Marine’s widow released from jail

A woman convicted of poisoning her Marine husband so she could use his insurance money for a libertine lifestyle was released from jail Thursday night, authorities said. A judge in November had ordered a possible new trial for Cynthia Sommer because of prejudicial evidence at her trial.

Instead, Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said Thursday that charges were being dismissed because additional testing and expert evaluation had cast doubt on the prosecution’s theory that Sommer’s husband died from arsenic poisoning.

It was that theory that led jurors to convict Sommer of murder. But the trial judge overturned the conviction of the mother of four, saying her defense attorney erred when his tactics allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence about Sommer’s lifestyle.

That evidence included testimony on Sommer’s sexual activity, her breast augmentation surgery and her partying in the days after the death of her husband, Sgt. Todd Sommer, in February 2002. Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh said those details prevented her from getting a fair trial.

Sommer’s new attorney, Allen Bloom, has long asserted that the scientific testimony used by prosecutors was faulty. In arguing for a new trial, Bloom said he had planned to call experts to suggest the 23-year-old Marine died of an undiagnosed heart ailment or reaction to a diarrhea drug or weight-loss pills.