Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[dmoore19]

I want to remind people of just how powerful tunnel vision can be. Once you get it in your head that someone is guilty, all you will ever notice is evidence that supports guilt and you are likely to completely overlook exculpating evidence.

This is very true. But then I also thought OJ was guilty from the beginning. Who knew?

 

[Divedoggie]

Not sure that "conversion" is/was an issue. Don't Americans use pounds? In Australia divers use pounds when it comes to dive weights. I suppose it is possible that Tina didn't recognize that the numbers on the weights were in pounds..which might explain the massive amount of weight but you would think she would have worked it out just trying to get to the entry point. Hmm might lend some credibility to Gabe's reference to her being heavy. Wonder what his BCD lift capacity was..

I didn't know that we all use lbs. Still, whether she had 18 lbs or..my gosh 38lbs, she was overweighted. My wife dives tropical water in a 5mm (because she just gets cold!), and she uses 12lbs.
I would bet that Tina was wearing a 3/2mm suit. Based on her build, she probably needed no more than 8 to 10lbs of lead. So, she was drastically overweighted. If the 38lbs mentioned is a correct number, then her small women's vest style BCD would not keep her neutrally buoyant at 45 feet. With 18lbs of lead, had she passively panicked and mixed up the inflator/deflator buttons and failed to inflate her BC, she would drop like a rock.
Either way, if Gabe was having trouble maintaining his own control in the water, and being overweighted himself (28lbs), he truly could have been unable to prevent her descent.
Had he had his wits about him, as DandyDon has said, he could have ditched some of her weights, and then helped her control her ascent, but maybe she knocked his mask off and reg out before he could "stop, think, then act."

My original premise was that he was guilty because, if it were me, I'd do ANYTHING to save my wife, my family...and would have found a way to save her or die trying.
Now, I think Gabe tried, but with a lost mask and reg, and being far beyond his comfort zone, he froze. Then he had to live with that. He interviewed poorly and with inconsistency because he either doesn't clearly recall everything, or he is unable to admit how badly he screwed up.

He may have killed her by pressuring her into a situation that neither he nor she could handle, but I don't believe that he murdered her.
He has already been convicted of and served time for manslaughter.

 

[K_girl]

We don't have the answers to all of your questions.

1) The others were on the boat. Not certain how much attention they paid to what he actually did.

2) Tina was apparently wearing 17 kg or 37.4 lbs of lead.

We have not heard of any issue with Tina equalizing her ears. It was Gabe that said he couldn't equalize his ears.

3) Yes, they were the last of their boat to descend.

4) Gabe and Tina refused the orientation dive which would have provided a professional with them on the basis that Gabe was an experienced rescue diver and took responsibility for Tina, a brand new diver with 11 dives.

CORRECTION. Here is what Watson said:

"WATSON: er I think on that dive I think I had close to thirty pounds and I bet she had two eight, she may’ve had between eighteen and twenty, something like that"

When Watson said two, eight - he was counting what he remembered her weight configuration was - and then he concluded she was wearing between 18 and 20 pounds - he was not saying it was 28 pounds. In addition, that Alabama boy doesn't talk in kilograms, nor did he, so its not 17 kg. Therefore, Tina was wearing between 18 and 20 pounds. Not all that unusual for a beginner, especially if she was wearing a lot of thermal protection. She looked like she was covered head-to-toe, so probably some cooler water temps. There is no reason that she should have been sinking faster than Watson could kick, who was wearing 30 pounds. Personally, I chalk it up as one of his many, many lies. I don't care if she was wearing 30 pounds, she still could not sink faster than he could kick. Watson is a big fat liar. Period.

He also admitted that he fully understood the consequences of his actions at the time he made the choice to leave her. He knew her chances were severely diminished if he left her, but he left her anyway:

"WATSON: I was thinking back to that current and I was like ‘my God she’s going to be lost’ and that was probably the reason why I didn’t want to leave her.."

I don't see how you can say that someone who admits this was in a state of panic to the point that he did not understand the consequences of his actions. Obviously, he did understand and obviously, the worst did happen. Only thing was, she wasn't lost in the current (like maybe he was hoping for?). There she is, plain as day, in the picture laying on the bottom. Watson is a big fat liar. Period.

 

[Ayisha]

I got the weighting from this post in the previous accident thread:

In the transcript it appears to indicate that Tina was wearing possibly 38lbs, or 17Kg. Without knowning her size/body type, difficult to say whether she was overweighted but that certainly sounds very overweighted to me. And he was wearing 13.5Kg. That seems like a huge amount of weight.

I do recall you pointing out in that thread what Watson said. I'm not sure where the above numbers originally came from though...

 

[Zippsy]

errrr..... maybe I quoted someone who quoted someone who quoted someone who didn't know but are we supposed to be taking Watson's word for the weighting? Was her gear not recovered?

If she only had 18lbs, that is still ridiculously overweighted, unless she had a full 5mm and hood. If she had that, I'd say she was just a little overweighted but I may let her dive in my group. If she could not be swum up though, that also says she was ridiculously overweighted, no?

 

[DandyDon]

"I bet she had two eight" is an odd phrase. I don't understand, nor see where he then got "she may’ve had between eighteen and twenty." Still, that's not surprising for a 5'8" newbie in SW, depending on her suit.

So we don't know from a reliable & named source what she was wearing for suit or weight?

This is very true. But then I also thought OJ was guilty from the beginning. Who knew?

The ADA who prosecuted him didn't do her homework. She lost a lot over that pair of gloves he couldn't get on, but she probly had no clue about how leather gloves shrink after being wet.

She did have nice legs. She still in politics?

 

[Steve50]

If she could not be swum up though, that also says she was ridiculously overweighted, no?

how did the guy who didn't want to kill her get her to the surface?

 

[Ayisha]

Was her gear not recovered?

Her gear was recovered and was in working order, but I don't think I've seen anything official about her configuration. The only references to the amount of weight she wore were from Gabe's statement in the police transcript linked to in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/scuba-related-court-cases/242102-watson-murder-case-issues-statements-sources.html

The ADA who prosecuted him didn't do her homework. She lost a lot over that pair of gloves he couldn't get on, but she probly had no clue about how leather gloves shrink after being wet.

She did have nice legs. She still in politics?

Donald! Don't know. I saw Marcia Clark last week on Entertainment Tonight as a consultant on the Lindsay Lohan shoplifting case...

 

[ACES50]

Here are three articles written by Australian journalists that might provide additional information for anyone interested:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...evidence-slanted/story-fn6tcs23-1225971147062

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...der-is-a-fantasy/story-e6frg6z6-1225961713953

http://www.smh.com.au/national/death-on-reef-mystery-20100716-10eb1.html

CORRECTED INFORMATION

 

[DandyDon]

Here are three articles written by Australian journalists that might provide additional information for anyone interested:

The Australian | The Australian Homepage | TheAustralian
Articles by Hedley Thomas: DEATH ON THE REEF;EVIDENCE SLANTED and REEF DIVE DROWNING MURDER IS A FANTASY

Sydney Morning Herald - Business & World News Australia | smh.com.au
Article by Peter PatrickEATH ON REEF MYSTERY.

Those links fail.