(Photo: Brooklyn Supreme Court)By: Dovesblood
On Wednesday, November 5th. 2008, the sentencing for Nixzmary Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago was schedueled.
I had heard rumors over the internet on Sunday and Monday night, that the defense lawyer, Kathleen Mullin, was out of town and that the sentencing would be postponed until the following Wednesday, November 12th. Tuesday November 4th. was election day, so no one picked up when I called the courthouse to find out if the sentencing really was scheduled for tomorrow. Not wanting to take a chance on the rumors not being true, I decided I would go to the court tomorrow anyway.
Outside of the courthouse, I ran into the El Diario reporter, Candida Portuguese. El Diario is a Spanish newspaper in New York City. They've been covering the trial daily. The reporter told me that as far as she knew, the sentencing was still scheduled for today. She had to go to her office but said she'd be in the courtroom in a little while.
I decided first to go up to the Court Clerk's office on the 13th floor (yes, unlucky number 13. Personally, you couldn't pay me to work up there) to find out if the sentencing really was today. They told me that it's still in the computer for today and maybe the postponement just recently happened so it's not out of the computer yet. The woman said I should just go to the courtroom and find out for sure.
When I went up to the second floor, Nixzmary's grandmother, Maria Gonzalez, was there with two Hispanic women. The Ceremonial Courtroom #1 wasn't opened yet. I was sitting in the waiting room, directly across from Gonzalez and the two women. A guard saw me and asked me if I was waiting for Judge DiMango. I said yes. He told me that her Part (courtroom) had been moved upstairs. (I forgot which floor he said, sorry) He said she's been moving around alot lately. I thanked him and left to go upstairs.
Apparently, he hadn't told Gonzalez because she was still left down there.
I saw Lissette, a courtroom spectator, who normally sits in on Judge DiMango's trials up there. There was no media anywhere to be found. The judge's courtroom wasn't opened yet so we were just waiting outside of the courtroom door. Another spectator from Nixzaliz's trial, this young black female that works for the bus company, Atlantic Express, was also there. Natasha, another spectator from the trial showed up. A little while later, Maria Gonzalez and the two Spanish women came upstairs. One of them was looking at the electronic courtroom calendar that was to the side of the courtroom door to see if Nixzaliz's name was on it.
Me and Lissette walked over to the waiting room down the hallway. Lissette sat down on the bench by the window while I was standing up, looking out of the window. Maria Gonzalez and the two Spanish women came into the waiting room. They sat on the opposite side of the room from us. One of them was looking at me as I stood by the window. I looked back, wondering who she was and if she was related to Nixzmary, but I never said anything. Then Jamila, another spectatator from Nixzaliz's trial, showed up.
They finally opened up Judge DiMango's courtroom and let everyone in.
As we were sitting down talking, the El Diario reporter came into the courtroom.
One of the guards was bringing in a leather burgundy chair to put down for the judge to sit in. When I saw that, I knew right away this was DiMango's courtroom. On the first day of jury selection for Nixzaliz on the second floor (which is not where DiMango normally presides over) there was this regular chair for the judge to sit in. DiMango decided on her first day in the new courtroom that she didn't like the regular chair and made the guard go get her a padded, leather, burgundy chair. I guess she wanted to be comfortable.
Anyway, DiMango's court clerk, Peggy, tells me that the sentencing was in fact postponed until the following Wednesday, November 12th. Then she told Maria Gonzalez and her people the same thing. El Diario left first. Then Gonzalez. I stayed around for a few minutes chatting with the spectators, then I left.
I ran into the Daily News reporter outside and he confirmed that the sentencing was postponed.
How come the lawyers couldn't pick up the phone and at least call Gonzalez? Not that I care.
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