Alabama AG to present evidence to grand jury against Gabe Watson in 2003 Australian drowning death of wife

By Marienne Thomas-Ogle

Prosecutors with the Alabama attorney general's office plan to present evidence to a Jefferson County grand jury Friday in the death of a Helena woman who drowned while on her 2003 honeymoon in Queensland, Australia.

Don Valeska, chief of the attorney general's violent crime division, said today that representatives of his office will be at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham at 8 a.m. Friday, where several witnesses are scheduled to appear before the grand jury.

The session comes seven years to the day of the death of Christina "Tina" Thomas Watson and just weeks before her then-husband, Gabe Watson of Hoover, is scheduled to be released from an Australian prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the case in June 2009.

Gabe and Tina Watson had been married for 11 days when she drowned during an Oct. 22, 2003, scuba diving expedition off the coast of Queensland.

Watson, due to be released in mid-November, was charged with his wife's murder in June 2008 following a lengthy Australian coroner's inquest. He was sentenced to 4½ years, and his prison time was reduced to 12 months when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, saying he had failed to fulfill his obligation as a diving buddy to his wife.

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Townsville Bulletin

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