense counsel, Kathleen M. Mullin, was wearing a green top with a black skirt. Nixzaliz was wearing a brown jacket, navy blue jeans with designs on the back pockets and her hair was down in a loose pony tail.
The two Spanish interpretators are Migdalia, and Jeanette. Migdalia is a tall, thin, middle aged Hispanic woman who wears her hair in a long pony tail. Sometimes in a bun. The second interpretor is named Jeanette. She's 30ish, short and has short black hair.
The courtroom consists of 3 sets of benches to the left, middle and right. The jury box is on left. The prosecutor's table is to the left closest to the jury box and defense table on right hand side of the room.
Nixzaliz always brought out from door on right closest to her table.
Asst. da, Linda Weinman rolled the evidence cart out from a door behind the judge's bench. The cart was silver and had 2 shelves. On the top of the cart was the chair Nixzmary was tied to. Weinman placed the cart in the middle of the room and defense counsel, Mullin, complained about it being there that she couldn't see the jury, so Weinman put the cart by the prosecutors table. One of the sketch artist in the room, Shirley Shephard, then complained she couldn't see over the cart but Ama Dwimoh said the cart has to stay there.
DiMango said the 911 tapes were admitted into evidence.
Mullin requested to DiMango to tell spectators in room not to give outward expressions when evidence is layed out.
Janice Richardson, one of the jurors from Cesar's trial, juror 4, Janice Richardson, who said she'd hire Cesar's lawyer if she ever got into trouble, showed up.
The prosecution's first witness was P.O. Eric Nolan. shield # 1884 who was on the 11:15 to 7:15 shift. Nolan testified that him and his partner P.O. Gallagher got a radio 1 for an unconscious child at 571 Greene Ave. around 4:33 am. He noticed a male Hispanic (Cesar) waiting at the front door. Cesar was calmly walking them up the stairs, he wasn't running. He said there was a child laying at the back of the apartment.
Asst. d.a., Linda Weinman, then shows Nolan a picture and asks him if he recognizes it. Weinman puts up peoples 2-? a crime scene photo of Nixzmary . Nolan described her as being cold, bruises all over her body, 2 black eyes, gash over her eye, ligature mark on ankle and emaciated. Sanchez objected to Nolan using "emaciated"
Weinman then put up on the projector screen crime scene photos. Peoples 3,4,5, and 6. One photo showed Nixzmary lying on the floor, alongside a bed. Her head was closest to the camera.
Then the original crime scene photo was put up. This shows Nixzmary still on the wooden floor with only a pair of red sweatpants on. She's got two black eyes that encircle her entire eyes. (raccoon-like) Her face is sunken in, her mouth is slightly open, her shoulder bones are protruding the way an Aushwitz victim's would and her hipbone is sticking out also like the way an Aushwitz victim's would be. The red sweatpants were hanging off of her to the left of the picture. This is the same photo that Dwimoh put up during closing arguments at Cesar's trial. This photo is haunting. I find it more disturbing than the autopsy photos.
Another photo Weinman put up was of Nixzmary on the floor taken from a different angle. The other photo shows Nixzmary lying on the floor next to a children's table. The top of the table was yellow and the legs were dark blue. Atop the table is a purple box. It looked like a crayon box. The Jello pudding cup is on the table with a spoon still in it. It's to the right of the purple box. The room Nixzmary is in is her sibling's room, not the room she was held prisoner in.
Weinman put up another photo of Nixzmary's black eyes and a picture of her stomach area with bruises.
Nolan said he saw Cesar doing chest compressions but he wasn't doing it correctly and wasn't checking for breathing.
The other people Nolan said he saw in the apt were, Ulbis Rivera, the neighbor from upstairs, Santiago and the 5 kids. Nolan radioed for an ambulance and supervisor. Rivera was crying and Santiago didn't talk to Nolan. He heard Spanish being spoken in the apt.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) asked everyone not law enforcement to step out of the room. They never did CPR on Nixzmary and pronounced her dead on the scene.
Nolan testified that he left the apartment at 6 am, went back to the precint (that's just around the corner from the apt.) and was given the evidence by Detective Bello to voucher. Vouchering is a receipt of evidence. N023719. Nolan vouchered various blood samples, clear plastic bag with possible blood, a litter box with feces, a white nylon rope, a white and yellow pillow with possible blood (the Donald Duck pillow), a blue blanket with possible blood, a blue towel with possible blood and various other items.
Then at DA Linda Weinman put on a pair of hospital gloves that are clear and she went to the evidence cart in the room and pulled down a black garbage bag. Inside of the garbage bag was a white clear plastic bag and inside of the plastic bag was the gray litter box that little Nixzmary was forced to use. A guard holds up the litter box to Nolan and he identifies it as a litter box with possible human feces.
Weinman goes back to the cart and brings out various items asking Nolan to identify them, then she shows them to the jury. The items were: the chair with the white nylon rope still attached to it, the greenish bungee cord.
Weinman puts up a crimescene picture on the projector screen and asks Nolan to identify using a red laser light from the witness box, where the ligature mark is on Nixzmary. He does. (ligature mark on her left ankle).
Weinman then brings out a gold doorknob with white twine attached ( Cesar would tie the twine from Nixzmary's doorknob to another doorknob on the outside to prevent her from escaping) She shows it to Nolan then the jury. She brings out the gray duct tape, then Nixzmary's blue-green jelly belt with fashionable holes all around the belt. Then she brought out Nixzmary's lavender shirt that's short sleeved. Weinman, after she shows Nolan and the jury, she walks back to the evidence table that's in front of the prosecutor's table and slowly folds the shirt halfway and leaves it on the table. After the lavender shirt, she brings out Nixzmary's red turtleneck sweatshirt for Nolan and the jury to see. She then folds the shirt on the table halfway and tucks in the sleeves. Then she brings out Nixzmary's red sweatpants with cargo pockets.
Then she puts up the crimescene photo on the screan. Nixzmary was lying on the wooden floor. Her lavendar shirt was bundled up under her head and her red sweatshirt was underneath the lavendar shirt under her head. The bed that Nixzmary was lying next to had a blue comforter on it. Nolan was asked to identify if these were the clothes he vouchered that were in the picture.
Nolan said the evidence was placed in Piercon (?) Place NYPD storage facility then delivered to the DA's office. He notes the clothes were the same clothes that Nixzmary was taken to the morgue with.
There's a break in the courtroom. Jury taken out. Sanchez and Mullin prepare for cross-exam.
Defense lawyer, Sammy Sanchez, did the cross-exam. Sanchez started out by congratulating Nolan on his promotion to the rank of Sargent in May 2008.
Sanchez showed Nolan a picture of Cesar and asked if he recognizes him. Yes. Nolan said that was the man at the door.
Sanchez asked Nolan when he got there where was Nixzaliz. Nolan said there was an adult to his left in the kitchen area. When asked to describe her demeanor, Nolan said he went straight to Nixzmary.
Sanchez asked him about how many times Nolan spoke to the d.a.
Sanchez asked Nolan if he was taught about police reports called DD5's (information reports) and that in order for Nolan to get promoted to Sargent that Nolan would have to earn his promotion. At this point, Ama Dwimoh, the d.a., is making a face ,as if to say, what does this have to do with anything?
Sanchez asked if Det. Snyder was the head det. Nolan says no, he's was the arresting det. Then Sanchez discusses the term "night watch det." and it was defined as detectives who's job it is to ensure a smooth transition from night to day.
Sanchez asked Nolan if he ever used the word "frantic" then he gave the meaning of the word. Nolan said on the stand that the only time he saw Nixzaliz upset was when the other children in the house were being taken to the hospital.
Sanchez puts a picture on the projector screen of Cesar standing by a locker.
Sanchez then asked Nolan if it's fair to say that Cesar was the person most active since he was at the door, and doing CPR?
Sanchez then tells Nolan that he (Nolan) told Det. Ferrera that Nixzaliz was "frantic" and crying out "my child, my child, my child" but then prior to testifying at Cesar's trial, Nolan meets with the d.a. to discuss his testimony then contradicts himself at Cesar's trial when he claimed that he never saw Nixzaliz crying! (so basically, Sanchez just impeached Nolan and proved him to be a liar) Nolan then says that the only person he saw crying in the apt. was Ulbis Rivera, the neighbor.
Sanchez then points out another instance where Nolan contradicts his statements 2 years ago in the DD5. At a Nov. 20th, 2006 hearing, Nolan after meeting with the prosecution states he never saw Nixzaliz crying, contradicting the police report that he filled out.
Sanchez then puts up a map of the apartment on the screen. Nolan uses the red laser pointer and points out Nixzmary's bedroom. Sanchez asked what was the distance between Nixzaliz's bedroom in the front of the house and Nixzmary's bedroom. Weinman answers 30 feet. Sanchez then walks to the back of the courtroom, into the aisle where the audience is, so the jury could see how far 30 feet is.
Sanchez asked what Nixzaliz bedroom looked like, Nolan responded that it was small and cluttered.
Nolan said he found Nixzmary in bedroom 1 which contained a small mattress, a bed and a table. Bedroom 1 was the other children's room. Nixzmary's picture of her on the floor is now back on the projector. Nolan testified that Nixzmary's body was found 5-7 feet from the radiator. Sanchez points out that Nolan can remember that Nixzmary's body was 5-7 feet from the radiator but he can't remember Nixzaliz being in a frantic state of mind.
Linda Weinman did the re-direct. Nolan testified to her that he never saw Nixzaliz crying.
Weinman then asked Nolan if he reviewed his DD5 before he submitted it to see if the information was accurate. Nolan responded no.
Nolan then said Ulbis Rivera was in the bedroom with Nixzmary's body and Weinman stated that Nixzaliz was not in the room with her dying child.
Judge Dimango then announced that for religious reasons, court is being stopped for the day. (It's Friday. I think juror 4, the black male elementary teacher, had to leave early for religious reasons)
DiMango then pointed out that there are 3 requests from the media to take photos of the evidence and that she's denying the request because she doesn't the photos coming out over the weekend and that the media can renew the request.
Personally, I don't understand DiMango's decision. The evidence that the media was requesting to take photos of, Nixzmary's sweatsuit, the litterbox, etc., is already out in the public eye. The media at Cesar's trial already took photos of all of the evidence, so if people really want to, all they have to do is go back and look at articles on Cesar's case to see photos of the evidence. Secondly, the judge not wanting photos to be published over the weekend implies that she thinks the jury is going to be looking at them. Again, if the jury wanted to see photos all they'd have to do is search newspaper articles, so it makes no sense to me that DiMango denied the media's request to take current photos of the same evidence.
DiMango also denied a request by the defense for a blownup copy of Cesar Rodriguez's face. At Cesar's closing arguments, his attorney, Jeff Schwartz, showed the jury a blown up copy of Nixzaliz's face. The pic wasn't exactly flattering and she appeared crazy looking. Nixzaliz's defense probably wanted to have Cesar's face blown up so the jury could stare at the face of a monster.
Defense counsel, Mullin stated to the judge that the defense wants access to the original crimescene photos of Nixzmary, pointing out that the color in the original photos differ from the color of the reproductions. The defense needs it for the medical portion of their case. Mullin pointed out that she doesn't want the codocromes but the original photos. Mullin then wanted to offer into evidence the people's photos as their evidence. DiMango said no and that in summary the defense can point out distingtions between the photos.
Down the road, the judge's decision could be problematic because the defense could potentially say that they could'nt fully defend their client because they were given sub-standard copies of photos that don't accurately depict the crimescene. I thought that DiMango should have just given it to them to prevent those sort of appellate issues down the road.
The prosecution has an easel with pictures on it right next to the jury box and when the jury is leaving they have to walk past the easle. Mullin objected to the easle being there so that's last thing jury sees when they exit room.
Mullin also stated that the prosecution shouldn't be the only one standing when the jury enters the room. She said they had all previously agreed that nobody would be standing because if Nixzaliz were to stand up it would endanger the safety of everyone in the room.
After court is over the press usually waits outside of the courtroom to do interviews with both parties. The lead d.a. looked mad walking out and didn't do her usual interview with the press. (probably because her witness got impeached) Mullin stated that on Monday, the DNA expert, Taylor Dickerson and the crimescene detective would be testifying.
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