A Second Chance for Justice: The Prosecutions of Gabe Watson for the Death of Tina Thomas
Author(s): Kate Fitz-Gibbon (Author), Asher Flynn (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Publication Date: 7 Jan. 2013
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 296 pages
ISBN-10: 9781443842020
ISBN-13: 9781443842020
Book Description
Tina Thomas would have been turning 35 on the day that her husband of less than two weeks stood trial for her murder in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, US. Eight years and almost four months had passed since Tina died on her honeymoon, while scuba diving near the SS Yongala wreck on the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Queensland, Australia. During this period, there had been extensive police investigations conducted by local, state and federal agencies in Queensland and the United States; a coronial inquest; a ridiculed plea bargain; a successful appeal against the manifest inadequacy of a 12 month sentence; 18 months served in Borallon Correctional Centre in Queensland; a grand jury indictment in Alabama; several days spent in an Australian immigration detention centre; an international agreement not to seek the death penalty; a deportation and several pre-trial hearings – every step of which was covered by endless public, media and social commentary. As the trial of Gabe Watson on a charge of capital murder for pecuniary gain began, so too did the possible final chapter in this tragic, drawn-out story. Monday, 13 February 2012, provided the date for the commencement of Gabe’s capital murder trial in Alabama, and the possibility that a second chance for justice could unfold . . . or could it? From the perspectives of the police investigators, the prosecution, the defence and Tina and Gabe’s families, this book examines the ongoing quest for justice in the controversial double prosecution of Gabe Watson for the death of Tina Thomas.
Editorial Reviews
Review
In this unique work, the authors have painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative concerning the interaction of law and criminal justice. The way that the use of discretion and the constraints of cost came to structure the very idea of what justice-according-to-law means in Alabama and Queensland, and what it can mean in justice systems worldwide, is explored in magnificent style –Professor Jeremy Horder, Edmund Davies Professor of Criminal Law, King s College London
This is an important and highly readable socio-legal book which communicates effectively the promise and the failures of our systems of justice. The book is successful at many levels. It subjects the legal processes at every stage to sharp forensic analysis in the best academic tradition. It lays out in rigorous detail the personal, professional and procedural frailties that combined to devastating consequence in ultimately vain attempts to recreate the past. It relates an incredibly human story in which the personalities and character of the dramatis personae spring from the page. The book brings into sharp focus the human frailty and systemic weaknesses of criminal justice processes in Queensland, and Alabama. Without closure being possible, readers are confronted with their own sensibilities, predispositions and prejudices as they consider whether justice is merely elusive or tragically illusory. –Professor Mike McConville, Founding Dean and Research Professor, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
This is an important and highly readable socio-legal book which communicates effectively the promise and the failures of our systems of justice. The book is successful at many levels. It subjects the legal processes at every stage to sharp forensic analysis in the best academic tradition. It lays out in rigorous detail the personal, professional and procedural frailties that combined to devastating consequence in ultimately vain attempts to recreate the past. It relates an incredibly human story in which the personalities and character of the dramatis personae spring from the page. The book brings into sharp focus the human frailty and systemic weaknesses of criminal justice processes in Queensland, and Alabama. Without closure being possible, readers are confronted with their own sensibilities, predispositions and prejudices as they consider whether justice is merely elusive or tragically illusory. –Professor Mike McConville, Founding Dean and Research Professor, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
About the Author
Dr Asher Flynn is a Lecturer and Researcher in Criminology at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. Her research encapsulates a diverse range of socio-legal and critical criminology concerns, with a particular focus on plea bargaining, sentencing, criminal prosecutions and the criminal justice system. Asher has published in a range of high quality, high impact criminology, socio-legal and law journals. A Second Chance for Justice is her first book. Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon is a Lecturer and Researcher in Criminology at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. She researches in the area of the law’s response to lethal intimate partner violence and the effects of law reform in Australian and international jurisdictions. Dr Fitz-Gibbon has published on the operation and effects of homicide law and sentencing reform with a key focus on gender and justice.
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