Bonnie Dumanis Embattled San Diego District Attorney has new Major Loss to Cynthia Sommer
Posted by Rose in High Proflie Trials, San Diego D. A. Bonnie Dumanis
In a May 10, 2010 ruling the Honorable William Q. Hayes, Federal Court for the Southern District of California issued an Order and ruled that Cynthia Sommer’s $20 million dollar lawsuit goes forward.
I had watched a special on the ID channel last weekend on the Marines’ wife prosecuted for murdering her husband. Cynthia Sommer claimed in court filings that was because Bonnie Dumanis and Laura Gunn “believed that a high-profile arrest and conviction would serve their personal goals and make the D[istrict] A[ttorney’s] O[ffice] famous.” Famous they are now but not in the way they had hoped per the Court’s ruling.
Sommer has maintained that because of the way the young wife “grieved” following the death of Todd Sommer in 2002, and that the San Diego District Attorney because she did not approve of the way Ms. Sommer grieved began a witch hunt for three years to arrest and tries an innocent widow. Granted Sommer took half of the insurance policy and put it in a trust account to care for her four children but she also had a breast enhancement surgery and was seen “partying”. Thus that has to equal murder right? Nope not at all.
Sommer spent two years in jail awaiting trial, being tried and was found guilty of the murder of her husband, twenty-three year old Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer. Sommer’s was arrested on November 30, 2005 and convicted of the murder of her husband on January 30, 2007. However she was freed by a Judge in San Diego County on November 30, 2007 when her conviction was overturned and she was granted a new trial after new lab testing showed no arsenic whatsoever in Sgt. Todd Sommer’s tissues.
The federal court ruled there was enough evidence against San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Laura Gunn, Deputy District Attorney for the County of San Diego, that the two women per the Federal Court’s rulings; “Dumanis and Gunn fabricated evidence and continued their investigation after they knew or should have known that Plaintiff was innocent.”
On May 10, 2010 the first major ruling in Sommer’s federal lawsuit filed against the medical examiner, Glenn N. Wagner, the United States government, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and prosecutor Laura Gunn ruled they have no immunity from the case to go forward against them. On Dumanis and Gunn the Court found that the two were claiming potentially “prosecutorial immunity in the functions of their jobs”, instead the Court found that “a clearly established constitutional due process right not to be subjected to criminal charges on the basis of false evidence that is deliberately fabricated by the government.”. The case against the United States can go forward under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The case against Wagner, the medical examiner, is valid under; “Failing to follow guidelines or carry out an investigation in a manner that will ensure an error-free result is one thing; intentionally fabricating false evidence is quite another.” Further the Court said in regards to Glenn N. Wagner; “Plaintiff has set forth in detail factual allegations which support her allegation that Wagner deliberately or recklessly falsified Todd Sommer’s cause of death on the death certificate, including the inconsistencies in the forensic evidence, the opinions of other experts, and the breaks in the chain of custody. Plaintiff alleges facts which, if proven, would be sufficient to establish that Wagner’s determination that Todd Sommer had been poisoned was central to Plaintiff’s arrest and prosecution.”
Sommer per the federal ruling; “contends that she has alleged facts that would establish that Dumanis and Gunn were acting in an investigatory capacity rather than a prosecutorial capacity when they worked jointly with investigators to fabricate a case against her.” The federal Court found citing the case of Buckley that; “When prosecutors are acting in their official capacity, but not performing prosecutorial functions, they are protected only by the qualified immunity that protects all public officials. A prosecutor may not shield his investigative work with the aegis of absolute immunity merely because, after a suspect is eventually arrested, indicted, and tried, that work may be retrospectively described as ‘preparation’ for a possible trial; every prosecutor might then shield himself from liability for any constitutional wrong against innocent citizens by ensuring that they go to trial.” Id. Before probable cause exists to arrest anyone, “[a] prosecutor neither is, nor should consider himself to be, an advocate.”
The federal Court’s Ruling states in part; “Plaintiff alleges that in addition to apparent inconsistencies between the positive test for arsenic and the other forensic testing, Dumanis and Gunn consulted “several qualified independent forensic toxicologists . . . [who] refused to concur in the results of the testing performed by AFIP.” Translated if they did not like what the testing showed they “doctor/lab” shopped to find someone who would agree with their assumptions.
The ruling ends with the finding that; “Accepting as true all facts alleged in the Complaint and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Plaintiff, the Court concludes that the Complaint contains sufficient factual allegations to support a § 1983 due process claim against Dumanis and Gunn for deliberate fabrication of evidence during the investigation of Todd Sommer’s death. Plaintiff, [Sommer], has made specific, non-conclusory allegations that, if proven, would be sufficient to establish that Dumanis and Gunn continued to investigate Plaintiff despite knowing or having sufficient evidence that they should have known that Todd Sommer was not murdered.
Allen Bloom, Sommer’s criminal attorney, on behalf of Cynthia Sommer stated; “It basically says that early on, the intentional and reckless behavior of the district attorney’s office was so bad they have to answer to these charges. It also means that you’re going to see Bonnie Dumanis and Laura Gunn being deposed and questioned, why did they do this?”
Bloom was Sommer’s criminal defense attorney. Even he was shocked when he read the judge’s ruling which says if the allegations in the lawsuit are true, a claim can be made against Dumanis and Gunn for, “…deliberate fabrication of evidence during the investigation of Todd Sommer’s death.”
Dumanis in an attempt to get in front of this waived the new trial and stated to the public that once she “discovered the new evidence” she was taking the unprecedented stand of dismissing the murder charges against Cynthia Sommer and allowing her to walk out of prison….. Good right??? Nope because the D. A. will not drop the murder charges “with prejudice” which means they can hang over Sommer’s head a new trial if Dumanis decides to go that way in the future and Dumanis and the medical examiner, Wagner, refuses to change Todd Sommer’s death certificate from homicide back to the original natural causes that had been ruled in 2002. Yeppers folks while suing in federal court the D. A. might still be conducting an investigation to again arrest and try Sommer.
This is on top of the current petition for recall of the D. A. Dumanis for misusing her office including going after all legitimate medical marijuana dispensers in her county. Allegedly going so far as to sending under cover agents to doctors, stating legitimate medical conditions to gain a prescription for medical use of marijuana, going to a legitimate dispenser, going through the validating process, and then arresting these dispenser for illegal distributing the marijuana. Allegations are that Dumanis is getting federal grants in excess of $350,000 to investigate and try intercity gangs and instead is using it for this witch hunt.
If that is not enough trouble brewing for Dumanis she has allegedly told her prosecutors to avoid the judge that freed Sommer for all future criminal trials in a power play with the Court. Then add to that one of the judges in San Diego has filed a lawsuit against the chief justice for making “sweetheart deals” on domestic violence cases. This does not even touch the San Diego courts Foundation and the allegations that Dumanis uses that non-profit organization for pay offs to see rulings are favorable to those who contribute to this foundation.
In another ironic twist Jerry Brown refuses to investigate any of this from the alleged improprieties of Dumanis right down to the tax free foundation and the money all of this is costing California at a time that California is bankrupt and Dumanis has no one running against her in November so unless the recall is successful she will continue her reign of San Diego County California.
If you are thinking of moving to San Diego you might want to consider all of this and perhaps not relocate there.
We are going to unpeel all of these onion skin like allegations and keep up with the Sommer case as well. Expect more articles over the weekend on each of these allegations.
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©Rose Turner
May 21, 2010
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Fill in the blank_”A ___________________and a prosecutor neither is, nor should consider himself to be an advocate”. Good for the Honorable William Q. Hayes.
Whatever happened to ethics?
Raven and Bewildered and there is much more to come in this “situation” in San Diego County… a lot of suspicious going on things and NO ONE is running against her this year..
Also I have put up 18 new filings including exhibits with this article that was filed with the First Court of Appeals and the Harris County 80th District Court today involving several parties. under the article “Is this latest development; SMEARING OF A DEFENDANT, or WITNESS INTIMIDATION? ___ You decide~”
Maybe this is a step in the right direction for re-establishing our constitutional rights in this country. Everyone needs to apply this type of law enforcement abuse in the Casey Anthony case. I do NOT know if she is guilty or innocent but I have seen this same mentality from law enforcement applied to her case.
Everyone needs to OPEN THERE EYES to the abuses going on every day by law enforcement and really look, listen and objectively discover what is going on in each and every case that is smeared across our newspapers and by our supposedly “unbiased” news reporting. Do NOT get caught up in the hype and “sources close to the investigation” reporting as FACTS in any case. We, now more than ever before, need to use our BRAINS to decipher what is really going on.
I APPLAUD that judge for upholding our (and I mean OUR) true rights in this case. That is the type of person who should sit on our supreme court. It almost restores my faith – or at least faith in the possibility that we may yet pull ourselves back from the edge of the abyss we are teetering on in this country!
Isn’t this the same person John Nazarian had an article on here some time back? If I remember correctly he liked her, but didn’t like the name Bonnie. (for some reason)
Do we have a copy of Mr. Sommer’s original autopsy and the changes made after he was originally found to have died of natural causes?
Yes Rox I am getting all of those together and the other things going on in the county like judges suing judges and the D. A. office ordering prosecutors to boycott judges that she does not like the way they rule… hopefully I will have time to put some more of that up tomorrow…
Rose, please be sure to post the “charts” and testimony the prosecution presented at the original trial re: their expert’s testimony about the arsenic. That was the most “telling” (lies) in the attempt of the prosecution to make it seem like there were massive amounts of arsenic present in her husband’s body. It was one of the most horrendous attempts of “obfuscation” I have ever witnessed a prosecution trying to pull over a jury’s eyes. I watched this happen in real time and wanted to throw those lying sack’s of
(prosecutor’s and their paid for expert witnesses) in jail at that moment! 
, I could not believe this was a trial in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The scariest thing is that this was a nationally televised trial. Just think about what happens every day; day in and day out in courtrooms across this country where little to no coverage is ever presented in the press.
It is truly scary. Even worse was the jury’s reaction to the way the prosecution presented the way Sommers grieved (or lack their of in the prosecution’s eyes). Grief and the acceptance of the loss of a loved one is an intensely personal experience. For someone to say “you should do it this way or that” is ridiculous; yet the people on that jury just ate up the prosecution’s statements of personal outrage like a congregation praising a preacher in church. ???????? When will people start thinking for themselves instead of blinding follow “him with the most engaging hype”?
I read on message boards during this trial. The common thread was that people WANTED to believe that Cindy was everything the prosecution said. Just like in this case with Howard, Bonnie, et al. Just like people want to believe the worst about Casey Anthony (aided and abetted by unofficial hype/misleading info put out by the prosecution). My question is WHY? Why are people so anxious to believe the worst about someone? We have seen people from that other “site” devote untold time, energy and hours/days/months/years to try to support the worst about someone they don’t even know. Why? Is it just because they like to argue? Is it just because they think the worst about everyone in their normal life? We know why that law firm and Vergie are doing it:
but why are those 
at topix taking this as a personal loss? To inject themselves into a case that doesn’t even concern them in real life just doesn’t make any sense. People had better start looking at why law enforcement plays on “emotions” of us all to try to make their cases in the public media. There is a calculated reason they do that ya know? Politicians use this approach when they want to get a bill passed
9
Noni
We have seen law enforcement falsely accuse someone before here on this site. Lyndal. I can tell you this much…. the report that he had in court with him the day he testified had a SUPPLEMENT report that differend from the original that Lyndal had a copy of. I can also say that I spoke with Lyndal the day of the robbery right after the cop had left and I can tell you that she was very angry. So much so that her voice was shaking. She felt violated and she was angry that the cop didn’t TAKE FINGERPRINTS. He told her that it would do no good and “get everything dirty”. She was furious because she said there were obvious fingerprints on some things. I really hope one day that the TRUTH about that police officer and how he CHANGED his story COMPLETELY come out.
BTW
Just to add for the dumbasses….. YOU DO GET A COPY OF THE SUPPLEMENT REPORT WITH THE ORIGINAL REPORT WHEN YOU GO AND PICK UP THE REPORT FROM THE STATION. Anyone who says that the victim doesn’t get access to all of the “report” is full of crap.
Roxie thanks for backing Lyndal I like the woman and helped what I could or as much as I could.I sure hope she knows we are all behind her.
Noni Texas is the worst state in this country about putting innocent people in jail,project innocent has gotten many out and in many different states,but after years in prison and what is faced there how can they really come out and lead a normal life and i read that they have caps on how much a state has to pay for wrongful imprisonment something like 25,000 and the man spent like 10 years in prison.Sometimes I think we are to sue happy and by that I mean we as a nation not anyone in particular.After reading all the snide remarks from McCabe I think we need to teach attorney’s to have better ethics.I don’t like Brown and think he would be a disaster for California but I also think the woman running is just as bad.They need someone who knows what the hell- they are doing and just do it.
hmmm
Lyndal is doing good. I talk to her all the time. She has really become one of my closest friends over the last year or so. She has had the arrest come back on her at least once and I do really really hope that she can clear her name. McCabe knows there was no “fake robbery.” He also knows that she destoryed nothing and all those emails they pulled from her server proves that. Rose can show the phone calls that the LIAR Melissa Burleson testified happened…. NEVER HAPPENED. PHONE RECORDS PROVE HER A LIAR.
Thanks for posting about Cynthia Sommer. Those of us who have followed this case closely since it first aired on CourtTV are very hopeful that Sommer will emerge victorious and that both Dumanis and Gunn will pay the dues they owe.
Moda we are going to cover the federal trial totally, I have pulled a lot of the filings and they will go up at the first of the week with additional articles not only on Cynthia Sommer but also some not so “proper” things it appears that Dumanis and/or the Court’s in San Diego County have done.
What you see happening in Texas, California, Florida, (my state of Tennessee) and more and more across this country is only the beginning of of what is becoming a “Police State” in this (again) once great country. I just pray that with the coming elections across the United States people use their noggins when voting. I know most of those running are part of what is wrong, but I believe we will see more of those who care about this make themselves known and run for offices. We are walking a thin line before there will be nothing we can do about it. [-o< I am praying we can reverse some of the damage that has already been done. Too many people have died (and are still dying) to keep our country free to lose it now to socialists, etc. Let's turn this:
into this: 
Thanks, Rose. I’m looking forward to seeing what you post.
P.S. Cindy was actually granted a new trial on Nov 30, 2007, based on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel (IAC). On April 17, 2008, Cynthia Sommer, who was once convicted of killing her Marine husband with arsenic, was cleared April 17, 2008, after new tests showed no traces of any poison. Todd Sommer was not murdered, yet his widow spent 869 days in jail for a crime that never happened.
Rose
Do we have the autopsy reports yet?
Roxanne – thank you for an update on LH. She was wronged by McCabe and paid a high price for his shenanigans just as he did to TS. The ladies deserve justice, a public retraction and a clearing of their names. BTW – wonder why the local news hasn’t reported anything for so long.
Have a look at this article
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/latest-facebook-blunder-secret-data-sharing-with-advertisers.ars?utm_source=Ars+Technica+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3d0a93b7b4-May_27_2010_Newsletter&utm_medium=email
Report: Facebook caught sharing secret data with advertisers
By Eric Bangeman | Last updated 6 days ago
The privacy issues that have been hounding Facebook may be coming to a head. A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Facebook, along with MySpace, Digg, and a handful of other social-networking sites, have been sharing users’ personal data with advertisers without users’ knowledge or consent.
The data shared includes names, user IDs, and other information sufficient to enable ad companies such as the Google-owned DoubleClick to identify distinct user profiles. Some of the sites in question, including MySpace and Facebook, stopped sharing the data after the Journal asked them about it. The surreptitious data sharing was first noticed (PDF) by researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and AT&T Labs in August 2009, who brought it up with the sites in question. It wasn’t until WSJ contacted them that changes were made.
Not surprisingly, Facebook appears to have gone farther than the other sites when it comes to sharing data. When Facebook’s users clicked on ads appearing on a profile page, the site would at times provide data such as the username behind the click, as well as the user whose profile page from which the click came. “If you are looking at your profile page and you click on an ad, you are telling that advertiser who you are,” Harvard Business School professor Ben Edelman told the Journal. Advertisers contacted by the paper said that they were unaware of the additional data and did not make use of it.
Facebook has tweaked its privacy policy throughout its history, with the most recent moves to open up more user information to the public drawing heavy criticism and FTC complaints. Users have also had a tough time navigating the site’s often-Byzantine privacy controls, which has led to a trickle of user defections. With these latest revelations about Facebook ignoring industry standards, not to mention its own privacy policies, that trickle may turn into a torrent.
Update: want to know how the data sharing works? We explain.
Time to pray for Louisiana
Sammy
Thanks. Yes, McCabe knows that MB lied through her teeth. You would think such a “respectable” lawyer would be man enough to go to the judge and say “You know your honor, I made a mistake. I took MB’s word for it and I have now seen the proof that she lied and what she said happened couldn’t have possibly happened. How bout we clear Ms. Harrington’s record of that arrest and conviction.”
ROXANNE—-You gave me my first laugh of the day,McCabe is the kind of lawyer who could care less who is telling the truth.he cannot,why would he be concerned for either LH or TS.Unil the public is made aware of his “shenanigans” this will be swept under the rug,There are two boats in the harbor right now,one is named :crime pays” the other “disposable Income”One thing I have learned over the years is ,the not so rich are” disposable”McCabe could care less about MB or anyone one else,he is a user of disposable people.He is looking for MILLIONS of DOLLARS.for himself and Vergie Arthur,he does not care who gets hurt.I can tell you right now ‘VINDICATION” will not come from th
e courts or McCabe,What also makes me laugh is the topix people,Once there use is over,they will look like what they are ‘Disposable”
I dedicate this to all those Cesspool Troll’s…I’ll Pray for You
Rose – Can’t wait to see your postings!
You know,sometime I cannot stand the hypocrisy.of this day,All the parade’s the president laying a wreath on the unknown soldier grave,yet are fighting men have to fight for benefits,there are homeless vets,which make me see purple,while all the illegal’s are using the benefits.It is already getting to me,I know of VET right now that is trying to get food stamps,and is being DENIED,I am truly SICK of the sugar coating.
[...] DA Bonnie Dumanis, DDA Laura Gunn Not Immune from $20 Million Federal Lawsuit Written by: Chris Print This Article Share Use of Our Content (Reposting and Quoting) July 19th, 2010 Goto comments Leave a comment The San Diego District Attorney’s office including DA Bonnie Dumanis and DDA Laura Gunn do not have immunity for their misconduct, ruled a Federal court in a $20 million lawsuit against them and other parties involved in the wrongful prosecution of Cynthia Sommer. (from Bonnie Dumanis Embattled San Diego District Attorney has new Major Loss to Cynthia Sommer) [...]