Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[ItsBruce]

Please note I will be out of computer range for 12 days, so if I don't post, it is not for lack of interest.

 

[K_girl]

Please note I will be out of computer range for 12 days, so if I don't post, it is not for lack of interest.

Maybe enjoying some scuba time? If so, have fun. We'll miss you.

 

[K_girl]

If Tina had told Gabe she changed the insurance one would have to assume he would try to collect it.

This is actually a very interesting point. In that case, for some reason, Watson would have thought he was the beneficiary of her insurance, so you would think that a conversation about insurance with Tina would have taken place. The insurance would have had to have been changed before the wedding in order for him to have been the beneficiary.

So will the defense say - he talked about her insurance at her workplace because he may have been under the impression that a marriage certificate automatically made him the beneficiary? I think that would be a better way for the defense to go than what you suggested above, that is, if they can, depending on what the conversation was at Tina's workplace when Watson went to collect on her insurance and then found out he was not the beneficiary.

Of course, if Watson did go to Tina's workplace to get her insurance policy changed behind her back (as the prosecution claimed in one news article), then it all becomes much more sinister. But let me offer another possible defense for this. Let's say the prosecution does have evidence that Watson came to Tina's place of work to change her insurance "behind her back." The defense could claim that indeed, Watson had talked to Tina about changing her insurance and simply stopped by to sign some papers and was surprised that Tina had not taken care of it yet. However, if there were no papers for Watson to sign - that could be sticky. Where I work, all the papers are signed by me. The only time a different signature is needed is if you want to change your insurance to someone other than your spouse, then the spouse has to sign. So the defense could be adding this to the ever expanding web of coincidences and peculiarities, potentially making it worse, not better.

 

[ktomlinson]

That's very interesting that at your place of employment you have to have your spouses permission to change them from the beneficiary..I'm pretty sure that is not common. (I work in insurance)

 

[DandyDon]

That's very interesting that at your place of employment you have to have your spouses permission to change them from the beneficiary..I'm pretty sure that is not common. (I work in insurance)

Where was that suggested? Many of us have worked in Life & Health insurance at sometime. The owner of the insurance can change the beneficiary at any time to anyone, but some do not realize that a marriage or divorce does not change beneficiaries without such separate action with the insurance company, unless maybe The Estate is listed as beneficiary.

It's common for beneficiary changes to be made shortly before a wedding.

 

[K_girl]

Maybe I'm thinking of retirement. I can't remember, but I wanted to change either my retirement or my insurance (or both) from my spouse many years ago and my spouse had to sign. It wasn't necessary to have their signature to change it to their name. Point is - Gabe did not need to sign any papers and so if he went to Tina's place of work behind her back to change her insurance before the wedding, an excuse that he needed to sign papers wouldn't work.

 

[DandyDon]

Maybe I'm thinking of retirement. I can't remember, but I wanted to change either my retirement or my insurance (or both) from my spouse many years ago and my spouse had to sign.

With Life Ins, that would generally only be the case if the benefits were assigned.

 

[Ayisha]

Well Ayisha nice to see you here again. You have contributed some interesting insights in the past.

Thank you, bowlofpetunias. I was on holiday in Egypt when this thread began and I had no idea of its existence until around a week ago. A thread someone had posted in Accidents and Incidents about Watson being extradited disappeared and I went to look for it, finding it merged with this thread. Whew, it took a long time to read through it...

It's common for beneficiary changes to be made shortly before a wedding.

Except in this case a beneficiary change was not made. It may have been requested, but she did not follow through. If Tina had changed the beneficiary to Watson, it would be less of an issue than apparently being asked but not changing it.

 

[K_girl]

Except in this case a beneficiary change was not made. It may have been requested, but she did not follow through. If Tina had changed the beneficiary to Watson, it would be less of an issue than apparently being asked but not changing it.

Very interesting point. For some reason, if she had been asked, she did not do it.

 

[DandyDon]

Very interesting point. For some reason, if she had been asked, she did not do it.

I wouldn't make anything out of that. Matters of unexpected death are often put off.

What matter is if Gave thot she had $200K in Life Ins to benefit him, as some news stories have suggested.