Acquittal a relief for Donna Somerville, but legal problems remain in challenges to inheritance

By ROBIN KNEPPER

Date published: 7/1/2004

Somerville: Past 21/2 years a 'living hell'

As Donna Jean Somerville waited for the verdict in her murder trial, she didn't know which car door would be opened for her when she left the makeshift Orange County courtroom.

Defense attorney Samuel P. Higginbotham II said two vehicles were waiting at the side entrance to the building--his car, to take her home if she was acquitted in her husband's death; and the sheriff's car, to take her to jail.

The not-guilty verdict rendered by Circuit Judge Daniel R. Bouton Tuesday evening guaranteed a trip home for the 51-year-old former nurse. Friends and family joined her at her Mount Athos estate to celebrate the end of an ordeal that started with Hamilton A. Somerville's death Nov. 13, 2001.

"We are all emotionally drained after this case," defense attorney Charles Bowman said yesterday. "I heard Donna laugh last night for the first time in two years. It finally dawned on her that it was over."

Donna Somerville was indicted by a special grand jury a year after her husband died. Charged with first-degree murder by poisoning, she remained free on $300,000 bond while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors claimed Donna Somerville gave her husband a fatal overdose of narcotics because she wanted out of her marriage without sacrificing any of her husband's wealth. The defense maintained there was no evidence of murder, offering evidence that Ham Somerville had been on drugs for months and was in poor health.

After a nine-day bench trial, Bouton found there was not enough evidence to prove Somerville's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Donna Somerville did not testify in her defense and left the courtroom Tuesday without commenting. She released a statement through her attorneys yesterday.

"I have returned to Mount Athos to grieve my husband's death as I attempt to put my life back together after two and one-half years of living hell," the statement said. "No one can know the horror of being innocent and having the entire force of the commonwealth bearing down upon them.

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Date published: 7/1/2004