Wife Guilty In Marine's Poisoning Death

Woman Convicted Of Murdering Husband To Cash In On Life Insurance Policy

(AP)  A jury Tuesday convicted a woman of murdering her Marine husband with arsenic to cash in on his $250,000 life insurance policy to finance a luxurious lifestyle.

The jury also found that Cynthia Sommer, 33, committed the first-degree murder with the special circumstances of poisoning and for financial gain.

Sommer, who stared forward as the verdict was read, faces life in prison without possibility of parole because of the special circumstances. She will be formally sentenced March 23.

In the court's spectator area, her mother burst into tears at the verdict and sobbed.

Prosecutors argued that Sommer wanted a more luxurious lifestyle than she could afford on the $1,700 monthly salary Sgt. Todd Sommer brought home and saw the military life insurance policy as a way to "set herself free."

"I'm deeply disappointed," defense attorney Robert Udell said after the verdict. "I don't believe Cindy killed Todd."

Of his client, he said, "She's quite stunned."

The seven women and five women of the jury chose not to talk to reporters after the verdict.

During the trial, Udell told the jury that the defendant had lost her "knight in shining armor," and repeatedly returned to the absence of any paper trail linking Sommer to the arsenic.

With no direct evidence that Sommer was the source of the arsenic detected in her husband's liver, Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn relied heavily on circumstantial evidence of Sommer's financial debt to show that she had a motive to kill her 23-year-old husband.

Todd Sommer was in top condition when he collapsed and died at the couple's home on the Marine Corps' Miramar base in San Diego.

His death was initially ruled a heart attack. Tests of his liver later found levels of arsenic 1,020 times above normal.

Cynthia Sommer's friends and co-workers testified during the trial that she threw wild parties, got her breasts enlarged and had casual sex with multiple partners in the weeks after her husband's collapse.

Gunn asserted that the defendant was the only person with the motive and access to poison the Marine.

Todd Sommer spiked a 103-degree fever and visited an urgent care clinic on base complaining of gastrointestinal pain a week before his death on Feb. 18, 2002.

His widow testified that he had been well enough the day before to drink beer during a family trip to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Orange County.

Cynthia Sommer's in-laws testified that she objected when they asked her to put her husband's $250,000 death benefit in trust for herself, their baby and her three children from a previous marriage.

She cried when called to the stand Jan. 17, dabbing her eyes as she recounted her husband's final moments.

But she also said during cross-examination that she hadn't been able to envision her future with the Marine. The pair married in 1999.

She is now engaged to a former Marine she met two months after her husband's death. She was extradited last March to California from her current home in West Palm Beach, Fla.

[teeus]

"Women never pay for the actions as long as there is a man to blame, even if he's dead. The "justice" courts are becoming a joke. Try getting a fair shake (as a man) on Judge Judy."

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah. I'm not so sure you should base your indictment of the justice process in the United States on Judge Judy.

And as for the rest of your nonsense....well, nonsense.

[jabes1966]

You can't charge or convict on circumstantial evidence alone?!
Are you people nuts? They also had no physical evidence on Scott Peterson, but he's spending time in prison getting buffoo'd by a 6'5" black man named bubba.

I'm just surprised she hasn't claimed she was abused yet. Women never pay for the actions as long as there is a man to blame, even if he's dead. The "justice" courts are becoming a joke. Try getting a fair shake (as a man) on Judge Judy.
She always sides with the woman.
When the courts stop dispensing justice, then they most dispense injustice.

[feliznavidad-2009]

Poisoning is a very intimate method of murder. If not the wife, then who?

[annd2302]

jabes1966

3 xxxxx

Only "Jab" the Publish icon one time Jabes, not 3 , you Dummy

[jabes1966]

can't charge or convict on circumstantial evidence? Are you nuts? Can you spell Scott Peterson? They had no physical evidence against him! And LESS circumstantial than in this case!
flipping rtards

[jabes1966]

can't charge or convict on circumstantial evidence? Are you nuts? Can you spell Scott Peterson? They had no physical evidence against him! And LESS circumstantial than in this case!
flipping rtards

[jabes1966]

can't charge or convict on circumstantial evidence? Are you nuts? Can you spell Scott Peterson? They had no physical evidence against him! And LESS circumstantial than in this case!
flipping rtards

[avigil2]

This woman deserves the slammer for life!

[annd2302]

Posted by markie1118 at 03:27 PM: Jan 30, 2007

%u201CEveryone deals with a loss in their own way and that was her way of dealing with it as sick as some people may think. I feel sorry for this woman and especially sorry for her children. "

I feel so sorry for this young beauty. There is no way in hell she could have committed this heinous crime she was found guilty of. With her new perky self image she had so much to loose. If I was in prison, you betcha I would snuggle right up next to those two new beauties and console her for many ,many years. Those kids will be OK, they should adopt out real quick.

[annd2302]

I would like to see those "NEW" and improved boobies.

[legendary240]

She's a fine woman, fit for prison. Old Lizzie ine cellblock "Q" will surely take a likin' to them new sweater-stretchers she bought! Serves her right!

[agnim]

"It's not a flaw in the justice system. If theres enough circumstantial evidence and that's all you got, then the DA will make a case.
Posted by mdc76082 at 01:51 PM : Jan 31, 2007"

LOL
Are you joking?

By its very nature, so-called 'circumstantial evidence' CAN NEVER EVER prove someone guilty 'beyond doubt', since 'circumstantial evidence' itself IMPLIES DOUBT!

So you are right; "it's not a flaw in the justice system". It is a gaping hole! LOL
And this white widow spider just happens to fall into the hole BECAUSE A MILITARY PERSONNEL DIED!

That is what 'circumstantial evidence' will do: Circumstantial evidence allows for the kangaroo courts when we find them convenient to lynch a member of the society whom we assume for whatever reason MUST be guilty.

[mdc76082]

Agnim, there isn't always a murder weapon at the scene of a murder. Sometimes there isn't even a body. It's harder to prove a case this way and to get a conviction, but it can & has been done. You start getting the jury thinking, "hey there's no evidence that links her to the poisoning itself, but there isn't anybody else involved, so she must have done it." That's circumstantial. Harder to prove, harder to get a conviction. You don't need "hard" evidence to bring someone down, but it sure helps the case. It's not a flaw in the justice system. If theres enough circumstantial evidence and that's all you got, then the DA will make a case.

[jetlizhan]

nyckate:
well said!!! hey, maybe she'll hook up with Scott Peterson yet!

[nyckate]

What don't these people get - for $250k and a pair of fake boobs she took her husband's life and threw away her own - bet the divorce option doesn't look as bad to her now as it did then. She should have hooked up with Lacy Petersen's hubbie - then the two of them could have knocked each other off!

[nyckate]

sesavjo - oh please - circumstantial evidence is allowed in court under the law.

Who else had a MOTIVE to murder this 23 year old guy - and who had opportunity to feed him over-abundance of arsenic.

Hey listen - I have the bridge in brooklyn - wanna but that too?? Cash only you understand - you might wake up before the deal is done!

[bluestardad]

davey214 ; Ouch! !ext you are going to want women to shoulder their fare share and register for the draft, or pay child support, or even loose custody of their children when they leave their husbands for crack dealers and take their children with them!

[sesavjo]

What happened to "Hard Evidence!" You cannot convict a person on cercumstantial alone. You aren't even supposed to be able to take it to a charge on circumstantial alone!! If she did it I hope she rots in hell...BUT....with what evidence they say they DIDN'T have, how was this conviction possible????? Our justice system is seriously questionable!!!!!!!!!!

[bluestardad]

Hang Her NOW!

[michaure]

her sentence should've been death by decon.