Watson Murder Case - Issues, Statements & Sources

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ISSUE: Battery in dive computer backwards

This was surprising to me. I thot that a dive computer with a battery in backwards simply would not function, but I have never dived one with a transmitter: Early error blinded police on dive death | The Australian excerpting...

"As Adam White, former technician for Oceanic, the manufacturer of Watson's dive computer, has explained under oath, the device will in fact beep (as Watson said it did) when the battery is fitted incorrectly in the transmitter. White has agreed it was not difficult to imagine circumstances where the battery would be put in upside down."
 
* Facepalm

This is what I said over a year ago in the Gabe Watson Pleads Guilty thread (urgh, still not enough posts to include the URL, need to lurk less and post more):

"In his statement he stated that he had put the battery backwards in his "transmitter," not his computer. I imagine he is talking about a wireless air-integrated computer. If it was set to wet activation and he had not checked his pressure before entering the water, than the computer would start beping as dive mode was activated because it would have been unable to link to the transmitter."
 
ISSUE: Ascent rate and ascent alarms.

Watsons' dive computer is an Oceanic DataTrans which has PC upload capability. See: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5411863-post57.html

"WATSON: So, from that point, I just pretty much turned and pretty much just rocketed to the top. You know, I’m amazed that I didn’t end up with the bends or something.."

If Watson had rocketed to the top, his dive computer would have recorded an ascent alarm.

"SGT LAWRENCE: ..the `rapid ascent alarm' in his scuba equipment had not activated"

Source: Final words | Townsville Bulletin News

I also have an Oceanic dive computer and all Oceanics use a software program called Oceanlog. Below, I have captured a profile from a recent dive shown below. The dive was very "surgy" in spots and I experienced three very short dive ascent alarms. None of them lasted longer than the sampled 15 second interval. If watson had rocketed all the way to the top, the ascent alarm would have lasted through the entire rapid ascent. Here is a sample of a dive profile that prosecutors should be able to download from Watson's computer and create from the Oceanlog software:

dive%20log%201a_1.jpg


The orange lines over the blue profile show the three ascent alarms on my dive. The software actually blinks the "slow" and the ascent bar just as it does on the dive computer. In addition, it will be very powerful if the ascent shows any dips down, meaning, he would have stopped and kicked down during the ascent. As you can see, I had several during my safety stop. There are two points in this dive that you could potentially determine that I was starting an ascent. This will be a matter of interpretation and may be difficult to pinpoint, depending on what the profile looks like. However, the most important data will be the ascent alarm or the lack thereof and any dips down during the ascent.
 
Thanks to DandyDon for this story:

Source: Death on the reef: evidence slanted | The Australian

QUEENSLAND police who spent five years investigating the scuba-diving death of an Alabama woman on her honeymoon misstated key evidence.

The evidence was presented to the media in ways that made it appear more likely her husband murdered her.

The key evidence was misstated as recently as four months ago in a two-part special by the ABC's Australian Story, in which Gabe Watson was depicted as a cold-blooded and sociopathic murderer of his wife of 11 days, Tina, an examination by The Australian shows.

The program, strongly slanted against Watson, omitted facts and findings which would have shown his actions in a different light. It has added momentum to a powerful public push for Watson to be tried for murder in Alabama where he will this morning face a bail hearing.

Watson has strenuously protested his innocence of murder. Having pleaded guilty to being criminally negligent for failing to rescue Tina, 26, when she got into difficulty on the October 2003 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, he was convicted of manslaughter last year.

The Queensland Court of Appeal said he was wrongly accused of murder, and that he had been grief-stricken over the death of his wife whom he had abandoned when he made a reprehensible decision to go to the surface to seek help.

The Weekend Australian reported how police probing the case had made an error in the testing of Watson's dive computer, which led the detectives to come to an early and strongly adverse view that he was lying to them about a beeping alarm minutes before Tina's fatal dive.

The adverse view had a profound impact on the police probe, propelling it in a direction sought by Tina's parents who have relentlessly lobbied Queensland and Alabama authorities to pursue Watson for murder.

In misstating key evidence, police have claimed that Watson, who they suspect turned off Tina's air tanks and then turned the air back on when she was dead, deliberately did not rush to the surface to raise the alarm.

Detective Senior Constable Kevin Gehringer told Australian Story in August: "He said he rocketed to the surface to seek help."

Detective Sergeant Gary Campbell, the lead officer on the case, added: "It took him between two and three minutes. That was classed by some as literally pedestrian."

Widespread reporting of the case has almost universally adopted a slow ascent as fact, contrary to sworn evidence at the 2008 inquest in which a police expert said the dive computer data showed the ascent could have been as quick as one minute 10 seconds. This is a relatively fast ascent, on a par with the rapid ascent of Tina's rescuer.

The claim that Watson went slowly is also contrary to the first statement of witness Stanley Stutz, who described Watson going to the surface "really quickly" when Dr Stutz gave a statement to police on the day Tina died.

Criminal lawyers said Queensland police would be fiercely examined by Watson's legal team in Alabama over their probe and comments made to the media.

The then coroner in the Queensland inquest, David Glasgow, praised the efforts of the detectives in 2008 for having "produced to my inquiry as detailed and complete a picture as I have seen in my role as a coroner".

Mr Glasgow charged Watson with murder in 2008 but the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony Moynihan SC, abandoned the circumstantial case as too weak to run.

Mr Glasgow, a judicial officer, also appeared on Australian Story in August and has since been reported stating that he would be prepared to go to Alabama to give evidence if asked.
 
"Gabe Watson joked about dead bride Tina's life insurance, friend reveals
HONEYMOON scuba dive murder suspect Gabe Watson joked about his dead bride Tina's life insurance in the weeks after her death, a key US witness claims. Watson allegedly told Tina's best friend that he might have been treated as a suspect in Tina's drowning had she raised the value of her policy to $US1 million ($A1.2 million) as the couple had discussed before the trip.

''Gabe said it was a good thing she didn't because he would be sitting in an Australian jail on manslaughter charges,'' Amanda Phillips told The Courier-Mail.

''It makes me upset because Tina would have done anything for him.''

Phillips has detailed Watson's comments in her 16-page statement to police, who will use it in the US prosecution case against Watson.."

Source: Gabe Watson joked about dead bride Tina's life insurance, friend reveals | Courier Mail
 
Latest on the case and what is new:

Gabe Watson murder trial on fast-track as Judge brings trial forward to May | Herald Sun

"AN Alabama judge has fast-tracked the murder trial of "honeymoon killer'' Gabe Watson for May, creating a logistical challenge for prosecutors relying on witnesses and evidence from Queensland, where the death occurred. ..

Tina, 26, a novice diver, was found unconscious on the seabed seven minutes into a dive on the SS Yongala off Townsville..

Prosecutor Don Valeska said he planned to have as many as 10 witnesses from Australia testify at the trial.."

REMINDER: The purpose of this thread is to list the issues and resource information only. If you wish to comment, please see the discussion thread at: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/scuba-related-court-cases/355511-watson-murder-case-discussion.html
 

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