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Judge Declares Mistrial in Child Murder Case Over Goodyear Police Evidence Failures

The judge said unresolved flaws in Goodyear police evidence logs made a fair finish with the seated jury unlikely.

Overview

  • Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Patricia Starr ended the Cunninghams’ months-long trial Monday with a mistrial after finding there was no realistic way to conclude proceedings with the current jury.
  • The case unraveled over Goodyear police property-and-evidence logs that showed wrong timestamps at odd hours, false “destroyed” statuses, and manual edits to match reports, which led to an internal probe and an employee’s resignation.
  • The mistrial was entered without prejudice, so the case stays open, and a tentative new trial date has been set for May 19.
  • The court scheduled evidentiary hearings to examine the scope of the evidence problems starting May 11, and set an April 21 hearing to address unresolved issues and a defense motion to compel more records.
  • The defendants were released from jail on March 23 after about seven and a half years in custody and remain under court monitoring while the judge sorts out the evidence questions.