Cynthia Sommer will be back in a court room this September, but this time she will not be on center stage.
A San Diego judge gave approval for lawyers of Sommer, who was cleared of murdering her husband, to call witnesses to testify about flaws in the original tests prosecutors used to demonstrate how the Marine was poisoned with arsenic.
Sommer spent more than two years in jail, charged with killing the 23-year-old to obtain his military death benefit. The government, however, dropped its case in April when new tests showed no trace of arsenic in Todd Sommer's preserved tissues.
Attorney Allen Bloom argues the absence of poison proves no crime was committed. He wants any future charges blocked. Prosecutors, however, report they don't want to rule out re-charging Sommer if new evidence is discovered.
Sgt. Todd Sommer died in February of 2002 in the couple's Miramar residence. Cynthia Sommer was arrested and charged with his murder in late 2005.
For more information on Cynthia Sommer's case, visit www.freecynthia.com .
NEWS*
In a case that previously gained national attention, now the San Diego District Attorney's office said it will drop all charges against alleged Marine husband killer Cynthia Sommer.
The 34-year-old Sommer (www.cynthiasommerdefense.com), who was released from jail Thursday evening, was originally convicted of killing her husband, Todd, back in 2002. Todd Sommer collapsed at the couple's home at the Miramar Marine base, then died in a hospital on Feb. 18. His death was ruled a heart attack, but prosecutors said they believed his wife had poisoned him with arsenic. A military lab test said he had high levels of the substance in his system.
Two medical experts hired by the DA's office now say recent tissue sample tests lead them to believe that they could not conclude by a reasonable doubt that Mr. Sommer could have been poisoned by arsenic.
It was back in January of 2007 that a jury convicted Sommer of her husband's murder, saying she did it for financial reasons. Witnesses for the prosecution had testified that Sommer, who has four kids, often partied, slept with other men shortly after Todd's death, and used some of his life insurance earnings to pay for breast implants.
Last November, a San Diego Superior Court Judge said that Sommer, who could have gotten life in prison without parole, had received ineffective representation by her former defense attorney, therefore granting her a second trial this May.
While that trial will not happen now, it is rather evident that someone has some explaining to do here.
Just what did kill Todd Sommer? Which lab tests are right and which ones were wrong? And, did Cynthia Sommer receive a bad rap because she did not act like other widows may at the time of their husband's death or is she someone that just got away with murder?
So what do you think?
Cynthia Sommer will be back in a court room this September, but this time she will not be on center stage.
