'Honeymoon Killer' Deported to US

Gabe Watson likely to face murder trial in Alabama
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 25, 2010 5:20 AM CST
'Honeymoon Killer' Deported to US
In this photo released by Townsville Coroners Court Gabe Watson, left, and his wife, Tina, pose on their engagement.   (AP Photo/Townsville Coroners Court, File)

An Alabama man convicted of manslaughter in Australia for his wife's drowning death has been deported back to the US by Australia. Gabe Watson—dubbed the "Honeymoon Killer"—served 18 months in an Australian jail. He is expected to face a murder trial in Alabama, and Australian authorities refused to deport him until they received assurances that he would not face the death penalty, the AP reports.

Watson's wife of 11 days drowned off the Great Barrier Reef while scuba diving in 2003. She was a novice diver and her husband, an experienced diver, made no attempt to rescue her. He was charged with murder after a coroner decided that Watson had probably turned off her air supply and held her underwater; he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Authorities in Alabama accuse him of devising a plot to kill his wife while still in the state, which would give them the jurisdiction to put him on trial again over her death.
(More Australia stories.)

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