MURDER OR COVER UP?

After more than four years in a US prison, South Australian Lisa Cunningham is about to go on trial for the murder of her seven-year-old stepdaughter With a death sentence looming, she pleads her case to marie claire.

- Michael Crooks 

Having six children made daily life "crazy" for Lisa Cunningham, but at the heart of all the work and racket was joy. Lisa was a mother of two from Mannum, South Australia, when she met American father-of-two Germayne Cunningham in the US. They married in 2015, lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and had two more kids, a boy and a girl.

While Germayne, a detective, worked for the Phoenix Police Department, Lisa, who had moved to the US years before with her first husband, took on the demanding role of homemaker for their bunch of six.

"We had a big house and a big yard, and three rescue dogs - terriers," said Lisa. "We did everything together: the gardening, washing the car, cooking. It was our big, crazy, beautiful family. I was happy."

Today, that domestic dream is merely a cherished memory for Lisa, who spends 23 hours a day in a jail cell the size of a bathroom. For more than four years, the Cunninghams have been awaiting trial on charges of the first-degree murder of Germayne's daughter and Lisa's stepdaughter, Sanaa, a seven-year-old who had been diagnosed with multiple conditions including the mental disorder schizophrenia.

If convicted of the charges, which both Lisa, 48, and Germayne, 43, vehemently deny, they face the death penalty. In Lisa's case, it would be the first time an Australian was executed in the US since the public lynching of a criminal gang during the California gold rush in the mid-1800s.

"I left Australia knowing that although other countries kill people for crimes, I'd never have to worry about that," Lisa told marie claire in a video call from her cell. "Because I'm not a criminal."

Maricopa County authorities disagree. The police and prosecution say the Cunninghams abused and restrained the girl, which led to her death from an infection.