Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[K_girl]

jc - Common sense tells us that under most circumstances, they are not going to actually prosecute every rescue diver in the vicinity of an accident. However, we know that the reason people are hesitant to become dive masters is because of the possibility of being sued. I have a friend who was a dive master and when a friend of his had a coronary and died while scuba diving. The wife came after the dive master for not getting her husband out of the water fast enough and wrongful death. Of course, she didn't win, but he had to get an attorney and put up an expensive fight and it shook him to the core. Now, you have a situation where a rescue diver is being held responsible based on the fact that he did not rescue. Unfortunately, common sense does not always prevail when it comes to setting any kind of precendent like this and it still bothers the holy heck out of me. Officially, Watson is only guilty of not performing his duties as a rescue diver - and that is on the record. He is not guilty of anything else but. And anyone can go back to outcome of that case and use it and that sets precedent. There is not going to be anything on the record like - oh yeah, what we really think happened was he killed her by turning off her air. They can't put that on the record when they make a deal.

 

[scubafanatic]

...I'm making a prediction here...I feel confident this loser will strike again and pull the same stunt (wife # whatever will have a mysterious scuba accident in Australia)...just wait and see...'loser' now knows the drill, what works to commit murder in Austalia and get away with it...the legal precedent is now set...he's a psycho and has clearly learned all the wrong lessions here...Australia has made a deal with the devil and will once again find itself 'making the news' for all the wrong reasons...just as Bonaire, for example, has earned a reputation for 'theft'...Australia will earn a reputation for 'scot-free' murders....god knows what other psychos / serial killers have been hearing the news and hatching their sick schemes/plots and now have the perfect method/location!

 

[james croft]

Anybody can sue you for anything. I have been deposed on cases I have investigated and was once involved in a lawsuit by a suspect who had his shoes seized and sent to the crime lab to compare with footprints left by him at a crime scene. He claimed he caught a cold from having to wear jail issued flip-flops as a result. He was looking to sue for $300,000.00. It was a frivilous lawsuit. I don't lose sleep over stuff like that. I just do my job as any reasonable person would do and live my life without being gun shy. If someone tries to cause me damge for a BS lawsuit I will countersue for defamation, etc.

I am not an expert on the law but am a police officer with 29 years of local, state and federal LE experience and have investigated many homicides, many of which are water related. I have investigated manslaughter cases caused by criminal and grossly negligent conduct. In the state where I am an officer, even in plea bargained cases where a defendant pleads guilty, it is routine for the prosecutor, US Attorney or Commonwealth's Attorney to put me on the stand and go over each detail of my investigations, from reading witness statement, confessions and introducing exhibits and evidence and making them part of the record. I summarize the evidence and am cross examined but the facts are not glossed over or not made part of the record.

The facts of this case will be what they are. He whacked his wife and plea bargained the case. It will provide little ammo against any dive professional or rescue diver that is Monday morning quarterbacked by a court or ambulance chasing attorney. Don't sweat it, this conviction won't hurt you in an incident where you act in good faith and do as you were trained.

 

[Doubler]

In today's modern scuba era, just like schools, in many cases you are passed to the next grade or in the diving world given a C-Card even when you don't meet the criteria. We have all seen AOW divers that really are not and we have all seen rescue divers that are not qualified. This is a perfect case of that. If you look at the picture in most news stories dealing with this accident, yes I said accident, you will notice that he is holding his console in his left hand checking his air or depth and in his right hand he is holding his octopus. Must of had it out for some reason. We have all read post on the board about rescues where the rescue diver forgot to remove the victims weight belt. The guy was an incompetent arrogant A%%, who panicked, let his poor wife drown and then lied about it all later to cover his butt. For the diving public the down side is the precedence that has been set because of this incident. I'm thinking if I go to Australia I am leaving my Rescue and DM cards at home.

 

[K_girl]

K, You may want to start a blog about this?

Actually, I was putting together a blog about the case. Several people on this board had challenged me to be more balanced and not "bogart" a thread trying to keep a fast read on the issues case. A blog was really the best way to answer those challenges and still keep a clean read.

Gabe Watson Murder Case

So, does anyone out there think I should continue to put this together anyway? The only purpose I could think of to do that would be to honor Tina and preserve the memory of what happened to her. However, it will be incomplete without a trial. The story will never be told in a court of law. The facts will never be proven in a court of law.

It boils down to this for me. If Gabe Watson is only guilty of not using his rescue skills to rescue Tina - he should not spend one minute in jail, because any diver, even the most experienced divers can make mistakes and panic. If Gabe Watson is really guilty of killing his wife - this deal is an absolute travesty. So, from my perspective, no matter how you look at it - what happened is wrong, just plain wrong.

 

[Geoff_H]

This is a perfect case of that. If you look at the picture in most news stories dealing with this accident, yes I said accident, you will notice that he is holding his console in his left hand checking his air or depth and in his right hand he is holding his octopus. Must of had it out for some reason.

No offense, but this is a perfect example of somone starting from a false assumption and then drawing completely wrong conclusions.

That photo that you refer to does not depict Gabe Watson. The subject is another diver on the same dive, the rescuer is a divemaster and the person on the floor is Tina. None of them are Gabe, so your assertions about why "Gabe" was checking his depth are just completely and utterly wrong.

For the diving public the down side is the precedence that has been set because of this incident. I'm thinking if I go to Australia I am leaving my Rescue and DM cards at home.

If you are involved in any incident, I can't see how leaving your C-cards at home is going to help you. It is trivial for the prosecution to query the scuba agencies to determine what courses you took. I am sure your defense lawyer would want to know about it too, and you would have to be an idiot to lie about your cert level in court.

 

[Geoff_H]

It boils down to this for me. If Gabe Watson is only guilty of not using his rescue skills to rescue Tina - he should not spend one minute in jail, because any diver, even the most experienced divers can make mistakes and panic. If Gabe Watson is really guilty of killing his wife - this deal is an absolute travesty. So, from my perspective, no matter how you look at it - what happened is wrong, just plain wrong.

I agree.

 

[DEEPLOU]

It may already be mentioned (didn't read all 9 pages) but he is getting all of one year according to what I just saw on AOL.

 

[Cacia]

I would not have been confident enough of his guilt to convict him.

Saying he probably did it and taking the chance you convict someone innocent are different

I thought the guy on the charter that was interviewed on TV sounded ridiculous

 

[fisheyeview]

Yep. 1 friggin year.