In Defense of Justice

For the past two weeks, I have been involved in the Gabe Watson capital murder trial before the Honorable Judge Tommy Nail.  During that trial, the Alabama Attorney General's Office attempted to prove that Gabe Watson intentionally murdered his wife while scuba diving during their honeymoon in Australia.

Much has been reported about this case over the past couple of years.  Gabe Watson has been called a murderer and a cold blooded killer.  The defense lawyers (Brett Bloomston, Joe Basgier, and myself) have been vilified and demeaned for representing Gabe Watson.  However, very little of what was actually written in newspapers and Internet articles or seen on television had anything to do with what actually went on in court the past two weeks.  Very little of what you heard or saw had anything to do with the facts and ultimately with the truth.

Here lies the problem.  Many national and international news agencies picked up on the story.  However, very few of them bothered to send a reporter or journalist into the courtroom to listen to the testimony and view the evidence.  The national media then wants to act appalled that Judge Nail had the unmitigated gall to grant a motion for judgment of acquittal.  How dare he grant a "perfunctory motion" that is filed by defense lawyers all the time.  How dare he take this case away from the jury and impose his own judgment in this case.  How dare he do his job.  

Judge Nail sat through the entire trial and listened to every witness testify.  In the end, the Honorable Judge Tommy Nail granted Gabe Watson's motion for judgment of acquittal.  His decision was based on the facts presented in court and the law.  Weighing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution and granting all reasonable inferences from the evidence and testimony in the prosecutions favor, no reasonable jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  Judge Nail correctly decided that the AG's Office failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gabe Watson intentionally murdered his wife.

Michael P. Hanle