Watson Murder Case - Discussion

[FL-Jack]

Great thread. Have been watching this since the beginning. Would love to sit on the jury.


Alabama can feel free to send him down here to Fort Lauderdale to be judged by his 'peers', which should most certainly include certified 'Rescue Divers' and folks with time and experience on and under the water.

I have to admit that I would convict him based on his cowardice alone, no matter his actual intent.

 

[Kern]

Great thread. Have been watching this since the beginning. Would love to sit on the jury.


Alabama can feel free to send him down here to Fort Lauderdale to be judged by his 'peers', which should most certainly include certified 'Rescue Divers' and folks with time and experience on and under the water.

I have to admit that I would convict him based on his cowardice alone, no matter his actual intent.

Thats why they try not to have people like yourself on juries.

 

[DandyDon]

Great thread. Have been watching this since the beginning. Would love to sit on the jury.

Alabama can feel free to send him down here to Fort Lauderdale to be judged by his 'peers', which should most certainly include certified 'Rescue Divers' and folks with time and experience on and under the water.

I have to admit that I would convict him based on his cowardice alone, no matter his actual intent.

Disqualified. Back in my younger, dumber days, I defended myself in the next county on a public drunk charge. First thing I did was kick off my old high school drinking buddy who was in the pool, then used my cuts to kick off anyone who didn't drink. Ended up with 6 older ladies who liked my suit I think. Anyway, it was really a lot of fun slanting my not-under-oath statements, ridiculing the arresting officers who were, and so forth. Not guilty before lunch.

And it seems that he copped the plea overseas based on being a poor dive buddy, admitting no guilt.

It really looks like the case will fail in Alabama I think. The prosecutor felt like he had to go for it only for show, a crowd pleaser - but knowing it's a losing case, yet he can still make some talk shows and write a book maybe. I'd rather read Watson's book.

 

[mike_s]

It really looks like the case will fail in Alabama I think. The prosecutor felt like he had to go for it only for show, a crowd pleaser - but knowing it's a losing case, yet he can still make some talk shows and write a book maybe. I'd rather read Watson's book.

You have to remember, the prosecutor in Alabama (Troy King) was running for re-election when this process started and this was generating a lot of press (ie... free political advertising).

You sure didn't want his opponents using a line of "Troy King wouldn't prosecute Gabe Watson for killing his new bride on a honeymoon" in some negative TV commercial.

 

[FL-Jack]

Thats why they try not to have people like yourself on juries.

No need to explain. I fully understand why defense attorneys go to great lengths to insure the most ignorant jurors possible are sitting in judgment during criminal prosecutions. It is all about the Benjamins, just as the joke of a plea bargain which happened in Australia.

That is why my once proud country is on a downhill spiral.

The Constitution requires this man be judged by his peers. It is very simple, just as the Founding Fathers intended. Certainly not a bunch of slack jawed locals that may have watched some underwater videos on The Discovery Channel. Like it or not, I am one of his 'peers', a SCUBA diver. Personally, I am capable of exonerating this man if the evidence presented during a trial could possibly dispute what we have been fed by the media.

It shocks me to the core that anyone who has ventured further from the atmosphere than nature ever intended for man, could look at the picture of that lifeless diver on the bottom, in clear, 45 ft water and not understand the only way this could have happened. It is truly beyond me and explains why so many folks die during mini-season and in simple wreck dives.

I do not know what sort of underwater experiences you lot have had, but speaking as someone that has taken their last breath of air at 90 feet along with not being able to equalize to return to the surface a few times, having my mask blown off by the current and kicked off by novice divers, I could/would NEVER abandon someone in this situation.

I've never had the honour of needing a visit to the deco chamber, but I would certainly prefer it to living with this albatross around my neck. I would sooner face Poseidon himself. Anyone but the most yellow coward would, IMHO. If this man was seriously inexperienced, and actually showed signs of panic I would not have such a strong opinion of guilt in this case.

This should have been a non-issue during a dive in these conditions. I fully understand panic and I fully understand sociopaths, the only people I do not understand are liberals that like to make excuses for anti-social psychopaths and their criminal behaviours.

 

[FL-Jack]

Disqualified. Back in my younger, dumber days, I defended myself in the next county on a public drunk charge. First thing I did was kick off my old high school drinking buddy who was in the pool, then used my cuts to kick off anyone who didn't drink. Ended up with 6 older ladies who liked my suit I think. Anyway, it was really a lot of fun slanting my not-under-oath statements, ridiculing the arresting officers who were, and so forth. Not guilty before lunch.

And it seems that he copped the plea overseas based on being a poor dive buddy, admitting no guilt.

It really looks like the case will fail in Alabama I think. The prosecutor felt like he had to go for it only for show, a crowd pleaser - but knowing it's a losing case, yet he can still make some talk shows and write a book maybe. I'd rather read Watson's book.

You are honestly comparing a drunk and disorderly charge with a potential case of premeditated murder?

From what I know of criminals, they never admit guilt. Our prisons are filled with 'innocent' men. Just ask them. It tends to put a damper on their future plans.

I am not privy to all of the evidence so I cannot possibly predict the outcome of the Alabama trail. I can only give my opinion as someone with 35 years of experience in the water.

 

[FL-Jack]

the court trying to bring him up on charges here is a joke, sure if he did it he should pay. The problem is he is paying for him crime. HE should not pay for it TWICE. There is no law or reason to try him here. Though that being said If it was my daughter, mother, sister I would hope they would let him out, so i could be the judge, jury and well you know the rest

Double jeopardy does not apply in this case. He has not been prosecuted or judged by the United States.

Personally I am glad that Alabama folded on the pansy Australian liberal governments insistence he not face capital punishment. The thought of him being passed around like the little bitch he is by the inmates in Alabama for the rest of his miserable life is the second best thing to seeing the victims parents hold his head in a five gallon bucket of water.

 

[DandyDon]

You are honestly comparing a drunk and disorderly charge with a potential case of premeditated murder?

Nope.

 

[ItsBruce]

FL-Jack:

From reading your posts, it would appear that you have knowledge of evidence that the rest of us do not seem to know about and that this somehow enables you to determine he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. So, I ask, do you have an explanation of the mechanics of how Watson killed Tina? Do you have any evidence that would support this? Or don't you believe in the Constitutional protection of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?

I gather that you are biased against Watson because you think that you would have had sufficient bravado to have held on to your buddy in an emergency and that he should have, too.

BTW: As far as a jury of one's peers, a "peer" is not someone who thinks he or she is an expert on something because he or she is a diver, a DM, or an instructor. Jurors with specialized knowledge come into a case biased, either for or against a party based on what they think they know and what they think is the right thing, rather than on either the law or the evidence. Even within the scuba community there is debate on MOF/NMOF or on solo diving. If a just verdict required a decision based on MOF/NMOF or solo diving issues, it could not be achieved by a jury with preconceived positions on either. That is why divers cannot be on a just jury. You do want a just verdict, don't you?

Further, re mini-season, how many of those deaths are the result of homicides? After all, isn't it your view that an underwater death MUST be the result of a homicide?

 

[ItsBruce]

I was working on something else when I had an interesting thought: There are a number of people who have expressed views about Watson such that if he suddenly and inexplicably died, they had better have good alibis.