Man Deported From Australia Faces Charges in US

An American suspected of killing his wife on their honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef has been indicted on two murder counts in his home state of Alabama after serving 18 months in an Australian prison for her 2003 drowning death, the state attorney general said Thursday.

Gabe Watson, 33, arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday morning after he was deported on a commercial flight from the southern Australian city of Melbourne. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said Watson was accompanied by two Immigration Department staff and three Queensland state police officers on the flight.

Los Angeles Lt. Aaron McCraney told The Associated Press that Watson was taken to a local police substation after his arrival.

Watson pleaded guilty last year in Australia to the manslaughter of his wife of 11 days, 26-year-old Tina Watson. He had been in immigration custody since completing a prison sentence earlier this month. Australia, a stanch opponent of capital punishment, delayed his deportation until it received a pledge from the U.S. government that it would not seek the death penalty against Watson.

Troy King, the Alabama attorney general, has promised not to seek the death penalty as a condition for getting Australian authorities to extradite Watson. He said Watson was indicted by an Alabama grand jury on capital murder in the course of kidnapping, and capital murder for pecuniary gain. The charges were kept under seal until he was brought back to the U.S. on Thursday.

Alabama hopes to make arrangements to bring Watson back to the state early next week.

Bowen said Watson returned to the United States voluntarily after both Alabama and U.S. federal authorities guaranteed that he would not face the death penalty.

Watson's lawyer, Adrian Braithwaite, said his client was happy to go.

"He's looking forward to returning home and successfully defending himself if there's a trial there," Braithwaite told The Associated Press.

On "The Early Show" Friday, another attorney of Watson's said his client's constitutional rights are on the line.

He told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, "We have serious concerns about Gabe's constitutional rights being violated in this situation. I haven't seen anything in the evidence that warrants (murder allegations)."

When pressed by Rodriguez why Watson pleaded guilty in Australia to manslaughter charges, he replied, "I want the viewing public to understand that what Gabe pleaded guilty to is was an obscure Australian law calling it manslaughter, but it reads almost like a violation of the Good Samaritan Law, he didn't do enough to save Tina's life. The closest crime we have here in Alabama is what is called negligent homicide, which is a misdemeanor. When you have a client facing the possibility of life in prison on a murder charge versus a misdemeanor with limited prison time, often you have to weigh the risks and rewards and go with the lower plea."

Rodriguez asked, "Well that raises the question, 'Why didn't he do more to help his wife?'"

Basigier replied, "You know, he took a class two years before this dive. It was a half day class and go certified that way. He had never participated in a rescue dive before. He wasn't an expert rescuer. He had never done it, and he was scared, too. This was his new wife."

Rodriguez pointed out, "The attorney general in Alabama says there is no international standard on double jeopardy that would prevent them from trying your client on the death again in Alabama. Do you intent to argue otherwise?"

Basigier said he plans to argue double jeopardy -- that a person cannot legally be tried twice for the same crime.

He added, "We will argue that his rights to due process are being violated. There are a lot of constitutional concerns in this case."

If the case goes, to trial, Basigier said Watson will plead not guilty -- but noted that his client could have difficulty getting a fair trial from an Alabama jury because of the remarks made in the media by prosecutors.

He said, "There's a code of silence among prosecutorial group in Alabama. It's very unusual to see prosecutors speaking this open and freely in the media. When you see that kind of exposure on their part, it calls into question what their motives are in this whole thing. That certainly has had an impact on the public in Alabama, and we're concerned about that. And the things we've heard in the media are untrue."

Tina Watson drowned during a 2003 scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland's tropical coast with her husband, an accomplished diver.

In 2008, the Queensland state coroner found there was sufficient evidence to charge Watson with her death, and he was officially charged with murder a few months later.

In 2009, Watson - who had remarried - traveled to Australia to face trial.

Officials in Queensland state argued he killed his wife by turning off her air supply and holding her underwater. When Watson pleaded guilty to the lesser manslaughter charge last year, he was sentenced to 18 months - a punishment Tina Watson's family and Alabama authorities slammed as far too lenient.

Queensland Coroner David Glasgow said a possible motive for the killing was Tina Watson's modest life insurance policy.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King has said he believes Watson devised a plot in Alabama to kill his wife on their honeymoon, which would give the U.S. state jurisdiction to charge him. King has argued there are no international standards on double jeopardy that prevent Alabama from trying Watson again over the death.

Bowen said it was not an issue for Australia whether there was a new prosecution.

"My role has been to ensure that we fulfill our treaty obligations, we've done that," Bowen told reporters in Canberra. "Double jeopardy is not covered by our treaty obligations."

"There is various speculation about what Mr. Watson may or may not be charged with - I've seen some speculation that they would be different charges to what he's been charged with in Australia - but that is not a matter the Australian government has a role in," he said.

Under Australia's Extradition Act, a person cannot be deported to face prosecution on a capital charge unless there is an assurance the death penalty will not be imposed.