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American Morning

What Went Wrong?; 'AM Pop'

Aired January 16, 2006 - 09:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Today in New York City, there will be a wake for a 7-year-old girl. The stepfather of Nixzmary Brown is charged with starving her, tying her to a chair and beating her to death. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has the story that has many New Yorkers wondering about their neighborhoods and the agencies meant to protect children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They say 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was playful, happy, and at times a handful. Authorities in New York say in the days, weeks and months before her death, she was also the victim of abuse.

AWA DWIMOH, DA'S OFFICE: She was tortured. She was beaten repeatedly. She was starved. She was tied up. She was bound like an animal.

CHO: At the time of her death, Nixzmary weighed just 36 pounds, 14 pounds shy of the average.

Prosecutors say her stepfather, Caesar Rodriguez, killed her for taking a container of yogurt out of the refrigerator. Rodriguez, who's pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, allegedly tide her to a chair, beat her, then plunged her head into the bathtub.

The 7-year-old's mother is accused of watching and doing nothing as her child died. She has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Attorneys for the parents could not be reached. Neighbors were incensed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mother and the father should get the same punishment that they gave that baby. They should be tied up. They should be beat down.

CHO: While most expressed grief at a makeshift memorial for the child, the brother of suspect Caesar Rodriguez said he was surprised what happened, and said what he witnessed was normal parenting.

MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ, SUSPECT'S BROTHER: Just spanking, that's about it. Nothing serious.

CHO: But some are questioning whether the girl with the wide smile could have been saved? New York City's Administration for Children Services first became involved with Nixzmary's case in May of last year, when the state reported she was excessively absent from school. Then in December, a second report was filed, citing concerns she was being abused. Case workers repeatedly visited the home, and ultimately closed the case.

In hindsight, the top official at Children Services admitted the system had failed.

JOHN MATTINGLY, ADMN. CHILDREN'S SERVICES: We he were in a position at Children's Services to have kept this from happening, and that did not happen.

CHO: The agency has since begun a review of every open child- protection case in the city. Nixzmary Brown couldn't be saved, but officials in New York are hoping others will.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Hopefully so. It's hard to imagine this little girl could not have gotten help along the way. The signs were certainly there. She was underweight. She missed more than 40 days of school. So what went so terribly wrong? we want to talk about that with Dr. Anthony D'urso.

Dr. D'urso is with the Hackensack University Medical Center.

Welcome.

DR. ANTHONY D'URSO, HACKENSACK UNIV. MEDICAL CTR.: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So Mayor Bloomberg came out, the New York mayor, and said, yes, we failed this child. What went so wrong?

D'URSO: I think, first of all, one of the things you have to think about is child welfare is really kind of a governmental issue. It's very quick to blame ACS and to look at all of those kind of child-protective organizations, but here we had issues around school and follow through. We had issues around law enforcement and investigation. Children should have been interviewed. There were interviews that were apparently conducted in the home. There's a real problem, however, when you discuss these cases simply because the information isn't out.

COSTELLO: Just to be specific, this came to the New York City's Administration for Children Services in May of last year, when the state reported she was excessively absent. She missed 46 days of school. This is a 7-year-old. And then in December, a second report was filed, citing concerns she was being abused. Case workers went to the home. The stepfather wouldn't let them in. They went back. They called him. Nobody answered the phone. And then there was no follow- up. They closed the case.

D'URSO: Clearly a failure. ACS should have gone to, as they suggested, gone to court to get access to the home. Police officers should have not only been there for escortment, but actually for the forensic interviewing of the child. Those kind of things are absolutely clearly high-risk factors.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the mother, because she was interviewed by a couple of local papers, and it's just unbelievable. Of course a lot of abuse went on in the home, and the mother apparently, allegedly allowed it to happen. And she said she was afraid of her husband, that he would beat her. But there was one quote from her I want to read to you. She was describing her daughter Nixzmary, who was recalled by her schoolmates and their parents as a quiet and shy girl, but the mother described her as mischievous and defiant. She said her daughter would hide infant formula and other baby food and actually steal food from the refrigerator. This was a girl who was 14 pounds under weight. And in this most recent beating, she was supposedly beaten for stealing some yogurt out of the refrigerator.

D'URSO: Clearly the rationale of why it was, in a perverse way, OK to beat this young girl. I mean, if she's stealing food and she's underweight, we certainly would understand that. Certainly, all kids are not easy to manage.

COSTELLO: Well why wouldn't a mother understand that? Or was she just too afraid? I mean, why? What happened?

D'URSO: Well, we're probably looking at multi-system abuse here, history of domestic violence. The information that's in the news suggests that her brother did not talk about the abuse that was occurring. Sometimes we think that just the object of the abuse, the child who is getting the severe abuse, is the only victim. Everybody else in the family is watching that.

COSTELLO: But I know there are many mothers out there saying if a man touched my child, if a man -- I mean, he tortured this girl. If I saw that, I'd kill him.

D'URSO: And clearly we're talking about a family where violence and assault was the norm. And she clearly hooked up with a man that was assaultive and clearly did not have any protective strategies for herself or her daughter.

COSTELLO: Thank you very much for joining us this morning and talking about a difficult thing. Dr. Anthony D'urso of the Hackensack University Medical Center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Only one person can save us now and that would be Daryn Kagan. Good morning, Daryn.

(CROSSTALK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I am here for you.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

KAGAN: Yes. Good morning on this Monday morning.

Straight ahead, we are live on the red carpet on the road to gold. The Golden Globes are tonight. It could be "Good Night and Good Luck" for George Clooney. We will hear from the hunky nominee.

Also, how would you like to live a healthier, happier, thinner, and younger life? Who wouldn't? Doctor and patient claim they have the prescription for reversing the downhill slide after age 50.

O'BRIEN: Well, she was really pumping some iron there.

COSTELLO: She could lift more than Miles.

O'BRIEN: It's about what I do on the bench press there.

KAGAN: We'll see you in a bit.

COSTELLO: Bye, Daryn, thank you.

O'BRIEN: I better get to the gym. I better get my "New You" going pretty soon here.

COSTELLO: Get your mojo going.

O'BRIEN: Are you one of those people that everything has to be just perfect? You know what I mean?

COSTELLO: Unfortunately.

O'BRIEN: Well, you would think that would be not a bad quality to have until it sort of takes over. Right? Obsessive compulsive kind of thing. It's actually called perfection obsession. On tonight's "PAULA ZAHN NOW," 8:00 Eastern, medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen profiles one young woman whose drive for perfection put her in the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Folding laundry is such a simple task, but watch what happens when Shannon Fleischman (ph) tries to fold this shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really want to touch that.

COHEN: She is desperate to smooth the wrinkles that bother only her. She's tortured that these sock seams don't line up perfectly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How anxious are you on a scale from zero to ten?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten.

COHEN: These clothes look fine to the rest of us, but in Shannon's mind, they are wrinkled, disorganized mess. And she wants more than anything...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Try not to touch them again.

COHEN: ... to make them look perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead and shut it.

COHEN: As painful as this is to watch, imagine how painful it is for Shannon, who has a form of obsessive compulsive disorder called perfection obsession.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Wow. Does it make you want to watch?

COHEN: Oh, definitely.

O'BRIEN: Wow, wow, unbelievable. See more about Shannon's struggle of perfection obsession. Watch "PAULA ZAHN NOW." See, I can't get close to perfection. "PAULA ZAHN NOW" tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. I gave up on it a long time ago on that part.

Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, "A.M. Pop." We'll gaze into our crystal ball and make some predictions for tonight's Golden Globes. For example, will it be a clean sweep for "The Desperate Housewives"? Get it, clean sweep? Mop and glow. Bring home the bacon. Fry it up in a pan. Whatever. All right. We'll see you in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Some controversy here.

O'BRIEN: If AMERICAN MORNING is a four-course meal, this is dessert. We just decided.

COSTELLO: This is dessert, absolutely.

Tonight in Hollywood, the stars of movies and TV will be out for the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

O'BRIEN: And that calls for a special golden globe edition of "AM Pop." Who best? Here comes dessert. Our resident pop stars, full pop stars, we might add, Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly," Bradley Jacobs from "US Weekly."

Get the magazine right. Finally.

All right, Let's start with TV, "Desperate Housewives," Jessica -- is going to be -- are they going to sweep everything?

JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Well, I don't know if they're going to sweep everything. I think for the actresses, Felicity Huffman is going to win. I think she's the best multitasking mama on TV. All of the actresses got nominated, and they might divide it up, which might mean that Mary-Louise Parker would win for "Weeds," but I don't think so. I say Felicity Huffman. However the show -- I don't think it's going to win for best comedy. I don't think it had the greatest season. I think it will go to "Entourage," which I think is "TiVo it and rewatch it 10 million times" funny.

COSTELLO: That's a critic's favorite, though, "Entourage," and that make a difference, right?

SHAW: Absolutely. And I mean, critics, but also people. The best line, hug it out, which of course is Jeremy Pivin's line, is the best catchphrase, I think, of the decade.

COSTELLO: You know, I have never watched "Entourage." I have to TiVo it.

O'BRIEN: I've got to TiVo that one, I'm sorry. Caught me off- guard on that.

Let's talk about "Lost." Is that a possibility for best drama?

SHAW: Well, I think it's a shoo-in.

O'BRIEN: Really? Shoo-in?

SHAW: There are a lot of new shows nominated this year like "Commander in Chief," and "Prison Break," and "Rome," but "Lost," the most thrilling hour on TV, I'd say.

COSTELLO: It's very clever. I have actually seen that one as well.

Let's talk about movies now. There are so many, but "Brokeback Mountain" seems to be the big favorite.

BRADLEY JACOBS, "US WEEKLY": Yes, "Brokeback Mountain" is clearly going to win best picture and drama this year. It's just got everything going for it. It got the most nomination of all the movies. It got seven of them. So I think it's clearly got that category all locked up.

An interesting race, though, where "Brokeback Mountain" is involved is best actor drama. For months and months, Phillip Seymour Hoffman had all the momentum for "Capote." Then, the last few weeks, it's really been all about "Brokeback Mountain." So you could see a possible upset in that category. You could see Heath Ledger ending up taking it away from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, so that's a race to watch.

COSTELLO: I would feel sorry for poor Jack Gyllenhaal, because he did a great job, too, but he doesn't get as much pub as Heath does.

JACOBS: I know, he keeps getting snubbed again and again.

SHAW: He would be considered for supporting, not for actor, right?

JACOBS: Right.

COSTELLO: As Nicollette Sheridan. I was wondering why it was a clean sweep. But now I know, she is a supporting actress on that show.

O'BRIEN: Not a full actress.

All right, what about comedies? What do you think?

JACOBS: I think that with musical comedy, you're going to see a huge sweep by "Walk the Line." You're going to see "Walk the Line" win best picture musical comedy. There's a slight chance...

O'BRIEN: Is it a comedy?

JACOBS: Well, it's a musical, and it covers musical and comedy.

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBS: Yes, there's a slight chance that "Pride and Prejudice" could win here. There's a lot of love for that move, but I think basically you are going to see "Walk the Line" win for best picture. And you're going to see both the leads win statues tonight. Reese Witherspoon has won every critics award for her playing June Carter Cash. She's going to win tonight. She's going to win the Oscar a month and a half now, too.

And Jaoquin Phoenix, again, you are going to see him win for playing Johnny Cash tonight. There's just a lot of good wealth in this film.

COSTELLO: When you already know who is going to win, when you can say it with sure assurity, it really kind of drives me away from the show.

SHAW: You should be putting money on it. Don't look at the downside.

COSTELLO: Vegas, now.

O'BRIEN: Are you advocating wagering, Jessica, really?

SHAW: Not at all. Monopoly money.

O'BRIEN: But generally speaking, when you talk about this, this is a precursor to what we'll see. I mean, have you done a statistical analysis of this? Does it always lead to Academy Awards?

JACOBS: Statistically, it's kind of like two thirds of a chance. Remember, though, the Golden Globes could have it both ways, because they get twice the number of categories. They nominate things for musical comedies and for dramas. So if you look at the history, blah, blah, blah, two-thirds of the movies that win either of the categories tonight go on to win the Oscars. So it's a pretty good precursor. You can pretty much guarantee that one of the two movies that win those two big awards tonight is going to end up winning the best picture Oscar.

O'BRIEN: All right.

JACOBS: Get to the betting tables.

COSTELLO: I'm calling my bookie now.

O'BRIEN: Kids, don't try this at home, all right.

Jessica Shaw, Bradley Jacobs, always a pleasure. Excellent dessert. We're back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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