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Jan 8, 2008 9:50 am US/Eastern
Jury Selection Begins In Nixmary Brown Trial
Stepfather Charged With Beating 7-Year-Old To Death
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
As jury selection begins Tuesday, prosecutors in the murder trial of Nixzmary Brown's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez plan to replay disturbing scenes from the life of the 7-year-old girl who was tortured and beaten to death inside her Brooklyn apartment two years ago.
New Yorkers were shocked by the story of the little girl who was tied to a chair, whipped and killed for taking food from the refrigerator.
In his tape confession to investigators, Rodriguez described Nixzmary as a child who constantly misbehaved and tormented her five siblings.
"I took her in the bahtroom, put cold water where she was and turned on the faucet. Stuck her head under it," Rodriguez said on November 22, 2006.
Nixzmary weighed just 36 pounds when she was found dead. Her mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, is charged with manslaughter and will be tried separately after her husband.
Nixzaliz says he was the abuser and that she was battered into silence.
There was much outrage over the little girl's death, including a city wide probe into the Administration for Children's Services, the agency that had been monitoring the family well before the childs death.
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