CONVICTION OVERTURNED TX - Andrew Burd, 4, dies of salt poisoning, Corpus Christi, 2 Oct 2006

[Moxie Vi]

To find Overton guilty, jurors had to believe either of two scenarios -- that Overton force-fed Andrew salt knowing it would kill him or that she neglected to get medical help fast enough knowing that it would kill him.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-mom-...ng-death-accuses-prosecutor/story?id=17183938

After reading more about this case, I just can't see her KNOWING her actions/inactions would kill him. A sodium OD strikes me as being accidental. Then again, I desparately want to see the good in people and don't want to believe she could do this. If he was too much she could cancel the adoption, right? Unless she is cold blooded that would be the humane route. I believe her. I wonder how the appeals court will rule...

 

[Moxie Vi]

Katie Couric covered this case on Katie yesterday. I'm watching on my DVR now. I'll look for a link. Her husband and children are interviewed as well as Hannah from prison.

 

[Moxie Vi]

http://www.katiecouric.com/on-the-show/2012/10/15/the-hannah-overton-story/

 

[alwaysonmymind]

Very detailed article-

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2012-01-01/feature2.php

Shortly after noon, Larry picked her and the boys up and took them to a McDonald’s drive-through, and then the chiropractor, before returning to work. (Andrew was told that he could not have any food at McDonald’s, since he had already eaten.) When Andrew complained of being hungry that afternoon, Hannah gave him more of the leftover soup. When she refused to give him a second helping, he threw a tantrum and shouted, “I hate you!” Finally, Hannah resorted to sprinkling some Zatarain’s into a sippy cup of water, hoping that the taste alone would appease him. After drinking a little, he threw another tantrum that continued unabated for twenty minutes.

What a sad life for this little one. Hannah is guilty. moo

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/2655641...-reverses-overton-conviction-grants-new-trial

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the capital murder conviction of Hannah Overton, a woman convicted of capital murder in connection to the 2006 death of her four-year old foster son, and granted her a new trial Wednesday.

The court filed a 17-page document citing ineffective assistance from Overton's defense council as a reason for the reversed conviction and new trial.

 

[LadyL]

here's another article:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-convicted-killing-adopted-son-granted-trial/story?id=25602705

 

[badhorsie]

Another update
Mother serving life sentence for poisoning her toddler son with salt now faces capital murder charges trial
Hannah Overton, of Corpus Christi, has maintained her innocence since her 2007 conviction
Nueces County DA Mark Skurka was confident arguing that 'no jury' has ever found her innocent
Family stands by Overton and believes her name will be cleared

More at link

I was not familiar with this case but it seems to me that this woman was failed by the justice system

 

[K_Z]

Ok, so the timing of this re-trial could not be more fascinating, IMO. A different mother, Lacey Spears, is being tried in New York for the salt poisoning death of her 5 year old son, Garnett. Both Hannah Overton, and Lacey Spears, IMO, should be more than a little worried about the possibility of Lacey's trial, and Hannah's re-trial, occurring at the same time.

Hannah Overton is a Texas mother who was convicted in 2006 of poisoning her 4 year old adoptive son WITH SALT, and sentenced to life in prison. Her conviction was just overturned on appeal, and now the prosecutor has stated his intent to try the NEW case again as a CAPITAL MURDER case! Holy cow! For those interested, Texas has recently had a number of successful cases of medical child abuse/ munchausen-by-proxy murder convictions-- at least 4 come to my mind in the last 2 decades.

The possibility of this case, Hannah Overton's retrial in Texas, occurring at the same time as Lacey Spears' trial in New York, promises to be a fascinating set of coincidental circumstances, IMO. Potential for same expert witnesses, etc. Just wow.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka said in a news release Saturday that he would retry Overton on the original charge of capital murder and that "no jury, no trial judge and no appellate court has ever found that defendant Hannah Overton is not responsible for the death of Andrew Burd."

Skurka also had the option to retry Overton on lesser charges, offer a plea deal or dismiss the case. It is unclear whether he will try the case himself or assign a new prosecutor.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/mother-co...ry?id=26307165

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...r-charges.html

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/26817529...hild-poisoning

 

[K_Z]

Overton's attorney wants trial judge off case

Hannah Overton may not be out of jail anytime soon after all, because her attorney told a judge Wednesday she wants him off the case.

Orr was not expected until Thursday afternoon when a hearing was scheduled to set a bail amount for Overton.

http://www.caller.com/news/local-news/overtons-attorney-wants-trial-judge-off-case_50435559

BBM. Charged with capital murder (again). Wonder if the Judge will allow bail?

Hannah Overton stepped out of a prison van Monday evening and appeared in good spirits.

Overton is returning to the Nueces County Jail after spending the last 7 years in prison. Overton was convicted in the 2006 poisoning death of 4 year old Andrew Burd who she was in the process of adopting.

3 News reporter Bill Churchwell was the only journalist on hand as she arrived at the Nueces County Jail. He asked Overton, "how do you feel about being back? Are you ready for your re-trial?"

Overton responded by turning around and smiling as she walked through the door. Overton was led inside by deputies to be processed into the Nueces County Jail.

That's where she could be until she stands her re-trial on capital murder charges. For the past seven years, Overton has been serving a sentence of life in prison at the Gatesville Prison outside of Waco.

An exact date as to when the case will go back to trial has not been set. Until then, there is the possibility that she could be released on a 300 thousand dollar bond if approved during a hearing later this week.

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/27054911/hannah-overton-is-back-in-the-nueces-county-jail

 

[K_Z]

Mother serving life sentence for poisoning her toddler son with salt now faces capital murder charges trial

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...son-capital-murder-charges.html#ixzz3HYPXu780
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Lots of pictures and background in this article.

 

[Hoosgirl]

Thanks, KZ! This will be interesting, particularly with the confluence of the Spears trial.

I didn't follow this when it occured. What was she originally convicted of, versus the apparently new capital charges?

 

[K_Z]

HO was convicted of first degree murder in 2007, and sentenced to life in prison. Originally it was filed as a capital case, but I can't remember at what point the DP was off the table-- would have to go look it up.

Andrew's cause of death was acute sodium poisioning, and blunt force trauma. At autopsy, Andrew's blood sodium level was:

240 meq/l.

That may be the highest sodium level ever recorded.

A NORMAL sodium level is 135-145. Garnett Spears' blood level (mother Lacey Spears, facing 2nd degree murder charges), who died earlier this year from sodium poisoning, was around 180.

HO belongs to a large fundamentalist Christian church. Her church community has rallied on social media and the internet to free her, and believes she was unjustly convicted. This community also supports home punishments such as feeding children hot pepper sauce if they talk back to their parents, etc. HO claims she fed Andrew 1/4 tsp of Zatarain's spicy seasoning in a sippy cup of water.

The testimony at trial stated that to get a sodium level as high as Andrew's was, he would have had to eat 23 teaspoons of pure table salt. At trial, the defense produced an expert that claimed Andrew could have "voluntarily" eaten the excessive salt. Andrew had pica and eating issues, but it's simply absurd, IMO, to think a 4 yo could voluntarily eat 23 teaspoons of salt, hold it down long enough to absorb it systemically, and not vomit. The defense claims that since the stomach contents at autopsy didn't have high sodium, she wasn't guilty. However, HO delayed getting treatment for him for hours after he started vomiting at home, so it never seemed odd to me that his stomach contents weren't high for sodium. It's a point of contention for the re-trial.

Andrew had at least one festering burn on him at autopsy. He had blunt force trauma to his head. He was often locked in his room as a punishment, slept on plywood, sent to bed without dinner often, and was watched by a surveillance camera. He is the bio-child of a drug addicted mother, and was in foster care since around 2 years of age. The Overtons have 4 bio kids, and had been in the process of adopting Andrew.

I think HO is guilty as previously convicted. I hope she's convicted again.

 

[Rayemonde]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...urder-conviction-overton-salt-poison-overturn

"This case boils down to a woman who tortured a child, making him sleep on rough plywood, burning sheets, becoming so enraged she forced him to have 23 teaspoons of hot pepper and then watching him die in agony for two-and-a-half hours,” Sandra Eastwood, the lead prosecutor in the trial, told ABC News in 2012.

 

[LietKynes]

Andrew had at least one festering burn on him at autopsy. He had blunt force trauma to his head. He was often locked in his room as a punishment, slept on plywood, sent to bed without dinner often, and was watched by a surveillance camera. He is the bio-child of a drug addicted mother, and was in foster care since around 2 years of age. The Overtons have 4 bio kids, and had been in the process of adopting Andrew.

I think HO is guilty as previously convicted. I hope she's convicted again.

RSBM Snipped for brevity

Wow. Just feeding kids hot sauce for 'talking back' seems like abuse. Who burned and hit him on the head ? Surely Andrew didn't do this to himself--- kids don't willingly hurt themselves , the pain alone would cause them to stop.
Poor little boy. :cry:
:moo:

 

[K_Z]

The "discipline" technique is called "hot saucing", and is well known as a disciplinary technique advocated by some fundamentalist Christian parents and parenting advisory groups, like "Focus on the Family." It's illegal and considered child abuse in some states. Advocates of the practice suggest it's safer than using soap, since hot sauce is a food substance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotsaucing

For anyone who is interested in this case, simply do a search using "Hannah Overton", and you will get thousands of articles and sites, chronicling all that has happened in this sad situation, the first trial, etc.

This article has been updated in the past few hours with more detail about the request for the judge to recuse himself. Because of this request, HO will not have a bail hearing for a while.

http://www.caller.com/news/local-news/overtons-attorney-wants-trial-judge-off-case_50435559

The Thursday hearing would have been significant because it could have given Overton an opportunity to be released from jail and return home to her husband and five children.

Instead, Overton will remain in the Nueces County Jail until a regional administrative judge rules on whether to remove Longoria and appoint a new judge. Orr filed a motion asking for the judge's removal late Wednesday afternoon. Court officials said the hearing was canceled in light of the motion. The Caller-Times has requested a copy of the motion.

 

[K_Z]

8 min video of ABC News special on the case.

[video=youtube;-IWF0ZWORxY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IWF0ZWORxY[/video]

 

[Rayemonde]

One doctor calculated that it would take at least 23 teaspoons of creole seasoning (equivalent to 7 teaspoons of salt) to get Andrew's sodium level as high as it was when he arrived at the hospital.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...urder-conviction-overton-salt-poison-overturn

Seems a lot more likely that a kid would eat 7 teaspoons of salt himself than that the mother would manage to get 23 teaspoons of creole seasoning into him without him vomiting. How hot is creole seasoning? Was any salt that he could have gotten into found at the house? It does sound like the child had an lot of problems, so maybe he did have pica and ate salt intentionally. Why was he unsupervised in the pantry when she knew he had this compulsive eating?

She was found guilty of murder by omission for failing to take the boy to hospital quickly enough - the jury did NOT find that she intentionally poisoned him to kill him.

 

[K_Z]

Overton judge had early connections to family, documents show

Overton’s cousin married 214th District Judge Jose Longoria’s stepdaughter in 2005, more than a year before Overton’s 4-year-old foster son Andrew Burd died....

Also in 2005, the judge hired a landscape lighting company Overton’s husband, Larry Overton, worked for and now owns.

Twice, Larry Overton worked on outdoor lights at the judge’s house, according to the motion.

Longoria alerted the attorneys in the case in 2007, neither of which are involved now, of the company’s work at his house and said it had done a “good job.” Neither attorney took issue with the connection then.

A hearing on Orr’s motion is scheduled for Nov. 7. Fifth Administrative Judge Rolando Olvera on Thursday appointed former 13th Court of Appeals Judge Fred Hinojosa to hear the request. If Longoria is recused, another judge will be appointed to the case.

http://www.caller.com/news/local-ne...-tie-to-accused-woman-documents-show_25526514

 

[K_Z]

Hannah Overton will get a new judge for her re-trial.

http://www.caller.com/news/local-news/crime/judge-hannah-overton-will-get-new-judge-on-case_28712168

The order comes about a month after Overton’s attorney, Cynthia Orr, asked Longoria to withdraw from the case.

Hinojosa asked Fifth Administrative Judge Rolando Olvera to appoint a new judge. Orr has filed a motion asking Olvera to set bail for Overton, who remains in Nueces County Jail. Olvera could set bail before assigning a new judge.

Longoria had presided over her case since 2007, when Overton was convicted of capital murder in the death of her 4-year-old foster son Andrew Burd.

http://www.kristv.com/news/new-judge-will-hear-hannah-overton-case/

Video at above link.

Last month, Overton's attorney asked that presiding Judge Jose Longoria recuse himself due to a conflict of interest. Longoria had previously hired a lighting company that employed Overton's husband. Additionally, a relative of Overton is married to Longoria's stepdaughter.

Monday, a visiting judge from the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region recused Longoria from the case.

No bond hearing yet, and no new judge assigned yet.

 

[K_Z]

District Attorney asks court to reconsider the recusal of Judge Jose Longoria. Wow.

CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) - 3News confirmed Wednesday that Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka has filed a motion to reconsider the recent recusal of District Judge Jose Longoria from the capital murder retrial of Hannah Overton.

It was last week that a Rio Grande Valley judge was selected to replace Longoria and preside over the case. A former appellate court judge ordered the change without a hearing, and based his decision on the fact that Longoria personally responded to the efforts to get him to step aside.

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/27541915/da-asks-court-to-reconsider-recusal-of-judge-from-overton-trial