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February 13th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Image
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Gabe Watson and wife Kim sit in the courtroom waiting for jury selection on Feb. 13, 2012, in Birmingham, Alabama. Picture: Butch Dill
Source: The Courier-Mail
An American man accused of drowning his bride during their Queensland honeymoon has arrived at court for his trial in the US.
‘Honeymoon killer’ Gabe Watson and bride-to-be Tina pictured after their engagement in Alabama in 2002.
Source: The Courier-Mail
PROSECUTORS will concentrate solely on a capital charge of murder for money as jury selection progressed this morning in the trial of “Honeymoon killer” Gabe Watson in Birmingham, Alabama.
A second charge of kidnapping by trick will not be pursued as prosecutors readied to present their case that Watson murdered his first wife, Tina Thomas, during a honeymoon dive trip off Townsville in 2003.
“This is done all the time to simplify the case for jurors,” said Assistant Alabama Attorney-General Don Valeska.
“The other count is basically the same.”
Watson, 35, will not face the death penalty.
Judge Tommy Nail told the diverse pool of 70 prospective jurors that a capital murder charge meant an accused had “intentionally killed with aggravating factors”.
Watson arrived to the Jefferson County Courthouse dressed in a grey suit and flanked by his second wife, Kim Lewis, family and supporters.
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Watson’s attorney, Brett Bloomston, failed in his attempt to convince Judge Tommy Nail to allow the subpoenaing of former Alabama Attorney-General Troy King who initiated the state’s case against Watson in 2010.
Mr Bloomston suggested Mr King had a political agenda against Watson but Nail said the murder charge would be decided by evidence.
“I’m not going to try this case in the press, I’m going to try it in a courtroom, he said. “I don’t see any relevant testimony that he could give in this case.”
Mr Valeska said the judge had already ruled on the issue and denied it.
Defence lawyers also were chastised by Judge Nail for a last-minute request to see police notes about interviews with wedding guests when more than 12,000 pages of documents had already been released during discovery.
“I think you’re chasing your tail in a circle and getting no where with it,” he said.
Watson faces life in prison without parole if convicted of murdering Tina for insurance money he tried to obtain after her drowning on the SS Yongala.
Watson has already served 18 months for manslaughter in Australia after admitting responsibility for the death of his bride of 11 days.
Alabama prosecutors, angry with Queensland’s plea bargain and light sentence, sought a jury indictment that Watson plotted the killing here to make a small fortune from insurance.
They allege Watson expected to receive $165,000 from a life insurance policy he asked Tina to increase only weeks before the wedding and stood to gain even more from a lawsuit against a travel insurance firm that denied his claim.
Seventy prospective jurors were being vetted today to narrow the panel down to 12 and two alternates.
Two Townsville detectives, Kevin Gehringer and Gary Campbell, will be the first of about 30 prosecution witnesses to testify after jury selection and opening arguments.
The trial is expected to last 3-4 weeks.
Tina and Gabe Watson had a fairytale wedding in Birmingham that masked a rocky two-year relationship.
Watson was angered by a weekend fling Tina had with a former boyfriend six months before the wedding but proposed two weeks later.
Novice diver Tina died seven minutes into her first dive with Watson, an experienced diver with rescue certification.
She was found unconscious on the sea bed with a working regulator and a nealy full tank of air while Watson surfaced, allegedly seeking help.
Detectives claim Watson took three minutes to surface from 15 metres, a pedestrian rate, and lied about signaling help from other divers on the way up.
Tina’s body was also found 16 metres off the Yongala when police recreations indicated it should have been on the wreck or near it.
Mr Bloomston has described Watson as a gentle “teddy bear” who failed his panicking wife but didn’t intend to kill.
Prosecutors intend to show evidence he was a controlling man with a temper who turned off Tina’s air, prevented her from surfacing and escaped to avoid suspicion.
Dr Stanley Stutz, a former Townsville doctor, is expected to tell jurors he saw Tina embraced by a large male diver shortly before she sank to her death.
Watson denied touching his wife after she knocked off his mask and regulator.
Tina’s father, Tommy Thomas, who attended court this morning, has challenged Watson to testify at his trial but there are no signs that will happen.
Watson was absent and never spoke at the 2008 Townsville coroner’s inquest that led to his initial charge of murder in Australia.
That charge was reduced after Watson agreed to return voluntarily to Queensland after a cash-strapped DPP issued a statement saying the did not have a reasonable chance of a murder conviction.
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