Defense lawyer Schwartz was planning on calling Rodriguez's mother-in-law, Maria Gonzalez, to the witness stand during the week of February 24. Schwartz's defense strategy of Rodriguez involved blaming his wife, Nixzaliz Santiago, and showing that she was the actual murderer. Gonzalez is suing New York city for $150 million for negligence, and the failure of the ACS to act on behalf of her granddaughter. Brown's grandmother, Maria Gonzalez, finally provided her testimony during the Wednesday, March 6 portion of the trial. Gonzalez, however, used the opportunity to defend the $150 million lawsuit that she had filed. As before, Schwartz continued his tactic of taking the testimony of others to use against Santiago to show that she was unstable. Gonzalez had testified that Santiago had left home for a man at the age of 17, that she had six more children, and that she continued to depend upon other men for her welfare. Further testimony by Gonzalez resulted in her testimony denying the continued trial allegations of Schwartz that Brown was a "wild child". She further indicated that Brown and her siblings were in fear of Rodriguez.