Diver convicted in wife's drowning

[AfterDark]

An appeal won't get him out of jail. The best it can do is get him a second trial and that will involve a jury. Maybe your purpose is to try and convince everyone in a public forum that he is innocent and that will make you feel better. I understand. That still won't get him out of jail.

The money - he did manage to save his dive shop for a few more years than would have otherwise been the case. The point is - he didn't care about managing his money wisely, but I'm sure he really enjoyed spending it. Money and living a high lifestyle has been a motive for murder for thousands of years and probably millions of people have been killed throughout history for it. You simply can't get rid of that motive so easily by saying just because they spent it, they didn't really want it and they wouldn't kill to have it. No one quite honestly, will ever buy that argument.

These are my opinions. I don't expect to make money as a motive go away I'm just stating what I know of the man after working,diving and socializing with him for 15 - 20 years. Everyone is different most are motivated by money some are not Dave is one who isn't. Anyone is free to believe or not either way Dave is in jail. I understand K_Girl you are looking at this from a legalistic point of view, what is / isn't admissible what a jury may / may not believe what tact will /wouldn't help in an appeal, and I appreciate your posts and the tons of information you impart. I come from more of a personal perspective, I know Dave. Dave and I have had long personal talks that have given me insights into him that only a few have been allowed to see. I'm more concerned with the truth about Dave Swain being known than I am with what may or may not be grounds for appeal because I have zero input on that subject. I leave those things to lawyers,and good people like yourself. Thanks again.

 

[idocsteve]

I know Dave. Dave and I have had long personal talks that have given me insights into him that only a few have been allowed to see.

During these long talks the two of you had where Dave shared things with you that no one else has ever been allowed to see, did he mention that he was in love with another woman?

Just curious

 

[AfterDark]

During these long talks the two of you had where Dave shared things with you that no one else has ever been allowed to see, did he mention that he was in love with another woman?

Just curious

You are not among the few. So you'll just have to continue to be curious.

 

[idocsteve]

You are not among the few. So you'll just have to continue to be curious.

The question was more rhetorical than anything else.

I think you and I both know the answer to that.

The only difference is I know what that answer really means.

You never really know a person. Even though you "think" you do.

 

[AfterDark]

The question was more rhetorical than anything else.

I think you and I both know the answer to that.

The only difference is I know what that answer really means.

You never really know a person. Even though you "think" you do.

WOW! You know EVERYTHING!

 

[InTheDrink]

Minor point perhaps but my feet don't fit anything.

Last two trips I spent quite a lot of time mono finning. First time cos I had really bad abrasion/tissue erosion on my left toot where the front part of the fin met the ankle. Last dives I got some random cut/bruise from god only knows where and I also did a lot of one finning on that occasion. If I was at a gentle site it would be completely within my parameters to remove a fin, dig it in, and take up with my hand at the end of the dive, so as to relieve my discomfort.

I'm not saying anyone did or didn't do anything, I'm just saying that in a calm dive site I can imagine situations where I'd ditch the irritant fin. The way I'd do it would likely be to stick vertical in the sand, if there was sand there.

J

 

[EGad]

An update on getting a full transcript or audio recording of the Tortola trial.

I've gotten in contact with a local newsman who has covered the case for the local NBC station for the civil trial and overviews of the criminal trial. He informed me that they did not dispatch anyone to Tortola to cover the case, but that they had Dateline reps their recording and that is where they got their clips for the BVI proceedings. He also suggest I contact the county clerk's office to see if there is a transcript available for the civil trial as the cases "mirrored" each other. He also asked to keep him posted on my progress. I'll see if I can get a hold of the court clerk for the civil trial if anyone would like it as I live nearby and have experience dealing with county court records for a formal job and it shouldn't be much work for me to pop in (recent snowstorms aside) if there is a transcript available.

I will also try to contact the correspondent for Dateline or their AP for that segment to see if they have a full trial transcript or recording available.

Also, here's a link to the Dateline website with a full transcript of the Dateline episode
The Trouble At Twin Wrecks - Crime reports- msnbc.com

And here's a link from the Dateline site with a few scans from Shelley's logbook that were used in the trial and shown on the Dateline episode
Read diving logs Shelley Tyre wrote - Crime reports- msnbc.com

PM me for any details, or requests.

Eric

 

[Ayisha]

From post 209:
Continuation of Royle interview:

Trial testimony about the equipment

Testimony in the trial given by an expert in analyzing scuba diving equipment called attention to the condition of Shelley Tyre’s dive equipment. It included a torn mask and a snorkel separated from its mouthpiece, which he attributed to “an unusual force applied to the mask and snorkel” and concluded “this damage is not consistent with normal diving practices.” Also baffling was the location of one of Tyre’s fins, found more than 30 feet from her body, and its position, “stuck by the blade three inches into the sand.”

In my interview with Keith Royle, I asked if he had noticed the equipment when he was called to the scene, and if he had an opinion about the evidence concerning equipment.

“The mask was in the dinghy,” he recalls, “ but the snorkel I didn’t see, which is really irrelevant because she would’ve had a regulator in her mouth and not a snorkel. I didn’t think much about that at all, since they could’ve broken the mask and snorkel trying to lift her up from the water to the dinghy.”

The fin, however, is another story. Royle says, “One thing I heard is that she took it off to mark her way back, but that would be one of the most stupid things to do, to take off your one means of propulsion under the water, and it was stuck deep in the sand.” He then described going back to the dive site last week with reporters in an effort to try to simulate how the fin may have been driven into the sandy bottom. “I actually put a pair of fins on just like Shelley was wearing and tried to wiggle one into the sand with it on; there was no possible way. I had to take it off and do a soaring motion down into the sand (with some force) to get it to stay up there.”

The prosecution’s supposition was that the state of her dive equipment, including the fin’s placement in the sand, was indicative of a violent struggle between Shelley and her husband, one that resulted in her death by drowning. Defense suggestions that, while she was an experienced diver, she was prone to panic also did not ring true to Royle. “It doesn’t seem plausible, as I’ve been told she’d done more than 300 dives, and there’s nothing on the dive site to panic over, really. In my experience, when people panic they bolt to the surface. She would have been found on the surface rather than the bottom in that case. For her to stay on the bottom, her BC (buoyancy compensator) must have been totally deflated and she must have been slight overweighted.”

Seems there's a question of when the mask was at the surface. Was it brought up with Shelly, damaging both the mask and snorkel getting Shelly into the dingy then dropped overboard transferring Shelly's body from the dingy to the boat? Possible? Plausible? Reasonable doubt?
Who's lying?

This contradiction was brought up by me way back in post # 221 (and discussed in further posts):

One contradiction in Royle's interview is that he said that Tyre's mask was on the dinghy at the time of rescue (and he didn't notice a snorkel), whereas Brown stated that he found her mask in the water the NEXT DAY (with a snorkel but missing the mouthpiece).

As K_girl notes below, Royle did not testify about any mask. The excerpt above is an interview he gave to the author of the article. The mask that was introduced into evidence as Shelley's and examined for damages is the mask that was found the next day by Brown, NOT any mask seen by Thwaites. As K_girl points out, that mask had to have been accepted into evidence as Shelley's mask and the defence gave their explanations for the damages to THAT mask, not any other mask.

The mask that Royle saw in the dinghy would have been relevant if any of the "players" had claimed that it was Shelley's and it had been introduced into evidence as hers, but it was not.

This is irrelevant because Royale never testified about Shelley's mask because he would have no way of knowing whose mask he was looking at. More than likely he was looking at Thwaites' mask. Since the defense tried to argue that Shelley's mask was broken during a panic episode, they must have accepted that the mask that Brown recovered from the scene was indeed, Shelley's mask.

 

[Ayisha]

Thank you EGad for your links and for utilizing your contacts.

It seems from the link to some excerpts from Shelley's dive log that in those cases where Shelley wrote that she was panicked, her personal response in each of the (few) situations was to ascend, which is typical of a panicking diver, as Ken and others described earlier. Even Royle talks about the typical "bolt to the surface" response to panic in the quote above. This shows her personal, consistent, known response to feeling panicked, which was to ascend.

The logs also show that her last recorded feeling of panic (that was made available) was more than 2 years before her death and there were many dives in between.

 

[EGad]

Ayisha,

You overstate the importance of my contacts.

All I did was compliment a local newsman I was able to find contact info for and get a lead to refer to dateline.
On the plus side, I did get a propmt personal email from Dan Jaehnig, the reporter who covered the cases for the local NBC station, which was nice. He also requested I keep him posted on my efforts. Which I though was very nice. In fact, I'll email him a link to this thread, maybe he'll pop in to say hi.

Unfortunately the only contact info I could get for Dateline was a email address for the show in general, so we'll see if it gets routed to someone who can help us. I also gave them a link to this thread on the off chance that their correspondent for the piece, Dennis Murphy, or another member of their team would like to weigh in.

Unfortunately none of my good contacts are of any use here. However years of writing training recommendations and award packages for military brass have prepared me adequately to suck up to all the right people. I had a great record of approval in that field, let's see how it goes with the media. I hope it doesn't get mired down in the inbox by "To Catch A Predator" emails.

Eric