An Adelaide mum facing the grim prospect of being the first Australian woman on death row in the US has had her trial delayed for 18 months after already waiting five years in jail.
Lisa Marie Cunningham, 48, is charged with the first-degree murder of her seven-year-old daughter Sanaa in her adopted hometown of Phoenix, which is the capital of the southwest US state of Arizona.
If convicted she and her co-accused husband Germayne, 43, who is a former Arizona robbery squad detective, could both face the death penalty.
After appearing before Judge Geoffrey Fish, Ms Cunningham was told her trial, which was meant to start last week at Phoenix’s Maricopa County Superior Court has been adjourned until at least September next year.
‘I’m crying. I’ve some serious health problems because of the conditions of detainment and treatment,’ a devastated Cunningham told The Adelaide Advertiser after the decision.
Australian mother Lisa Marie Cunningham (pictured) faces execution over the death of her seven-year-old daughter in 2017
Ms Cunningham, who is a former prison guard, spoke from the maximum-security wing of the Estrella Women’s Jail, located in the desert near Phoenix.
She said the trial delay was causing her torment but the judge explained there was no choice but to delay her trial because the Covid pandemic had created a backlog of cases.
‘(The judge) stated that several cases must go before mine because they are older … and mine going sooner is unfair,’ she said.
‘I’ve not fully processed or accepted the delay of 19 months in this place. I didn’t agree to the delay. My attorney (lawyer) asked if I was OK with it in court.
‘I did not file the delay. I had no choice.’
Cunningham’s lawyer Eric Kessler said Ms Cunningham was ‘doing reasonably well under the circumstances’.
‘She is very active in her defence and is quite bright,’ he said.
Australian consular assistance is being provided to Ms Cunningham and the Australian government has voiced its opposition to the death penalty.
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Ms Cunningham and her husband’s trial was originally set for September 2020 but had also been delayed by the pandemic.
Sanaa had more than 60 scars with 100 cuts and bruises as well as several ulcers and abscesses when she died at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in February 2017.
Prosecutors allege Sanaad, who suffered from severe schizophrenia and other medical conditions, died from a sepsis infection from head and foot injuries linked to her living conditions.
Ms Cunningham claims she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice and has been set up by authorities so they could avoid a costly civil lawsuit over the girl’s death.
Lisa-Marie Cunningham (pictured with Sanaa right and another child) has insisted she and her husband are innocent of her her child’s death
Ms Cunningham’s 43-year-old American husband Germayne is a former Phoenix robbery squad detective who now faces trial with her on first degree murder charges
She says Saana died from pneumonia because the couple followed flawed medical advice.
Ms Cunningham has two children from her first marriage including Sanaa, as does her husband, and the couple have a further two children of their own.
The prosecution alleges the couple restrained Sanaa by tying her down so she couldn’t expel fluid from her lungs, leading to her death.
Police allege they found incriminating texts between the couple from, including one from December 2016 describing how the girl was zip-tied to a water container to let other children sleep.
Cunningham claimed the texts were forged and were not on her phone on the day Sanaa died, months later.
A post-mortem found Sanaa’s death was ‘undetermined’ rather than homicide.
