Each piece of evidence may, by itself, not prove the murder. The thing is, the jury doesn't view each piece of evidence by itself. It views the totality of the evidence. So, the jury viewed that the woman washed up on shore with cinder block weights. The jury saw the same kind of cement in the boat. The jury saw that the dog was left outside. The jury saw that Scott had lots of motice (financial, romantic). The jury saw that Scott lied about his whereabout the next day. The jury saw that Scott did not remember what he had gone fishing for. The jury saw that he had freswater tackle on his fishing gear. The jury saw that he returned to the scene of the crime five times after her disappearence despite it being two hours away. The jury also saw that Scott talked about his wife in the past tense before her body was found.
Each piece of evidence, by itself, did not prove murder. Viewed in its totality, the evidence clearly proves murder.
I wholly concur there is evidence strongly suggesting he did it. But I even more emphatically charge that everything necessary was NOT proven, (which your response effectively confirms) especially not beyond a reasonable doubt. Coincidence is supposed to be insufficient.
I mean come on. Freshwater tackle? As opposed to saltwater? Damned good thing they don't check me out. I never use anything but drop lines. I grew up around small streams. If caught in the vicinity of a large river with my gear, does that make me subject to charges of genocide?
I understand the jury sat through a lot of details. But their job is to make the prosecutor prove his case. I do not believe he did and they didn't spank him for it. I've seen it on a grand jury I was on. I would ask for the elements of the crime, the prosecutor would dance around the subject and everyone wanted to know why I bothered asking.
Prosecutors are human. To include, wanting to take the easy way out, tunnel vision, and having their own agendas. Juries are supposed to have the intelligence to catch them at it and stop them. This one failed to do its job, IMO.
Let's not forget him checking out the currents and tide positions in the bay several weeks before his trip. And telling people his wife was dead. You don't have to have a smoking gun to prove murder.