ItsBruce
Contributor
Good analysis, doctor.
In this instance, I would say that if the prosecution could prove an act, it will have proved intent. If nothing else, Gabe's failure to immediately explain the incident with something like: "We were practicing an OOA scenario and it went bad," or "We were horsing around and it went bad," makes it hard for him to disclaim intent if the act is proved.
I just have a problem with proof of the act. How can one prove Gabe turned off the air? If he turned on the air while on the boat or he checked that the air was on while on the boat, his fingerprints would be on the valve knob. So fingerprints mean nothing.
As to the so-called "bear hug," that could just have been a failed attempt to keep Tina from sinking. I know that our training says inflate the BCD and/or dump weights. It is surprising how quickly one forgets one's training when things go wrong.
As a real life example of forgetting one's training, I relate the following: My neighbor dropped his cigar into his trash can one afternoon (or at least I'm pretty sure that's what happened). In any event, it finally burst into flame somewhere in the middle of the night ... right next to my house. I discovered this when some people who just happened to be passing by started pounding on my door to tell me the trash can was on fire. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from my kitchen cabinet and had at the fire. The fire was still going even though the extinguisher was empty. I grabbed the extinguisher from the car and emptied it, too. On my way to grab my last extinguisher from the garage, I grabbed a phone and called the fire department. They arrived as was well into my last extinguisher. The firemen calmly walked over to me, turned on the garden hose I was standing next to and ensured the fire was out. The bottom line was that I completely overlooked a perfectly good water hose.
By way of another example, the local lifeguards put on a safety program at our dive club. (Our club is long on DMs and instructors.) All of a sudden, one of them fell over. Everyone jumped into action with an emergency plan. The only thing everyone forgot was to grab a cell phone and call 911....which was the point of the exercise. We all learned a lot.
That Gabe may have forgotten his training would be no surprise. That he might try to hold Tina and swim her to the surface is no big surprise. I am, however, surprised he did not then IMMEDIATELY surface, but I still have concerns about guilt or innocence.
In this instance, I would say that if the prosecution could prove an act, it will have proved intent. If nothing else, Gabe's failure to immediately explain the incident with something like: "We were practicing an OOA scenario and it went bad," or "We were horsing around and it went bad," makes it hard for him to disclaim intent if the act is proved.
I just have a problem with proof of the act. How can one prove Gabe turned off the air? If he turned on the air while on the boat or he checked that the air was on while on the boat, his fingerprints would be on the valve knob. So fingerprints mean nothing.
As to the so-called "bear hug," that could just have been a failed attempt to keep Tina from sinking. I know that our training says inflate the BCD and/or dump weights. It is surprising how quickly one forgets one's training when things go wrong.
As a real life example of forgetting one's training, I relate the following: My neighbor dropped his cigar into his trash can one afternoon (or at least I'm pretty sure that's what happened). In any event, it finally burst into flame somewhere in the middle of the night ... right next to my house. I discovered this when some people who just happened to be passing by started pounding on my door to tell me the trash can was on fire. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from my kitchen cabinet and had at the fire. The fire was still going even though the extinguisher was empty. I grabbed the extinguisher from the car and emptied it, too. On my way to grab my last extinguisher from the garage, I grabbed a phone and called the fire department. They arrived as was well into my last extinguisher. The firemen calmly walked over to me, turned on the garden hose I was standing next to and ensured the fire was out. The bottom line was that I completely overlooked a perfectly good water hose.
By way of another example, the local lifeguards put on a safety program at our dive club. (Our club is long on DMs and instructors.) All of a sudden, one of them fell over. Everyone jumped into action with an emergency plan. The only thing everyone forgot was to grab a cell phone and call 911....which was the point of the exercise. We all learned a lot.
That Gabe may have forgotten his training would be no surprise. That he might try to hold Tina and swim her to the surface is no big surprise. I am, however, surprised he did not then IMMEDIATELY surface, but I still have concerns about guilt or innocence.
