Lawyers play defense over Marine widow case

[unhappycamper]

Lawyers play defense over Marine widow case
By Allison Hoffman - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 22, 2008 6:12:46 EDT

SAN DIEGO — Prosecutors who had accused a woman of killing her Marine husband with arsenic played defense on Friday after new tests showed no traces of poison and forced them to drop murder charges.

Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn said she could not explain wild discrepancies arsenic tests of the dead man’s tissues.

Cynthia Sommer, 34, was released from jail Thursday after tests of previously untouched samples found no traces of poison as prosecutors prepared for a second trial next month.

Earlier tests, presented at the first trial, showed arsenic levels at 1,020 above normal in Sgt. Todd Sommer’s liver and 230 times above normal in his kidneys. Other tissues tested showed unremarkable levels of the poison.

“We do have these arsenic levels in the original, supposedly pristine samples,” Gunn told The Associated Press. “So the state of the evidence is just not clear.”


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_marinewidow_041908/

[DU9598]

1. Capitol Punishment

Thank goodness this innocent woman was not put to death. Another example that there are innocent people on death row.