Kimberly Cunningham

Parties

• Kimberly Cunningham — defendant and killer of Coy Hundley.
• Coy Hundley — alleged rapist; killed by Cunningham.
• Amanda Cunningham — Cunningham’s daughter (age 9 at the time of the alleged rapes; age 16 at trial).
• Shane — Cunningham’s son (described as telling police that he said Coy’s eldest son had been “touching” him).
• Evelyn Hundley — Hundley’s mother.
• Rhonda — Cunningham’s sister; described as the common-law husband of Hundley.
• Bruce Poston — Cunningham’s attorney.
• Judge Kelly Thomas — presiding judge.
• Robert Headrick — Blount County Assistant District Attorney General.
• David Miles — juror.
• Brenda Newman — juror.
• Linda King — juror in the first trial; described as the final holdout against a first-degree murder conviction.
• Carl Eppolito — juror in the second trial.
• Wate.com — media outlet in the case coverage.
• Knoxville News Sentinel — media outlet in the case coverage.
• WBIR.com — media outlet in the case coverage.
• ABC News — media outlet in the case coverage.

Timeline

• October 2003 — Cunningham confronted Coy Hundley at his workplace; Cunningham shot Hundley in the parking lot of Slide Lock Tool Co. on Topside Road in Alcoa.
• April 2005 — Cunningham was acquitted on a charge of first degree murder; jurors deadlocked on second degree murder, prompting a retrial.
• October 28, 2005 — A jury found Cunningham guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
• December 19, 2005 — Cunningham was sentenced to four years in prison.
• May 17 — A status conference was set to determine whether prosecutors would seek a trial on second-degree murder charges or resolve by plea agreement.
• December 2005 — Cunningham planned to be home with her family for Christmas.
• June 2010 — Cunningham died.

Background

Kimberly Cunningham was a Blount County mother charged in the shooting death of a man she said raped her young daughter. In the trial, Cunningham admitted she shot Coy Hundley but said it occurred in a moment of rage after she learned her youngest daughter had been raped twice by her uncle, Coy Hundley, when she was nine years old. Cunningham told the jury that when she confronted Hundley, “he just laughed at her and asked what she was going to do about it.”

Cunningham testified that the day of the fatal shooting she learned that Hundley had allegedly raped her youngest daughter. She testified that she went to Hundley’s workplace to confront him, and that Hundley laughed at her and mocked her. She also testified about allegations that Hundley’s teenage son had molested that same daughter and her son, Shane, and that she obtained a permit to carry a gun after Hundley allegedly threatened her over those allegations. She testified that she was already grappling with allegations regarding molestation of her children.

Cunningham said she was threatened and intimidated after she reported the alleged molestation. She said Hundley and his friends told her that “they’d ‘never find my body.’” Cunningham also described smashing the windows in Hundley’s son’s car. When she called Hundley at work, she testified that he told her the vandalism made the two families “even.”

Hundley’s relatives declined during the trial to comment. Evelyn Hundley, Hundley’s mother, denied that molestation or rapes had occurred and said that no charges had been filed against Hundley’s eldest son, stating that Cunningham’s allegations did not lead to charges.

The offence

Cunningham shot Coy Calloway Hundley eight times in the parking lot of Slide Lock Tool Co. on Topside Road in Alcoa in October 2003. Four of those gunshot wounds were to his head. The prosecution argued that Cunningham went to Hundley’s workplace armed and planning to kill him, pointing to the fact that she emptied her five-shot revolver and then reloaded and emptied the gun a second time.

During proceedings in the case, Cunningham described the confrontation and shooting. Cunningham said she told Hundley, “You raped my daughter,” and that he laughed and stepped back and said, “What are you going to do about it,” before she shot him eight times. In another account of the testimony described in the case coverage, Cunningham said she shot Hundley five times, reloaded, and fired five more rounds, killing him.

An additional theme in the case was the presence of allegations about molestation of Cunningham’s children by Hundley and his family. Cunningham’s youngest daughter testified that her uncle and cousin started molesting her when she was nine years old. In open court she recounted the first time Coy Hundley touched her, saying:

“I was in his trailer when he asked me to take off my clothes,” says the now 16-year old. He took my pants off but left my shirt on. I was wearing a Little Mermaid t-shirt.”

Cunningham’s daughter Amanda testified that Coy Hundley raped her and that she remembered she had a purple Little Mermaid shirt on. She said:

“He told me to take my clothes off, and I said no, so he took them off me.”

She also testified that he raped her again a few months later and threatened her not to tell anybody.

Cunningham testified that after her daughter told her about alleged attacks, she went to the workplace where Hundley worked, called him out into the parking lot, and that Hundley laughed and said:

“What are you going to do about it?”

Cunningham’s account in coverage included that after the shooting she returned to her car, drove away, and then turned in her revolver at the Alcoa, Tenn., Police Department, telling police there had been a shooting.

Investigation and police contact

Cunningham went to the Alcoa, Tenn., Police Department about forty-five minutes after the shooting and turned in her nickel-plated revolver, telling police there had been a shooting. The coverage described her police interrogation as including her sobbing on an audiotape, with her saying:

“He raped my baby!”

Arrest and custody

• The provided material did not describe a specific arrest date or custody sequence.

Trial

First trial (first-degree murder acquittal; deadlock on second-degree murder)

The first trial took place in April 2005. After more than 14 hours of deliberations, a Blount County jury acquitted Cunningham of first-degree murder, but jurors deadlocked on whether she should be convicted of a lesser charge of second-degree murder. The deadlock prompted a retrial. Defense attorney Bruce Poston described the Cunningham family’s reaction to the first-verdict announcement as relieved because “Mom goes home tonight.” He said:

“It was huge that they rendered a (not guilty) verdict on first-degree murder. By eliminating first, a new trial starts at (a charge of) second-degree (murder).”

Jurors deliberated and reached a decision around 6:30 p.m. Friday in the April 2005 trial. The coverage described debate over premeditation and included Bruce Poston’s view that at worst Cunningham could be convicted of voluntary manslaughter, “which is the killing of a person in the heat of passion.” Poston also said it “still stuns me” that a jury would not consider the circumstances in the heat of passion terms.

Linda King, 58, described as a retired secretary from a General Motors purchasing department in Tennessee, described being the final holdout against a first degree murder conviction. She said she was pressured by a jury to convict Cunningham of first degree murder and described her experiences in deliberations, including her being called “stupid” and “and worse things,” and described a male foreman pounding his fists on the table and threatening to write a note to the judge saying that she was “illogical, uncooperative and couldn’t see the light of day.” King said:

“And that's exactly what he ended up doing,” King said.

King described deliberations as becoming “meaner and meaner” over time, and described her position regarding compromise:

“I told them, 'That's not how this works. It's not a compromise. This is someone's life we're talking about,'” King said.
She also said she believed the family had been victimized enough and needed a chance to recover: “I really felt that when this had happened the first time, with [Kimberly's] nephew, that she had followed the law. She had tried to go through the system the first time, and I think she would have gone through the system again the second time unless Coy Hundley had reacted the way he did, laughing at her.”

King said the jury finally voted to acquit Cunningham of first degree murder, but became deadlocked on second degree murder, and a second trial was ordered.

Second trial (voluntary manslaughter conviction)

The second trial began Wednesday, with the jury being handed the case Thursday morning, and with deliberation taking seven hours Thursday and Friday. On October 28, 2005, the jury found Kimberly Cunningham guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Coy Hundley. The jury said she was not guilty of second-degree murder.

The material described that it was the second time Cunningham had been on trial on murder charges in Hundley’s death. The coverage described that the jury could not decide on second-degree murder in the first trial, prompting retrial.

Cunningham admitted she shot Hundley in both trials but said it was in a moment of rage after she learned her youngest daughter had been raped twice by her uncle Coy Hundley when she was nine. She testified in the second trial that when she confronted Hundley, he laughed and asked what she was going to do about it.

Cunningham’s lawyer, Bruce Poston, was quoted describing expectations of the most severe verdict the jury would reach as involuntary manslaughter.

Juror David Miles described the jury’s deliberations and the difficulty in punishing Cunningham, saying the jury felt that vigilante justice had to be punished but was also focused on whether she was thrust into the situation. Miles said:

“I think the main feeling was that you shouldn't take justice into your own hands,”

He also said:

“but on the other side of the coin, if you were thrust into that situation, how would you react? You are brought up that you're supposed to protect your family at all costs, so it's really kind of a mixed thing.”

Miles said he felt the mitigating factor was that Cunningham feared Hundley due to threats and intimidation for several months. He said:

“You know, it's wrong to kill somebody, but you want to protect your family and I felt that's where she was at. She felt she was at the end of her rope. She had been dealing with [threats and intimidation] for several months, and when she got that latest piece of news it just broke her spirit. And she felt she had to take care of it.”

Juror Brenda Newman said she focused on following the law, saying:

“I knew the law would be the first priority,”

She said:

“And that I could not act on my own feelings. I knew that I had to separate the way I felt as to what the law is, so I focused in on that the entire time.”

She also said:

“And it was very difficult,'' she said.
“I could relate to her, especially as a mother. But like I said I wanted everything to be completely fair because I knew I had to live with it afterwards. I thought she felt helpless and that she was trying to protect her children. I did not feel like it was planned out. I felt like it was just a moment of passion.”

Newman described jurors’ motivation to decide the case to spare Cunningham’s children from having to testify again and said:

“Everyone in there agreed that we needed to come to a decision, but we agreed that it had to be one everyone could live with,”

Carl Eppolito was quoted stating:

“If she hadn't reloaded that gun," said Carl Eppolito, a juror from the second trial, "I would have let her walk.”

Sentencing

On December 19, 2005, Cunningham was sentenced to four years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter carries a sentence of three to six years in prison or probation.

The prosecution and the Hundley family sought a longer sentence in coverage. Hundley’s family asked that Cunningham receive the maximum six years, but the court ruled for less. The punishment was described as not enough for Hundley’s mother, Evelyn Hundley, who said she would have liked to see Cunningham get life because she “did kill my son in cold blood.” Evelyn Hundley said there were “no proof whatsoever.”

Appeals and outcome

• The provided material stated that the sentence was reduced on appeal to six months in prison.
• The provided material also stated that Bruce Poston filed an appeal.
• A status conference set for May 17 was described as to determine whether prosecutors would seek a trial on second-degree murder charges or if the case could be resolved with a plea agreement.

Other details

Cunningham was described as having a gun permit and having taken lessons at a firing range and carrying a loaded gun in a black purse in her car since August 2003, when she learned that Hundley’s eldest son had allegedly molested her son Shane and her daughter Amanda.

The coverage described the sequence of disclosure within the Cunningham family. Amanda told her mother about alleged abuse and rape when her mother pressed her due to changes in her behavior. The material described Amanda as an A student who became listless and withdrawn. Amanda and her mother began to fight, and Cunningham described taking her daughter to a juvenile detention center in early fall 2003 in frustration. The material also described Cunningham bringing her son Shane to McDonald’s, where Shane said Coy’s eldest son had been “touching” him.

Cunningham’s youngest daughter Amanda was quoted about dreams involving Coy and about the timing of telling her mother. She said:

“I told her I had been having dreams about Coy,”

The material described Amanda’s later disclosure to her mother that Coy Hundley forced her to perform oral sex on him when she was nine and then raped her again and threatened her not to tell anybody.

Cunningham testified that she lost control and described the emotional impact of learning of the allegations. In coverage of her testimony, Cunningham said:

“I lost myself,”

Cunningham also made a statement in the coverage about turning in the revolver and said:

“The person who is a good mother and in control — and I'm a compassionate person — was completely gone,” Kimberly told ABC News.
“You wouldn't believe how tiny she was,” Kimberly said, her voice cracking.
“This little thing, she wasn't more than 42 pounds, and for someone to do such vulgar things to her … there [sic] is simply no words to describe what happened … I just totally lost control.”

She was also quoted saying to ABC News:

“I just think it's unjust,” she said.
“I don't believe in the justice system no more. Because she got away with cold-blooded murder.”

The material described that Cunningham anticipated beginning to serve her sentence next month and hoped to be home with her family by January with good behavior. The coverage included her statement:

“I'm happy to be home with my kids for Christmas to just support them and show them all the love I have in my heart for them.”