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Citing prosecutor's affair with lab technician, DA drops murder charges in 1989 slaying

A California judge has dismissed murder charges against two men accused in a 1989 slaying based on a request by the DA, who cited concerns about an affair between a prosecutor and lab technician who both worked on the case.

In a press release, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen said the prosecutor originally assigned to the case had “an undisclosed and improper relationship” with the lab technician, and evidence had not been disclosed to the defense in a timely fashion.

Rosen apologized to the families of the victim, Cathy Zimmer, whose body was found in a car at the San Jose airport in 1989, report the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News. She had died as a result of strangulation. Rosen said the case needed to be re-examined and charges could be refiled.

The two defendants who won dismissal of the charges were Zimmer’s estranged husband, David Zimmer, and his brother, Robert Zimmer. The new prosecutor in the case recently turned over 10,000 pages of evidence to defense lawyers, the Mercury News says. Prosecutors had linked Robert Zimmer to the case through DNA found on the button and zipper of Cathy Zimmer’s pants. David Zimmer was having an affair at the time of his wife’ death and collected about $400,000 in life insurance after the slaying, prosecutors said.

A defense lawyer for David Zimmer, Michael Cardoza, said some of the recently released evidence was exculpatory and prosecutors did not find “spit” from 600 hours of wiretaps of phone conversations, according to the Mercury News account.