Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[bowlofpetunias]

What an interesting statement to make under oath!

Honeymoon death: Key witness takes stand
Earlier, Snyder said a rescuer only must press a single button on a distressed diver's gear to fill a bladder with air and send the other person to the surface.
"It will save their life?" asked prosecutor Don Valeska, an assistant state attorney general.
"Absolutely," said Snyder.

Read more: Honeymoon death: Key witness takes stand
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I really need some retraining. I honestly didn't know that I had such a magic button on my gear! I was told that if I push that button for too long at the wrong time it is more likely to kill me!

 

[DandyDon]

What an interesting statement to make under oath!

Honeymoon death: Key witness takes stand
Earlier, Snyder said a rescuer only must press a single button on a distressed diver's gear to fill a bladder with air and send the other person to the surface.
"It will save their life?" asked prosecutor Don Valeska, an assistant state attorney general.
"Absolutely," said Snyder.

Read more: Honeymoon death: Key witness takes stand
​

I really need some retraining. I honestly didn't know that I had such a magic button on my gear! I was told that if I push that button for too long at the wrong time it is more likely to kill me!

Obvious whose side he's on. Pretty slanted statement.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Finally a news report that gives more of the testimony. Dr. Stutz says he was "dying to go help her." And that he did not surface for another 38 minutes.

Diver testifies to doubts about Gabe Watson's story of wife's drowning, another backs parts of account | al.com
Snyder told jurors both he and a friend also along for the dive trip did not believe Watson's story of how his wife started to sink, knocked off his mask and regulator, then sank too fast for him to catch up.
Divers are taught from the beginning to not leave their dive buddy except in rare circumstances, and to use an apparatus on their own scuba equipment to provide air simultaneously to a dive buddy who can't get air on their own, he said.
"That person is your source to survive," Snyder told jurors.

Thanks for the updates alohagal.. I found this remark from Snyder interesting. Is he talking about buddy breathing? handing over your occy? those don't make sense since there was no indication Tina had run out of air! Does he mean that divers over there are taught to "Assist ventiliation" by purging a reg into a buddy "from the beginning" of training? This may be a skill in Rescue certification as Wade demonstrated as he brought Tina up when she wasn't breathing. I haven't seen anything yet indicating that Tina wasn't breathing when Gabe left her. I have been waiting to "hear" more comments from Snyder before I decided how much credibility I should give to his opinions..

 

[Valwood1]

Post deleted.

 

[ItsBruce]

Yes, the more I read, I become positive that it was not a murder.
I conduct air depletion exercises with my students everyday. It takes at least 5 seconds to turn the valve all of the way off, and on average, a female diver will take another 30 seconds to breath all of the air out of the hoses before indicating that she is out of air. This in itself does not work with the timeline given in Stutz' testimony.
Add in Tina holding her breath, and the additional time beyond that for her to pass out, and we are way beyond the Stutz timeline.

For several years I've been saying that the time frames given by Dr. Stutza for Watson holding Tina did not make sense in terms of Watson turning her air off and then back on. I note, however, that it is not a matter of Tina consciously holding her breath, assuming Watson turned her air off, but rather of her having to go without being able to draw air from her tank. I don't think someone in her alleged predicament would have had the wherewithal to hold her breath as such.

 

[ItsBruce]

Interesting that Stutz was surprised he was testifying in a murder trial because all along he thought Watson was someone who was trying to save his wife. It means that he has never attempted to interpret the events he saw nor has he kept up with all the opinions out there having to do with his testimony. He just wants to tell what he saw and that's it. Good for him. That is the way it should be.

This would make me question Stutz' credibility. Given what Stutz has said about what he sawand given the prosecution in Australia, I have a hard time believing that he would be surprised that Watson was being prosecuted for murder.

I routinely ask witnesses if they've discussed the case. Most say "no." Then, I ask why it was that they didn't think that it might be a good idea to check their perceptions and recollections by seeing what others had to say before they swore to something. Then: "So you were so intent on not contaminating your testimony that you blinded yourself to everything surrounding the matter." The implication is that the witness is lying about not having discussed the case. And, if the witness would lie about not having discussed the case, there is no telling what else the witness would lie about.

 

[ItsBruce]

...It is a certainty that Tina was incapacitated when Watson was with her, of that we have do doubt. Did he deliberately cause her incapacitation is the only question.

I could not agree more.

It is a very disturbing image - arms around a diver, let go, swim to the surface, leaving the incapacitated diver to sink. This is the image that Dr. Stutz painted on the stand today.

Very disturbing indeed. However, unless Watson caused the incapacity, he is not guilty of murder or even voluntary manslaughter. And, if Tina was incapacitated by something other than Watson's actions or omissions, and died as a result of that incapacity, then I'm not sure it is even involuntary manslaughter or even negligent homicide. Recall that being on the bottom of the ocean with working equipment that is in place is not likely to result in injury or death. To result in death, there must be something more than just sinking. So, letting Tina sink is not the proximate cause of her death.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

It'sBruce. I was thrilled to meet you, dive with you and get to know you a little in the real world but I can tell you I would NOT be thrilled to be questioned by you in "Your real world"

It is interesting how significant Dr Stutz's report of what he believes he saw seemed before this trial compared to what we have seen of his responses on the stand. Seems almost like a non event with potential benefit to both sides!

 

[VeryRusty]

Dr. Stutz explains why he didn't go to Tina's aid:

"I was close enough to see her face," said Dr Stutz, a former Townsville emergency room doctor. "I was shocked, and very concerned. I thought she was in a lot of trouble".
Dr Stutz said he saw a large diver, understood to be Gabe, envelope Tina for 10-15 seconds.
"He 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 said. "He continued swimming to my left."

Dr Stutz said he was so alarmed he swam to his dive instructor yelling "Did you see that? Did you see that?"

Dive leader Wade Singleton then shot to the bottom to rescue Tina, bringing her to the surface from 33 metres.

"He went straight to the bottom. I was blown away by how fast he went," Dr Stutz said.

Dr Stutz said he wanted to follow, to render aid, but was signalled to stay with his group and continue the dive.

Later he tried to revive Tina, who he positively identified as the woman he saw in distress."

Read more: Gabe Watson 'had no interest in dying wife' Tina | News.com.au
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[alohagal]

Thanks for the updates alohagal.. I found this remark from Snyder interesting. Is he talking about buddy breathing? handing over your occy? those don't make sense since there was no indication Tina had run out of air! Does he mean that divers over there are taught to "Assist ventiliation" by purging a reg into a buddy "from the beginning" of training? This may be a skill in Rescue certification as Wade demonstrated as he brought Tina up when she wasn't breathing. I haven't seen anything yet indicating that Tina wasn't breathing when Gabe left her. I have been waiting to "hear" more comments from Snyder before I decided how much credibility I should give to his opinions..

Gosh I read through it so quickly didn't even notice that part in the article. I think that must be the reporters interpretation just before the quotes from Snyder. Apparently his wife was on the stand as well today. I wonder what her statements comprised.

The reporter asked me in private emails what I thought of the case. Whew...tried to summarize all these posts on scubaboard. He seemed to have never heard of scubaboard but was eager to hear about the analysis. Told him that initially some of us bought into the salacious reporting on this story...but as people dug futher and in great exhausting detail most reasonable people could not find him guilty at this point. Ultimately, I view the majority concensus as in line with your excellent summation post a few pages up! Too bad all you savvy divers aren't reporters too.

I would give anything to be in that courtroom tweeting as fast as I could. The coverage on this thing is sorely lacking.