A New York Daily News Reporter May be Forced to Testify in Nixzaliz Santiago’s Trial
October 2, 2008
A New York Daily News article is at the center of a disputed testimony in the trial of Nixzaliz Santiago, accused of murder in the death of her seven-year-old daughter, Nixzmary Brown. A key witness is going to be recalled on the stand tomorrow. The defense attorneys argued that in an interview the witness gave to the New York Daily News in January 2006, five days after the police found the girl murdered, she made declarations that contradicted her testimony in front of the jury, last week.
Judge Di Mango subpoenaed Nicole Bode, the reporter who wrote the Daily News article. In an open court discussion away from the jury, the prosecution argued against the action, saying it would mislead the jury because the reporter was protected by the Shield Laws, which means that Bode cannot be forced to reveal her sources or any information on her newsgathering process.
This witness, Ulbis Rivera, lived one floor above Santiago in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. She gave highly incriminating testimony last week at the Kings County Supreme Court. She told the jury that Santiago was very calm in the hours following the death of her daughter in January of 2006 and that she had never told her that she was victimized by her husband, Cesar Rodriguez, who was convicted of manslaughter earlier this year in the killing, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
One of the damaging elements to the defense was Rivera’s testimony that Santiago never mentioned that she was being abused by Rodriguez. Evidence of abuse could be used to justify why she never reported him to the police or stopped him from killing Nixzmary Brown, according to her defense attorney.
In contrast, in the Daily News article, in which Rivera was an unnamed neighbor, the reporter wrote, “Eventually, Santiago confessed that Rodriguez would beat her. The neighbor counseled her to leave him but “she wanted to have a baby from him,” she said.””
“We can only cross-examine her on these two quotes,” the prosecutor said. “If the newspaper article is used, we would be damaged, because we cannot ask the reporter how did you ask, what were the surroundings, when and where?”
In response, the defense attorney argued that the jury needed to be aware of the inconsistency of Rivera’s testimony, which that is crucial to explain why Santiago did not stop her husband from beating her daughter to death.
“It is a question of fairness and justice. You cannot deny us the opportunity to let the jury hear about that. It is the defendant’s constitutional right,” she said. “The witness left the jury with the wrong impression.”
“She [Nicole Bode] said that she has a habit of reporting accurately but she has no exact recollection of her conversation with Miss Rivera,” Anne Carroll, a legal adviser at the New York Daily News told the judge.
The main discussion in the courtroom was what the defense and the prosecution would be allowed to ask Bode. The judge explained that they could only ask her to confirm what was written in the article but could not question how she wrote or edited the article.
“The defense wants to prove to the jury that she was a victim of domestic abuse,” Judge Patricia Di Mango said. “But there is a Pandora’s box of issues that may come up and turn against the defense.”
The prosecution also argued that Rivera said she had not spoken to Nicole Bode but to another Daily News Reporter, Nancy Dillon. This will be clarified tomorrow when Rivera comes back on the witness stand to answer more questions.
The session was adjourned after Judge Di Mango ruled that Rivera would be called back on the stand, to be cross-examined a second time by the defense. She asked both parties to provide pictures of the two Daily News reporters so Rivera can identify what reporter she had spoken to.