New York Daily News

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New York (New York Daily News) -The Brooklyn man accused of stabbing his wife and her new lover to deathCharged: Steven Whittinghamwhen he caught them having sex in a car, was acting in self-defense, his lawyer claimed Friday.Steve Whittingham was attacked by his wife’s panicked new flame when he came across them in a car outside Spring Creek Towers near Seaview and Louisiana Avenues early Wednesday, according to the accused killer’s lawyer, Jay Cohen.The cuckolded man’s wife, Jonelle Barker, 36, was pantless inside buck-naked Jerome Barrett’s Kia.“He lost it, as anybody would under the circumstances,” Jay Cohen said.The attorney said that he anticipates arguing Whittingham was defending himself and acting under extreme emotional disturbance.“The male victim came at him with a knife,” Cohen claimed during Whittingham’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday. Whittingham “disarmed the male and he has a slash wound to his arm. In the frenzy, he stabbed both of them.”Barrett, who also was married, ran away, clutching his clothes. But he collapsed and died at an entrance to Spring Creek Towers.His Kia was found parked on New Lots Ave. in Brownsville about 24 hours later with Barker’s naked body stuffed in the trunk.Whittingham was charged with the murders late Thursday.Killed: Jonelle Barker“He’s devastated by what happened,” his lawyer said.Whittingham silently shook his head as a court officer read the charges of first- and second-degree murder against him Friday.Judge Craig Walker ordered him held without bail.Whittingham is a self-employed auto mechanic who supports six children, his lawyer said. His wife moved out of his home about four weeks before she was killed, neighbors said.The two victims met at Kennedy Airport, where they both worked as baggage handlers.Barrett’s relatives said they are grateful he was able to be with his father when he died of cancer in Virginia on December 10.“He was by his side when he took his last breath,” said Barrett’s sister-in-law Michelle Wilson-Barrett. “It was one week to the day from when his dad passed away that he died.”Barrett had his wife with him in Virginia last week — and the family never suspected he was having an affair.“She loved him to death,” Wilson-Barrett said of her brother-in-law’s bride.“They just seemed like a happy couple. That’s why this was a surprise — and I was just devastated.”