Alabama justice on hold for honeymoon killer

HONEYMOON killer Gabe Watson faces indefinite immigration detention when released from a Queensland jail tomorrow.

HONEYMOON killer Gabe Watson faces indefinite immigration detention when released from a Queensland jail tomorrow, amid confusion about whether he can be deported home to the US.

Watson will be handed over to immigration officers on completion of his sentence for the 2003 manslaughter of his new wife, Tina, while scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

But plans to put him on the first available plane to the US, where he faces fresh charges including murder, have hit a major hurdle and the Immigration Department was unable to say last night when he would be deported.

"There is a possibility that Mr Watson will be charged in the United States with offences that carry the death penalty," an immigration spokeswoman said yesterday.

"Under international obligations, Australia cannot return someone to a country when there is a real risk that they'll face the death penalty."

Watson was allowed to leave the country after his wife's death, but returned under a deal with Queensland prosecutors that put him behind bars for 18 months for her manslaughter in 2008.

The claimed leniency of the sentence outraged his late wife's relatives in Alabama, who campaigned to have murder proceedings instituted against him there.

While Alabama Attorney-General Troy King had pledged that the former bubblewrap salesman would not face the death penalty if convicted, he is no longer in a position to keep his word after being dumped by the Republican Party ahead of elections last week.

Federal extradition law prohibits Australian authorities from sending anyone to a country where they are under threat of capital punishment unless binding commitments are made to Canberra they won't be executed.

It is understood that federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland is seeking a fresh assurance from the US that the death penalty is off the table for Watson.

Queensland government sources said they had been surprised by the move from Canberra, when it could have the effect of delaying Watson's deportation.

He will be held in immigration detention in Brisbane until the impasse is resolved.

The Australian understands Immigration officers will be at Borallon Correctional Centre, near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, at 6.30am tomorrow to take charge of the American on his release.

The Queensland government had believed he would be transported to the airport and put on a commercial flight to the US that day.

But an Immigration spokesman could not say last night when Watson would now be deported. "He will go into Immigration detention while the government discusses his return to the United States," the spokesman said.

A spokesman for Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick said Watson's future in Australia was up to the federal government. It is understood he has local legal representation.

A grand jury in Alabama was convened recently to decide whether he should be tried on charges of murder and kidnap, but the outcome is confidential.

Alabama prosecutors allege Watson tricked Tina into honeymooning in Australia to kill her, and then hoped to pocket her life insurance.