A DNA expert testified yesterday that genetic evidence taken from Nixzmary Brown’s sweatpants was not linked to anyone in the house in which the 7 1/2-year-old was killed – prompting the defense to cite that as proof their client was being railroaded.
Cesar Rodriguez’s lawyers said investigators failed to seek evidence that Nixzaliz Santiago, who is awaiting trial, killed her own daughter.
“This was a one-sided, lopsided investigation,” attorney Jeff Schwartz said.
His first witness, DNA expert Lawrence Kobilinsky, found it odd that Santiago’s DNA wasn’t collected as evidence.
“I would have liked to have seen [her genetic] profile,” he said, noting that genetic material pulled from Nixzmary’s sweatpants belonged to an “unidentified female.”
But prosecutors called the DNA trace too small to form a genetic profile. And ADA Linda Weinman focused on the irrefutable – that Nixzmary’s blood was spattered on the walls, the floor, and even the litter box she was forced to use as a toilet.
“Whose blood is that?” she asked Kobilinsky.
“Nixzmary’s,” he said.