SAN DIEGO — With her mother on the witness stand and her fiancé in the gallery, murder defendant Cynthia Sommer cried as her friends and family testified about her marriage to Sgt. Todd Sommer, who died suddenly in 2002 after he was allegedly poisoned with arsenic.

Witness Janet Lippert said her daughter, the defendant, was "extremely proud" of her Marine husband and enjoyed the military lifestyle and social community. She said Todd treated Sommer's three children as if they were his own.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful son-in-law," Lippert said. She broke down in tears as she recalled Todd's funeral and identified photos from the service.

Witness Robi Peters said Sommer was like a sister to her when the couple lived at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where she resided with her Marine husband. They took their children to church together and talked every day, Peters said.

Peters said she was sometimes jealous of Todd and Cynthia's relationship, because the couple wrote and e-mailed constantly during the time Todd was deployed.

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"It was sad for her when Todd was [deployed]," the defendant's mother said. "She really missed him and the children missed him."

Prosecutors pointed out that Todd had to come home early from deployment in 2001 after social services questioned Sommer about bruises she left on her son's face, and she admitted she was unable to control her children.

Lippert testified that her daughter was "hysterical" when Todd collapsed on the couple's bedroom floor in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2002.

Lippert said she arrived at the couple's four-bedroom home at the Miramar base in San Diego to find her daughter curled up in a fetal position on the bed, clutching Todd's shirt and sobbing uncontrollably. Lippert took her daughter to the base clinic, where she sought treatment for insomnia and acute grief.

"She just kept saying, over and over, 'I just don't know what I'm going to do,'" Lippert said.

Prosecutors allege that Sommer knew exactly what to do: Spend Todd's $250,000 life insurance money on clothes, dining out and breast implants.

"Cyndi had no idea what the benefits were," Lippert testified, based on a conversation she observed between her daughter and an officer who came to the house to explain the benefits she would be receiving.

Lippert later told Court TV that her daughter had to ask her what arsenic was.

Todd's mysterious death was initially ruled heart failure. Tests conducted on his tissues more than a year later revealed that he had 1,020 times the acceptable level of arsenic in his liver and 230 times the typical level in his kidneys.

Prosecutors have no evidence linking Sommer to arsenic. They say she was the only one who had access to the healthy Marine and a financial motive to kill him. Their case against Sommer revolves around her questionable behavior after Todd's death.

The judge previously ruled that jurors would not hear prejudicial evidence about Sommer's promiscuity, including testimony about sexual encounters with up to four other men and photos she allegedly posted of herself on dating Web sites.

He reversed his ruling Thursday after defense witnesses "opened the door" with testimony about church outings and the grief Sommer exhibited after Todd died.

The judge has yet to decide if prosecutors may call a rebuttal witness who will testify that two to three months after Todd's death, Sommer partied in Tijuana with friends, flashing her new breast implants, and competing in Daisy Duke and wet T-shirt contests.

Sommer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. She faces life in prison without parole if she is convicted.

The defendant's fiancé, a burly former Marine named Ross Ritter, quietly chatted in the back of the courtroom with another witness Scott Forbes. Forbes, also a former Marine, had just testified that he introduced Ritter and Sommer two months after Todd's death.

When the jury filed out for a break, Superior Court Judge Peter Deddah gave Ritter and Forbes a stern warning: no talking, cutting up, or text messaging on cellphones in his courtroom. Ritter returned after the break and sat quietly for the remainder of the day. Forbes did not return.

The defense expects to call several expert witnesses Friday to refute the arsenic findings on Todd Sommer's tissues. The case could go to the jury as early as Tuesday.

The trial is being aired live on Court TV Extra.