Emotions high for victims’ families in Cunningham trial

Emotions ran high last week as the parents of Katharine Spain and Robert Barker spent Nov. 27 listening as medical examiner Dr. Robert Lyon coolly and methodically described each of the dozens and dozens of stab wounds that eventually killed the two.

While the jury of nine men and seven women listened attentively, the parents of Spain, Bill and Pat Albu, would occasionally take a tissue and quietly cry as they sat in the front row.

Sitting behind them in Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix, Patti Barker focused her anger by staring at Matthew Cunningham, the 29-year-old accused of killing her son and Spain during a knife-wielding spree through the Andante Apartment complex in 2004.

At one point, during a break, a court employee had to physically steer Barker’s mother out of the courtroom to keep her from confronting her son’s alleged killer.

This week the testimony was just as emotional as prosecutors paraded a long list of witnesses, including Ryan Gilbert who told how he saw Cunningham stab Barker to death.

“I’ve never heard someone yell like that - the most desperate yelling I’ve ever heard,” he testified on Monday. “I can’t ever forget it.”

Other witnesses scheduled to testify for the state include Gerardo Barrientos Oliveras, who was seriously wounded by Cunningham, and his wife, Maria Veronica Manriquez, who beat Cunningham with a baseball bat to protect her husband.

Cunningham is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of burglary. He could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Deputy County Attorney Mark Barry said that Cunningham stabbed Barker, his roommate, and Spain, a bystander, in frustration with his life after losing his job as a server at Va Bene earlier in the day on Oct. 12, 2004.

The defense team pled guilty, but insane, for their client, pointing out a history of untreated schizophrenia since he was a teen.

Twice Cunningham has been found competent to stand trial, but the issue popped up last Tuesday when Judge Sally Duncan learned that on the first day of trial he missed his medication because he returned late to jail.

“His competency is based upon him getting his medication on a regular schedule,” said Duncan, who issued an order that he receive his daily medication regardless of when he returns from court to jail.

Police say that Cunningham stabbed to death Barker, 38, near the pool and in front of witnesses after being told he would have to leave the apartment or get a new job.

According to reports, Cunningham then chased other witnesses and, as he descended a stairway, stabbed 28-year-old Spain, who had walked out to see what the commotion was about.

Police say Cunningham then ran through the apartment complex and tried to stab a third neighbor before police eventually took him into custody.

The prosecution’s presentation of evidence could wrap up as early as Dec. 11, but the trial is expected to last until the end of January.

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