6 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Seems our sport is an easy way to kill off your spouse... sadly the general public can not tell when foul play is present.

[Bubbles]

Seems our sport is an easy way to kill off your spouse... sadly the general public can not tell when foul play is present.

Especially the general public in Alabama! I can say that since I live here in Birmingham.

I will admit I wouldn't have understand a lot of the points made by the prosecution in this case if I wasn't a diver. There are a lot of questions regarding this whole case for which we will never know the answers. A lot of Gabe's actions are very suspect. I'm just glad there is finally some closure. I would really like to know how much the state of Alabama spent on this trial.

[WreckWench]

That's the problem. A panel of his piers would have been a panel of divers but they probably excluded EVERY diver on the panel so that the people trying to decide guilt or innocence were ignorant. That is why I say its a brilliant way to kill someone off. The dive community will know you are guilty but the courts will never prove it for the very same reasons this guy got away with it.

[TexasDiver]

That's the problem. A panel of his piers would have been a panel of divers but they probably excluded EVERY diver on the panel so that the people trying to decide guilt or innocence were ignorant. That is why I say its a brilliant way to kill someone off. The dive community will know you are guilty but the courts will never prove it for the very same reasons this guy got away with it.

The case against Watson lacked evidence. Because there was no evidence that Watson had committed murder the judge correctly ended the case at the end of the prosecution's presentation. The eye witness evidence presented by the prosecution at trial showed Watson tried to save his wife. The jury of peers never received the case and decided nothing. Watson "got away" with nothing, he served a prison sentence in Australia for his criminal negligence. The dive operator was also punished for taking a brand new diver on her first open water dive to a site requiring advanced open water dive skill and experience.

Edited by TexasDiver, 24 February 2012 - 10:20 AM.

[peterbj7]

A panel of his piers

I'm just trying to visualise that!! (I think you meant peers).

On the real story, we mustn't forget both in this case and in the one of Amanda Knox that an "acquittal" merely means there isn't evidence to hand to safely convict. It is NOT the same as declaring someone innocent, saying that they didn't do it. Our personal views, however reasonable and well founded, don't carry any sway in law.

Edited by peterbj7, 24 February 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[TexasDiver]

A panel of his piers

I'm just trying to visualise that!! (I think you meant peers).

On the real story, we mustn't forget both in this case and in the one of Amanda Knox that an "acquittal" mearly means there isn't evidence to hand to safely convict. It is NOT the same as declaring someone innocent, saying that they didn't do it. Our personal views, however reasonable and well founded, don't carry any sway in law.

Dr Stanley Stutz testified he saw Tina's last minutes of life as he descended from the Jazz II: "He (Watson) swam over to her, in front of her, and put his arms around her armpits. I thought he was trying to save her, then they split apart and he went to the surface and she sank, he continued swimming to my left."