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April 17, 2008
Posted: 03:38 PM ET
NEW YORK – Newly discovered evidence in Cynthia Sommer’s murder case may delay the retrial, currently scheduled for May. Sommer was convicted last year in San Diego, California, of first-degree murder in the slaying of her husband, Todd, a Marine. But the verdict was set aside, and she received a new trial when Superior Court Judge Peter Deddah ruled that her defense team had been ineffective. Sommers’ new lawyer, Allen Bloom, told In Session he will be seeking a delay in the new trial. He was recently informed by prosecutors that untested tissue samples from Todd Sommer were located in the Naval lab that did the initial investigation into the marine’s death. Prosecutors have now sent the tissues, preserved in paraffin more than five years ago, for testing at an independent lab. At a hearing Friday, Bloom expects to ask for a lenghthy delay in the trial. He said he expects no opposition from the San Diego County District Attorney’s office. Todd Sommer, 23, died suddenly at his home on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, on February 18, 2002. Initially, the death was believed to be from natural causes, cardiac arrhythmia. Although Todd Sommer was cremated, some of his organs and tissues were preserved for testing. The results of the recent tissue testing may also be available at Friday’s status conference. In May 2003, the Environmental Lab of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, tested several tissues and found severely elevated levels of arsenic in his liver and kidneys. Following a lengthy investigation, the death certificate was amended to a new cause of death, arsenic poisoning, and a new manner of death, homicide. Cynthia Sommer was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in November 2005. She has always maintained her innocence. She says the tissue samples may have been contaminated at the lab or somewhere along the way in the lengthy chain of custody. The results of the new tests could bolster the state’s case if elevated levels of arsenic are present. Then, again, those results, if negative for arsenic, will go a long way in supporting Sommer’s claim of innocence. – Beth Karas, In Session correspondent Filed under: Beth Karas • Cynthia Sommer • Trials |
 
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