Prosecutors decide against death penalty for parents accused of murdering 7-year-old

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13-03-2025

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has refused to explain why it is no longer seeking the death penalty against a former Phoenix police detective and his Australian wife accused of murdering the former's 7-year-old daughter more than six years after the agency initially sought capital punishment against the couple.
Germayne Cunningham was a 12-year veteran of the department and resigned amid a Goodyear police investigation in 2017. Lisa Cunningham, Germayne's wife, was the girl's stepmother.
The couple have been held in a Maricopa County jail since 2018 after prosecutors filed a notice that they would seek the death penalty against them if they were convicted of first-degree murder.
On Feb. 10, prosecutors filed a motion withdrawing their intent to seek the death penalty against the couple. The filing did not offer a reason behind the decision.
When asked why prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against the parents after over six years of intending to and months before trial, MCAO declined to comment citing its policy to not discuss the details of open cases.
Court documents outline disturbing allegations about the couple's treatment of the girl, Sanaa Cunningham, over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017.
Prosecutors alleged Sanaa was subjected to 'forcible work' in the backyard during the summer that included raking rocks and picking up feces with her bare hands, was tied with a RIPP restraint, a device that restricts movement, and at various times confined to the garage, laundry room or patio 'with trash.'
Neighbors would report that they saw Sanaa wearing only a diaper.
Documents say Sanaa's decline in mental and behavioral health began in April 2016 after the couple removed her from school and began homeschooling her instead.
Prosecutors said Sanaa's parents claimed she would injure herself, have uncontrollable tantrums, gorge, purge and defecate in the house but said these details couldn't be verified because they isolated Sanaa from others.
Court documents say the Cunninghams took Sanaa to a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with schizophrenia based on their statements about her before taking her to another psychiatrist who prescribed her the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal. Documents say Sanaa's parents started her on the drug but abruptly stopped against the doctor's instructions.
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Prosecutors said Sanaa's parents noticed she was in a catatonic state, drooling and unable to eat or drink normally on Feb. 7, 2017, but opted to hold off on taking her to a hospital until the injuries on her arms and legs healed.
On the morning of Feb. 12, 2017, the Cunninghams took her to an urgent care facility after Lisa noticed Sanaa was cold to the touch. Sanaa was then flown to Phoenix Children's Hospital where she would later be pronounced dead.
An autopsy said Sanaa arrived at Arizona General Hospital with an internal temperature of 89.6 degrees and died at Phoenix Children's due to 'complications of sepsis in the setting of acute bronchitis with bronchiolitis and early bronchopneumonia, right foot abscess, multiple skin ulcerations, and unspecified schizophrenia spectrum disorder.'
The autopsy noted that three child protective services cases were reported to the Arizona Department of Child Safety, and two were dismissed while one remained open before her death.
Prosecutors said a doctor explained that Sanaa's immune system was likely compromised due in part to her living conditions.
Defense attorneys have argued that physical evidence does not back up claims from former neighbors that Sanaa was forced to work in the backyard or sleep outside.
Documents show the attorneys argued that using a RIPP restraint on Sanaa was a 'tough love teaching moment' and that there was no evidence to suggest Germayne restrained her with one repeatedly.
It added that Sanaa slept on a cot in the laundry room after she began urinating and defecating in a room she shared with one of her sisters as the laundry room floor was made of tile.
Documents say the parents swaddled Sanaa in one of Germayne's long sleeve shirts to prevent her from harming herself and they installed cameras inside to monitor her. Attorneys noted that a Goodyear police officer at one point showed up to the house unannounced and saw Sanaa while she was in the laundry room and determined it wasn't child abuse.
Attorneys also said that the hospital the Cunninghams initially brought Sanaa to wasn't equipped to deal with a child in such serious condition despite advertising itself as an emergency room and began assessing her despite knowing she would likely need to be taken to a more advanced facility due to state law.
'Timely administration of antibiotics is crucial to fighting sepsis, yet no one gave Sanaa antibiotics at the first hospital for about an hour and a half,' documents say. 'Roughly two hours lapsed before she was medevacked to (Phoenix Children's Hospital), where she died of sepsis hours later.'
After prosecutors withdrew their notice to seek the death penalty against the Cunninghams, attorneys representing the two filed motions to modify the conditions of their release while questioning why prosecutors withdrew the death penalty notice — and why they sought capital punishment in the first place.
'Understanding the State's position throughout these proceedings is nothing short of speculation,' one motion for modifying Lisa Cunningham's release condition stated. 'Unfortunately, the State's Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty accomplished one goal; namely, it stole six and one-half years of life from each Defendant.'
A judge ultimately ruled that the Cunninghams each be held on a $500,000 secured-appearance bond. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office told The Arizona Republic that both remained in jail as of Tuesday afternoon.
The current trial date is scheduled for July 7 in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Reach reporter Perry Vandell at [e-mail] or 602-444-2474.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prosecutors won't say why they're not seeking death penalty for couple