SAN DIEGO — A new trial was ordered Friday for Cynthia Sommer, a mother of four who was convicted in January of poisoning her Marine husband with arsenic to collect his veteran's benefits.

"However I rule on this case, we all feel great sorrow that Todd Sommer, a great man and a great Marine, is no longer with us," Judge Peter Deddeh announced minutes before overturning the guilty verdict and granting the defense's motion for a new trial. The trial date has not been set.

The ruling spared Sommer a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for the mysterious 2002 death of her 23-year-old husband.

Todd Sommer's father sat quietly in the gallery with a stoic thousand-yard stare as the judge rendered his decision.

Across the aisle sat the defendant's family and friends, who wore ribbons of blue, the defendant's favorite color. They held hands, heeding the judge's warning to refrain from emotional outbursts.

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The decision came on the anniversary of Sommer's arrest for murder. She cried at the defense table as court recessed. After two years in jail, her face is pale and thin, her hair is dark, and the last vestiges of her blond highlights have grown out to wispy straw-colored tips. She smiled at her family and thanked her appeals attorney, Allan Bloom, who argued over three days of hearings that her murder trial was marred by juror misconduct, fuzzy science and blunders by her previous attorney, Robert Udell.

Udell testified Friday, before the court's ruling, that he was "scared to death" of the potential consequences his errors might have on his 30-year practice.

He told the judge that his belief in Sommer's innocence had blinded him at trial.

"It was a dead-bang winner as far as I was concerned," Udell said, adding that he had not slept since the verdict. "I was stunned. I'm a broken man."

Bloom called Udell a passionate attorney who suffered from "legal glaucoma."

But Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn argued that Udell's counsel, while not "stellar," was reasonable, informed and thoroughly competent.

"This is not enough to grant a new trial," Gunn argued. Already sensing the court's decision, her final words were an emotional plea as she asked Deddeh, "Please do not grant this motion."

The judge was not convinced.

"He missed many areas that would have been fruitful for his defense," Deddeh said. "And in missing those areas, I believe he was ineffective."

Those areas included failing to object to controversial evidence about the arsenic test results; failing to call witnesses to debate questionable testimony from state investigators about the ease with which one may obtain arsenic; and failing to counter or investigate testimony that the Marine base where Todd Sommer worked was free of arsenic.

The judge also found that Udell made the crucial mistake of posing questions to witnesses about Sommer's behavior after Todd's death.

Sommer's mother testified at trial that her daughter was hysterical, lying in a fetal position, and clutching Todd's shirt — testimony that opened the door for prosecutors to call witnesses who described the string of men in Sommer's bed, the late-night parties at their apartment and the breast-implant surgery that also characterized her grieving behavior.

The judge did not cite the defense's allegations of juror misconduct as having any basis in his ruling. Bloom claimed that one juror, a retired detective, conducted personal research and had considered improper information during deliberations.

Udell smiled and hugged Sommer's family after hearing the judge's decision. As he left the courtroom, he was overheard telling Sommer's mother, "Good luck this time."

Todd Sommer collapsed in his wife's arms on Feb. 18, 2002, at the Marine Corps Air Station apartment they shared with their infant son and her three children from a previous marriage. His death was initially ruled heart failure, but samples of his vital organs and tissues were retained for future testing, per Marine Corps policy. Sommer collected $250,000 insurance, as well as monthly benefits.

More than a year later, scientists found elevated levels of arsenic in Todd's tissues: more than 1,000 times the normal level in his liver and 230 times the acceptable level in his kidneys.

Sommer was arrested in Palm Beach County, Fla., in November 2005. At the time, she was living with a new boyfriend.

Sommer testified during her month-long trial that she loved Todd, a man she called her knight in shining armor. She showed jurors the tattoo on her arm with his birth and death dates, and the Marine motto "Semper Fidelis," Latin for "Always Faithful."

State investigators testified that it was easy to purchase arsenic online or as an ingredient in ant-trap stakes sold at the base market, but they were unable to uncover any receipts, credit card statements, or computer searches indicating that Sommer ever sought or obtained the poison.

Expert witnesses testified at trial that Todd had an inconsistent distribution of arsenic in his tissues samples. The significantly high levels in his liver and kidney should have resulted in elevated levels in his blood, urine, brain and other organs.

But Gunn made a compelling argument to the jury that if he died of arsenic, as the tests indicated, only Sommer had both the financial motive and the proximity to commit an untraceable murder.

On Jan. 30, a panel of seven women and five men found her guilty of first-degree murder and the special allegations of administering poison and murder for the purpose of financial gain.

The verdict drew intense debate: Some believed the defendant was an opportunistic black widow who preyed on an unsuspecting solider; others saw her as a woman branded by her promiscuous behavior, the victim of an unreasonable double standard.

Bloom is expected to introduce experts on grieving at the next trial and contends that Sommer did not even know what arsenic was, nor did Todd die from arsenic poisoning.

Cynthia Sommer is currently in custody at the Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee, Calif. A hearing on Dec. 12 will determine whether she is eligible for bail.