Cynthia Sommer

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing
Years Imprisoned:	2
Year Crime:	2005
Year Convicted:	2007
Year Cleared:	2008
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	San Diego
City of Crime:	San Diego
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Cynthia Sommer was wrongly convicted in 2007 of first-degree murder in the 2005 death of her husband in San Diego, California. The prosecution contended that she poisoned him with arsenic in order to collect his life insurance. After her conviction but prior to her sentencing, her new lawyer Allen Bloom filed a motion for a new trial based on her trial lawyer's ineffective assistance of counsel for opening the door to the prosecution introducing bad character evidence that shortly after her husband's death she began seeing other men. In November 2007 the trial judge vacated her conviction and ordered a new trial. Allen Bloom insisted that untested tissue samples from her husband's body be tested for the presence of arsenic. When they tested negative, the San Diego District Attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charge, which was granted on April 18, 2008, and Sommer was released later that day after more than two years of wrongful imprisonment. Sommer filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that was dismissed in 2013, and the State of California denied her compensation claim."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"Awarded a new trial in November 2007. On April 18, 2008 she was released after the DA dropped the murder charge against her."
Defendant Aided By:	San Diego attorney Allen Bloom.
Compensation Awarded:	Denied by State of Calif and federal civil rights lawsuit dismissed.
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	38
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Widow accused of killing husband speaks out, By Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union-Tribune, April 18, 2008"
Information Location 1:	http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080418-1436-bn18sommer.html
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Cynthia Sommer

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Exonerated After Conviction But Prior to Sentencing

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

2005

Year Convicted:

2007

Year Cleared:

2008

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

San Diego

City of Crime:

San Diego

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"Awarded a new trial in November 2007. On April 18, 2008 she was released after the DA dropped the murder charge against her."

Defendant Aided By:

San Diego attorney Allen Bloom.

Compensation Awarded:

Denied by State of Calif and federal civil rights lawsuit dismissed.

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

38

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Widow accused of killing husband speaks out, By Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union-Tribune, April 18, 2008"

Information Location 1:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080418-1436-bn18sommer.html

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Book Information (2):

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