Another Miscarriage of Justice - fixed
Apr 18th, 2008 by Mark
Another story of gross incompetence comes to a close here in North County. Cynthia Sommer was convicted for murdering her Marine husband last year, even though many thought prosecuting the case was wrong. After getting a re-trial and some good fortune in finding new tissues, tests have come back that show the case against her was a fantasy.
Charges Dropped Against San Diego Marine Widow
Originally the prosecutors charged that Cynthia poisoned her husband with Arsenic so she could get a boob job and live a more “luxurious” lifestyle on his life insurance policy. They based their conclusion on her getting the boob job “soon” after her husband’s death, and her sordid escapades in Mexico and in her apartment; where she behaved in a manner that would make a prostitute blush.
Shortly after her husband died suddenly, she hosted boisterous parties at her home on the base. Authorities say she showed Marine wives her newly enhanced breasts — paid for with her husband’s life insurance policy. And within two months, she had taken up with another man.
I won’t defend or condone her behavior, you can’t; however I have to question her friends and family as to why they did not reign her in for her own good? Her behavior was even compared to the Menendez brothers’ behavior.
My guess is they are regretting that they did not step in sooner; now that she has spent the better part of 3 years behind bars. Will they step in now that she has another chance or will she continue to spend most of her time on her back?
Whoever meets her at the jail, needs to slap Cynthia upside the head and tell her it’s time to get her “head and ass wired together”. No doubt a phrase she will understand. Whether she will listen or not, remains to be seen. Some people never learn, and to date Cynthia has shown few signs of maturity. I suggest a chastity belt, if anyone is taking suggestions.
Who Blew It
Sadly the incompetence of the system here in North County is now once again embarrassing everyone who lives her. Beyond that, it is putting people’s lives at risk. How can we trust the system now? A system that is so far out of whack that it may never recover?
We have a District Attorney who is a joke, and seems to be clue-less about anything other than running her mouth. The county Commissioners are a joke as well. I have not heard one peep out of them as to why the system is broken and how to fix it. The labs are making blunders that are stupid beyond belief. Just how do we fix this?
What of the NCIS who seems to have gotten it wrong as well? Add one more oopsie to the list. They found untested tissue samples from Sgt Sommer.
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.
Why was this not brought out before? 5 years? Come on.
Who Pays the Price
Even worse this case has destroyed two families, and at least one career.
Sgt Sommer’s family has been told that their son died of natural causes, then told he was murdered, and then told he was not murdered.
Cynthia Sommer’s family has fought get her a new trial, and succeeded, and now all charges are dropped. A victory for sure, but at what cost.
Her children now know that she is a trollop, and at one time a murderer. That should help their childhood.
Her first attorney admitted under oath that he blew it at trial, his career is no doubt over. Now we have to wonder if Laura Gunn will pay any price for what many see as her over-zealous prosecution of the case. And what of Bonnie Dumanis, the current District Attorney? Blind without a cane is all I can say about her. It’s worse than a Greek tragedy.
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis told reporters there was no proof of contamination but offered no other explanation. She said she didn’t know how the tissue might have been contaminated.
“We had an expert who said it was arsenic and no reason to doubt that evidence,” Dumanis said. “The bottom line was, ‘Was there arsenic in Mr. Sommer causing his death?’ Our results showed that there was.”
How wrong those tests were. Makes you question a lot of things going on in that office, and the NCIS. Good thing the NCIS had extras, huh Bonnie?
And what of the possible juror mis-conduct? Well no word yet, as to whether it’s true or not; and if anything will be done to repair the damage if it is. This case points out the single biggest problem in our system of justice; the government holds all the cards with unlimited resources and the ability to make the most outrageous claims, and has few if any checks on it’s power.
Bloom accused the district attorney of “gross negligence.”
“The next time she decides to charge someone with murder in the first degree maybe she should call someone first,” Bloom said. “They labeled Cindy with a big red ‘S’ on her back because she didn’t grieve the way they wanted her to.”
Her former attorney, Robert Udell, said he “never expected this ending.”
“Just like I said from day one, it made no sense,” Udell said. “It goes to show you there are innocent people in prison.”
Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh ruled last year that Udell erred by allowing prosecutors to introduce evidence about Sommer’s partying immediately after her husband’s death.
The former attorney has admitted to tactical errors, including failing to call witnesses to adequately rebut prosecutors’ theories about the source of the arsenic.
What is really troubling is the fact that the results should have been questioned by the ‘brain trust’ at our labs, and was not.
A recently retained government expert speculated that the earlier samples were contaminated, prosecutors wrote in a motion filed in San Diego Superior Court. The expert said he found the initial results “very puzzling” and “physiologically improbable.”
Good job folks. How many more of these cases will we have to hear about? I have no doubt many more will be forthcoming.
A message to Cynthia
Cynthia if you read this, here is some advice: sew it shut. Play time is over, you have had more than enough fun for one lifetime. You are 35 or 36 with 4 kids and so far you seem to be a failure. Move in with mom, and don’t date till you grow up, better yet until your kids grow-up Do you want your kids to grow up to be like you? I don’t. Your play time is over, it’s time to get serious, and grow up. it’s time to be an adult.
Don’t blame anyone else for what has happened to you. You put yourself in this position, and you paid the price. You have a choice; accept responsibility for being less than mature and wholesome, or continue to shack up with the “next” guy. The former is best for all, the latter is how you have been doing it; you see how well that turned out.
I wish you the best, I hope you have decided to take some responsibility for your life and raise your kids to be exactly the opposite of your past. They deserve better.
Other Coverage
- The Free Cindy Site — lots of good info here
- Video of Cynthia leaving jail
- Marine Wife — did she do it?
- Jennifer A. at Gather and her take
- Free Cindy — read the comments, scary
- Channel 10 has video of the case
- someone whining about Cynthia’s behaivor being such a big deal
- someone ripping on the Union-Tribue for their lack of coverage — the “newspaper” here in SD
- CourtTV (now realTV or some such hoo-ha) has the back story here.
Previously on the Island
- Thad Jesperson Conviction Overturned - oh yea, it’s a San Diego Case
- Another Miscarriage of Justice - yep San Diego again
- SD pays for G-String screw up - more “awesome” lawyer-ing in SD
- The all things Mike Aguirre - leader of the pack
UPDATE:
- Bonnie Dumanis pens editorial (read propoganda) about her handling of this case. Read it, your head will explode. It’s amazing how this women is suddenly all over the news talking about what a great job she is doing. I didn’t know she was a damn Yankee. I think she is from Boston, from her accent. I had never even heard her speak before this screwup.
Nothing but CYA. Time for an ethics complaint.
A memo from an armed forces regional medical examiner indicates that prosecutors knew about the tissue samples in late August, roughly three months before a judge granted Sommer a new trial and more than seven months before her case was dismissed.
Defense attorney Allen Bloom said yesterday that the memo shows prosecutors were not truthful in the court documents or in subsequent interviews with the media. …
This is surreal.
- The axis of virtue takes it on the chin - both Dumanins and Jerry Sanders (Mayor of SD, former PD Chief) had a bad week.
Technorati Tags: News, San Diego, Cynthia sommer, Trial, Ineffective counsel, Ineffectual counsel, Law, Justice
Well, thanks. For the most part, your story hits the nail on the head.
BUT - “behaved in a manner that would make a prostitute blush”? No, really, where does that come from? Have you ever been widowed at age 28? Do you know what you would, or wouldn’t do? Over a couple of months, she slept with 2 different men and one married couple. That would make a prostitute blush? Don’t think so.
And your message to Cynthia? C’mon, man. Let up on the girl, FCS. Hasn’t she had enough crap of this out of the DA’s office? Give her a break. You’ll feel better about yourself, maybe.
moda
The girl was guilty and I don’t swallow that crap about the mysterious tissue samples that suddenly showed up, only to be sent to a lab in Canada. Something still stinks….I feel horrible about Todd’s parents and his son, and the kids he adopted. Cynthia is a selfish cruel narcissist who only thinks about herself, I doubt that will ever change.
Let’s see if she finds another shlub with a trust fund and what happens when she burns through it.
Moda,
Nice try, you left out the drunken slutfest in Mexico, and it seems that it was at least 5 — that we know of — partners.
Cao,
You are quite wrong. The DA knew about the tissues in August of last year. They did not mysteriously show up. The lab was not in Canada, btw. Narcissitic? No. Emotionally stunted, or childish; yes.
The way I see it, she was not responsible for what happened to her; going out and partying, having indiscriminate sex, and undergoing breast augmentation surgery may seem like immoral things, but they certainly are not deserving of a lengthy prison sentence.
The only people to blame here are the prosecutors who botched this case and ruined a perfectly innocent woman’s life.
All of the excess may have just been her way of grieving. Sometimes when the pain is too much to face, people escape into something else, and pretending that her husband wasn’t gone, abandoning herself to jubilation, may have been that something for her.
People shouldn’t be so quick to judge and tell someone to “grow up” if they haven’t experienced a comparable situation.
” having indiscriminate sex, and undergoing breast augmentation surgery may seem like immoral things,”
No, they are immoral. At least the sex is, the boob job is an indication of a person with a low opinion of them-self.
First she put herself in the position of being questioned about the death. She also put herself in the position of having multiple kids with multiple dads. Her actions caused her to be in a bad situation.
Second, the prosecutors were clearly ‘out to lunch’; however NCIS is the one to blame here. It seems obvious that they decided she was guilty, she helped them by ‘acting a fool’, and they never took the time to verify their own conclusions. Sadly this is typical of Law Enforcement these days.
Third, the “walk a mile in their shoes” mantra is just nonsense. Only a fool believes that you have to have a common experiance to judge someone. That’s bullcrap. It’s an excuse for losers to continue to be losers.
Does anyone here think she does NOT need to grow up? Let’s recap: multiple kids by multiple dads, married someone 10 years her junior ( 1/3 off her years), he dies she sluts it up and then moves in with someone else 2 months later. Yea that’s being an adult, not.
Mark - nice try yourself.
“drunken slutfest in Mexico”? I guess you’ve never gotten intoxicated or done anything silly? Oh, of course not… I forget you are Mr. Clean.
Big deal. So, she went to a BD party in TJ, got drunk, and entered a thong contest. Let me tell ya - if I was 28 yrs old, had 4 kids, and looked good enough to enter a thong contest, you better believe it wouldn’t take much to talk me into it.
Where did you get the “multiple kids by multiple dads” thing? OK, four children, two fathers. Again - big deal.
And this is not correct, either - “married someone 10 years her junior”. He was 5 years younger. Again, big deal.
Does she need to grow up? I don’t know. She went off the deep end a bit when her husband died. And her friends were right there to tap into her vulnerability.
Cao - you are miserably ill-informed about this case, yet you continue to insist that “she did it”. Did WHAT?
Cindy Sommer didn’t do anything illegal, and the rest of it should have never been made public for people to judge. It’s nobody’s business.
Moda,
Stop excusing her behavior. There is no excuse for her behavior.
Let’s see Todd was 19/20 when he married her and she was 26/7. Oh well that is so much better. Older woman with kids marries kid; that’s the point. I am not so sure she has grown up yet.
Also this “don’t judge people” bull-crap is a why we have cases like this. The assumption that if it “feels good, do it” — in other words: don’t judge me — , is why we have such an out of control country and why so many lives are ruined by irresponsible behavior. That my friends is the point, and many seem to not grasp it.
Cynthia put herself in this position, not anyone else. It’s time for her to take responsibility for her actions. She seems to not be doing that. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck; it’s a damn duck. She may not have killed him, however she sure as hell didn’t act like she was upset about his death, either. My suggestion — hint hint attorney — is a PR blitz showing a repentant, pious, and “grown up” Cynthia who has taken responsibility for her actions and proves that she has changed — move in with mom, stop dating, and become “mother of the year” — and says at every opportunity “I acted a fool, I know that now.” Until then, she will always be under a cloud of suspicion.
Like I said, I hope she gets her act together. I am not holding my breath since so many seem to be so willing to dismiss her behavior as not important.
My prediction: Cynthia is dead within 5 years — killed by next husband/lover/boyfriend/overdose/etc… — or back in jail for something similar or worse. I would love to be wrong, however her friends won’t step in, she seems to not get the whole ‘grown up’ thing, and now she is most likely going to have a windfall of money. A bad combination. Please prove me wrong, your kids deserve better.