Cunningham murder trial commences

One of the defense attorneys for Matthew Cunningham admitted that his client was responsible for the deaths of two people at the Andante Apartment complex near 48th Street and Chandler Boulevard in 2004.

Where they disagree is on the why.

Attorney Lawrence Blieden said it was because Cunningham is an untreated schizophrenic.

“And that, in a nutshell, is the cause of two deaths,” Blieden said during opening statements in Cunningham’s murder trial in Maricopa County Superior Court Nov. 26.

But Deputy County Attorney Mark Barry said that Cunningham went on a knife-wielding spree because he had been fired from his job, was fed-up with his life and simply wanted to lash out at others.

Barry went through the brutal murders of Robert Barker and Katharine Spain step by step to show that what Cunningham did wasn’t random, but that he knew what he was doing.

Cunningham, 39, is charged with the first-degree murder of Barker and Spain, plus two counts of aggravated assault and one count of burglary, all stemming from the Oct. 12, 2004 incident.

If found guilty by the nine-man, seven-woman jury, which includes four alternates to be selected later, he faces the death penalty.

The jury could find Cunningham guilty of murder, but insane, in which case he would be turned over to the Arizona Mental Health Hospital.

The trial has attracted extra attention because mental health experts for the state and the prosecution agree that Cunningham is psychotic and hears voices. But during two competency hearings it was ruled that he understands the charges against him, can assist in his defense and understands the basics of the law, so he is competent to stand trial.

“You can be psychotic and competent to stand trial,” said psychologist Bruce Kushner, who represented the prosecution earlier in the year, during one of the hearings.

Barry told jurors Monday that Cunningham set documents on fire in the apartment he shared with Barker, after being told that he would need to move out. He then got a kitchen knife and attacked his roommate, stabbing him and then chasing Barker out into the apartment complex. Barker, 38, was screaming for help when Cunningham stabbed him and then slit his throat in the pool area of the complex.

He then chased other witnesses and, as he descended a stairway, saw Spain and turned on her. He then stabbed 28-year-old Spain who had left her 2-year-old son Marlon in the apartment when she walked out to see what the commotion was about.

Police say Cunningham then ran through the complex and tried to stab a third neighbor, Gerardo Barrientos Olivares, before his wife, 19-year-old Maria Veronica Manriques, picked up a baseball bat to defend him.

Prosecutors said Cunningham was high on cocaine at the time of the rampage.

Five of the Phoenix police officers who responded to the stabbings, and eventually subdued Cunningham, later received the department’s second-highest award, the Medal of Merit, for their quick actions that night.

The trial, before Judge Sally Duncan, is expected to last until the end of January.

Doug Murphy can be reached at (480) 898-7914 or dmurphy@aztrib.com.