Diver could face murder charge

In June David ‘Gabe’ Watson, 32, from Alabama, was convicted of manslaughter in a Queensland court over the death of his wife Tina, who died while diving in his company on the Great Barrier Reef during the couple’s honeymoon, in October 2003.

Watson was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail in Australia, to be suspended after 12 months. The lightness of the sentence caused an outcry, particularly since the manslaughter conviction came after a coroner’s report stating that there was a good case to charge Watson with murder.

The manslaughter sentence was appealed by the Queensland Attorney General, Cameron Dick. Last Friday, 18 September it was ruled that Watson should serve 18 months rather than 12 in jail, meaning that he will return to his home in Alabama in December next year.

Hot on the heels of the manslaughter resentencing, however, has come an announcement from the Alabama Attorney General, Troy King, that he plans to bring a charge of capital murder against Watson. Conviction would mean death by lethal injection or a life sentence without parole.

Tina Watson, then 26, died after being seen, by other divers in the area, in a close underwater embrace with her husband. She sank to the seabed while he headed for the surface, having failed to attempt a buoyant lift, to inflate his wife’s BC independently, or dump her weightbelt.

Tina Watson’s inert body was captured unwittingly on the sandy bottom by another diver taking underwater photographs.

It was suspected that Watson had deliberately restricted his wife while turning off her air supply, and upon her loss of consciousness turned it on again before letting go of her. The motive was suspected to be an attempt to cash in on her life insurance policy.

Watson’s story was that he had tried to help his wife when she experienced difficulty in breathing, and that he had elected to go to the surface in search of outside help. While his wife was an inexperienced diver, Watson was experienced and held a rescue-diver qualification.

On announcing his intention to bring Watson to trial for murder, the Alabama Attorney General said: "Tina Thomas Watson and her family have been deprived by the Australian court system of the justice they deserved."

He has ordered a brief to be prepared for a grand jury to consider a capital murder indictment.

Some experts have expressed doubts over the possibility of a retrial, because of American double-jeopardy rules.

Under the US Constitution, an individual cannot be tried twice for the same crime – unless, in the case of an alleged crime committed overseas, the country in question does not bring charges. This, a legal representative for Watson has said, is “not what happened here”.

A grey area, however, is that while the incident is the same, the charge is different. Alabama’s King wants to bring a charge of murder, whereas the Queensland state prosecutors never brought such a charge.

Perhaps not confident in their ability to make a charge of murder stick in the face of available evidence, they entered into a plea bargain with Watson. He filed a pre-trial plea of guilty to manslaughter by criminal negligence, in return for the dropping of any murder charge.

Further, US prosecutors think they may have evidence over and above that presented to prosecutors in Australia. An aide to the Alabama Attorney General told press: "We feel we will be able to prove he [Watson] plotted and planned the murder in Alabama, which gives us jurisdiction."

Related link
Death by negligence, not design, says court