The Cynthia Sommer case is a San Diego wrongful conviction in which a young Marine widow was found guilty of first-degree murder in January 2007 for allegedly poisoning her husband with arsenic, had that conviction thrown out later the same year for ineffective assistance of counsel, and was cleared entirely in April 2008 after newly tested tissue samples showed no arsenic in her husband’s body. She spent 876 days in jail before walking free.1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
How Todd Sommer Died
Todd Sommer was a 23-year-old Marine sergeant with no known health problems when he collapsed at the couple’s home on the Miramar base in San Diego on February 18, 2002, and died.2CBS News. Woman Cleared of Poisoning Marine Husband The initial autopsy, performed by Dr. Stephen Robinson of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, concluded the death was natural, caused by cardiac arrhythmia. San Diego County chief medical examiner Dr. Brian Blackbourne reviewed the findings, agreed, and issued a death certificate listing the manner as natural.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer
A military death review panel later recommended testing the preserved tissue for heavy metals. In May 2003, toxicologist Jose Centeno at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology reported finding fatal levels of arsenic in two of six samples: over 1,000 times normal in the liver and over 250 times normal in the kidneys. Four other tissue samples, along with blood and urine, tested negative.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer
That uneven distribution troubled another forensic toxicologist. Alphonse Poklis reviewed the results in October 2003 and told Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigators that the findings “didn’t make any sense” and appeared false, because genuine arsenic poisoning produces a relatively even distribution throughout the body. The investigation continued anyway. In October 2005, Dr. Glenn Wagner, who had succeeded Blackbourne, formally amended the death certificate to homicide by arsenic poisoning. Cynthia Sommer was arrested on November 30, 2005.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer
The 2007 Trial
The trial opened in San Diego County Superior Court in January 2007 before Judge Peter Deddeh. Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn conceded there was no direct evidence identifying the source of the arsenic. The prosecution’s theory was financial: that Sommer poisoned her husband to collect his $250,000 military life insurance policy and roughly $1,900 per month in survivor benefits, wanting a lifestyle his $1,700 monthly salary could not fund.4South Coast Today. Wife Convicted of Poisoning Marine Husband
The forensic case rested on Centeno’s two anomalous samples. Two forensic pathologists testified that arsenic poisoning caused the death. Poklis testified for the defense that the results were likely laboratory contamination, and pointed out that Todd Sommer had been well enough to return to work during his supposed illness, which was inconsistent with fatal arsenic exposure.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer
What tipped the trial was not the science. Judge Deddeh had ruled that prosecutors could not present evidence of Sommer’s behavior after her husband’s death. Then her defense attorney, Robert Udell, called her mother to testify that she was a “grieving widow.” The judge found that this opened the door, and prosecutors then told the jury about breast implant surgery, sexual relationships with other military men, wet T-shirt contests, parties, and her move to Florida with a new boyfriend soon after Todd’s death. They also emphasized that she had asked about money in the hours after he died.1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
On January 30, 2007, the jury convicted Sommer of first-degree murder with special circumstances of murder by poison and murder for financial gain. The verdict carried life without the possibility of parole.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer
Why the Conviction Was Overturned
About ten months after the conviction, new defense counsel Allen Bloom took over. At what was supposed to be a sentencing hearing, Bloom asked for a new trial, arguing Udell had committed a “mountain of errors.”1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
On November 30, 2007, Judge Deddeh vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. He found that Udell’s decision to call the character witness had been an “oversight” rather than a tactical choice, and that the resulting flood of lifestyle evidence had swamped the case. Deddeh also said Udell “missed many areas that would have been fruitful for his defense,” including a stronger challenge to the prosecution’s arsenic evidence. Gunn had argued Udell was experienced and had made a “calculated risk.” The judge rejected that reading while adding, “I’m not saying that Mr. Udell is a bad attorney.”5San Diego Union-Tribune. Widow Granted New Trial in Marine’s Death
The Forensic Case Collapses
With a retrial set for May 2008, Bloom pressed on the science. He identified 31 tissue samples preserved in paraffin wax, sitting on a hospital shelf, that had never been tested. The defense formally demanded them.1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
In March 2008, prosecutors located those samples, which they had previously told the defense did not exist. The prosecutor’s office later acknowledged it had “forgotten about the samples.”3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer When tested, they contained no arsenic at all. A government-retained expert reviewing the original results called them “very puzzling” and “physiologically improbable,” and suggested contamination.2CBS News. Woman Cleared of Poisoning Marine Husband Gunn conceded she “could not explain wild discrepancies” in the testing.6Daily News. Prosecutors on the Defensive in Marine Widow Case
On April 17, 2008, the prosecution asked the court to dismiss the charges. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning charges could theoretically be refiled, though they never were.7Los Angeles Times. Widow’s Lifestyle Lawsuit Dismissed Sommer left jail after 876 days.1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
What It Cost Her
Sommer was a mother of four, three from a previous marriage and one with Todd. When she was arrested in November 2005 she lost custody of all four children, and she lost her house during the ordeal. After her release, her oldest son and daughter reunited with her relatively quickly. Regaining full custody of her two younger sons took more than a year.1CBS News. An Invisible Enemy
The Federal Lawsuit
In September 2009, Sommer filed a $20 million federal lawsuit against the United States, NCIS agents, and the San Diego District Attorney’s office.8CourtListener. Sommer v. United States She alleged NCIS had failed to conduct a proper investigation, pursued the case out of disapproval of her lifestyle, improperly arrested her, and withheld exculpatory evidence. She also alleged that the tissue sent to AFIP had been negligently or intentionally contaminated and that the testing equipment had never been used for human tissue analysis.9Courthouse News Service. Military Widow Sues Navy Over Accusation
On December 5, 2013, U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo dismissed all of Sommer’s claims. The court found the evidence “does not support plaintiff’s theory that NCIS agents fabricated evidence or knowingly withheld evidence that they understood to be exculpatory,” and found no evidence that NCIS “willfully acted in a wrongful manner.” On the testing, Bencivengo concluded that AFIP scientists were “well qualified,” followed “standard procedures,” maintained the chain of custody, and that “there is and was no evidence of contamination that the AFIP ignored.”10U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Throws Out Lawsuit, Finds United States Was Not Negligent Sommer received no civil recovery.
How the Case Is Classified Now
Sommer’s official exoneration date is April 17, 2008. The National Registry of Exonerations lists two contributing factors: false or misleading forensic evidence, and inadequate legal defense.3Exoneration Registry. Cynthia Sommer A single set of anomalous lab results, contradicted by every subsequent test, had been enough to convert a death originally ruled natural into a first-degree murder conviction carrying life without parole.