SAN DIEGO — More than a year after 23-year-old Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer died suddenly at home, scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology found massive amounts of arsenic in his liver and kidneys, and his wife was later arrested for his murder.

But defense experts testified Monday at Cynthia Sommer's first-degree murder trial that they doubted the integrity of AFIP's results after finding quality-control issues, a lack of documentation, inconsistent results and inaccurate figures in AFIP's raw data.

"The quality of the analytical work done by AFIP is of great concern to me," said Dr. Laura Labay, a forensic toxicologist at National Medical Services Lab, which reviewed the work done by AFIP.

Labay said she asked her supervisor, analytical chemist Ela Bakowska, to take a look at the case.

"I was unable to follow what was going on," said Bakowska, technical director of the metals laboratory at NMS who reviewed AFIP's raw-data package.

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Bakowska said she found "disturbing" problems with AFIP's materials, including calculation errors, scientific controls that were absent or failing, data that lacked labels, initials and dates to indicate who had done what and to which sample, and no reference as to a chain of custody.

"There is even no summary sheet to say, 'This was done,'" Bakowska said.

"In my opinion," Labay told jurors, "it makes that data unacceptable."

Labay said NMS received samples from AFIP including Todd's blood, urine, gastric fluid and bile, as well as tissue samples from Todd's liver, kidney, brain and muscle. She said the white plastic container holding his bile was cracked and some of the sample had been lost.

Todd Sommer's death in 2002 was initially ruled cardiac arrhythmia with unknown etiology. But the medical examiner found nothing abnormal about his heart or other organs and his tissue samples were frozen and sent to AFIP upon his wife's written release. His body was cremated.

Labay agreed with the prosecutor that both labs found significantly elevated levels of arsenic in Todd's liver and kidney tissues.

However, she reaffirmed the testimony of an arsenic specialist who previously testified that the test results were inconsistent with acute arsenic poisoning because Todd's blood and urine levels should also have been elevated, but they were normal, and Todd's organs should also have appeared damaged, but they were normal.

Before Sommer's trial began, the prosecution and defense jointly selected NMS, an independent accredited forensic toxicology laboratory in Pennsylvania, to retest Todd's tissue samples.

The prosecutor decided not to call NMS scientists during its case. The defense learned of the lab's reservations about AFIP's results and hired them to testify about their findings. Bakowska said NMS bills $2,000 per day for her services in court.

Bakowska first testified in a hearing outside the presence of jurors on Friday after the prosecutor complained that the defense experts did not provide reports for her to prepare for cross-examination.

"I also have a big problem with this lab smackdown," Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn told the judge Monday, arguing that AFIP documents, such as the chain of custody, were available for the defense's review upon request, and that it was "patently unfair" for the experts to testify that it was not provided.

Cynthia Sommer, 33, faces life in prison if convicted of feeding her husband poison in order to obtain more than $250,000 in his veteran's benefits.

Prosecutors have no evidence linking Sommer to arsenic, and witnesses have testified that the couple appeared to have a loving marriage. The prosecution has built its case around the defendant's penchant for shopping, her inability to live within her means, and her promiscuous behavior after her husband died.

Todd Sommer died on Feb. 18, 2002. Two months later, his wife had breast implant surgery and began dating another Marine.

Gunn hopes to call two witnesses in her rebuttal case who will testify that in April or May 2002, Sommer "went down to Mexico and partied with wild abandon," competing in wet T-shirt contests and flashing her new breasts to strangers, Gunn told the judge during a hearing outside the presence of jurors.

"If that's what the proof of guilt is in this case, then so be it, but we object," defense attorney Robert Udell told the judge.

The defense will call its last expert witness when court resumes Tuesday afternoon. The trial is being aired live on Court TV Extra.