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Overton spent seven years in prison for the murder of a young foster child that she says she didn't commit. The Overtons were returning from a visit to the obstetricians office, where they had brought the children to find out whether the baby they were expecting was a boy or a girl. But Rotta was alarmed by his overall appearance. Veteran defense attorney John Gilmore, whom the Overtons had retained using funds raised by their church, was stunned to learn of the arrests from reporters, who called asking for comment. After years of appeals and hearings the state'shighest criminal court overturned her conviction in 2014. Most striking to the Overtons, and to their neighbors and friends, was his preoccupation with eating. Write your message of sympathy today. I wouldnt give up that time we had with him and that he had with us., As we sat across from each other in the dayroom, Hannah and I discussed her case and the anguish that had consumed her following Andrews death. A family birthday celebration in the summer of 2006. Before we ever tried to adopt, we had been warned that this was going to be difficult, that this was not going to be the Little Orphan Annie story, Larry told me. . Ive missed, you know, so many things, she said at the time. Hannah Overton, a Corpus Christi homemaker and mother of five, was convicted of capital murder in 2007 for the death Andrew Burd, the four-year-old boy she and her husband were in the process. Her husband, Larry, took aplea deal for a lesser charge in the case and was given probation. Then, as always, Hannah had been composed, despite the strain she was under. I remember many lively discussions with Cabell and Dabney about the history of Virginia and North Carolina. What a loss for all of us; he will be missed. "I could never thank my attorneys enough for fighting endlessly to prove my innocence and bring me home," she said. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Hannah would remind him, quoting Philippians. Yet according to the unusual wording of the jury charge, jurors had to believe just one of two scenarios to find Hannah guilty: that she deliberately made Andrew ingest a lethal amount of salt or that she purposely neglected to get timely medical attention, knowing that this would kill him. In the context of a criminal investigation, the calm that she had always exhibited in the midst of crisis was suddenly a liabilityan indication, perhaps, that she was cold-blooded enough to have killed a child. Hannah Overton spent seven years in prison until her conviction was overturned. Hannahs mother and stepfather, Hannah, Larry, and the kids on Mothers Day 2006. I was convinced that we were in the presence of a crime.. He was a very quiet and caring man. Not long after his arrest, a grand jury upgraded the charges against him to capital murder, and he feared that he too might face life in prison. Their arrests came so quickly after Andrew died, they said, that they had no time to grieve for the boy they hoped to permanently make a part of their family. The defense presented the jury with a medical mystery. Hess disavowed Garcias account at a court hearing regarding the Overton children, and prosecutors never entered Garcias affidavit into evidence or called him to testify at Hannahs trial. To the Overton's; Please accept my deepest sympathy and condolences for your loss. Overton cites a Bible verse from Hebrews 13:3 on the ministry website to explain its mission: "Remember those in prisonas if you were bound with them! Dick and Sue Kemper; St. Christopher's School, Share to let others add their own memories and condolences. Orra formidable legal mind whose work recently helped exonerate Michael Morton, a Williamson County man who was wrongly convicted of his wifes 1986 murderhad begun preparing a writ of habeas corpus, a last-ditch effort to persuade the courts to review Hannahs case. CPS launched its initial investigation into Andrews well-being shortly after his first birthday, when his mother took him to a local hospital with a broken arm. . Yet the Overtons were not too concerned. . Yet to find her guilty, theyd had to believe that she knew he would die if she did not get him immediate medical attention. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. We truly thought his obsession with food was a behavioral issue, not a medical one, Larry said. He had a speech disorder called echolalia, which is one of the things we see typically in children who have autism spectrum disorders. Inside the Bro-tastic Party Mansions Upending a Historic Austin Community, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. Push him? Throughout the interrogation, which spanned more than two hours, Hannah insisted that she had never harmed Andrew. His other passion was his beloved dogs. More outspoken was Andrews Sunday school teacher, who sat Hannah and Larry down and told them that he was a troubled kid. Its free. The court ruledher trial lawyers were ineffective, and sent her case back to be retried. I was shocked and saddened to hear of Dabney's premature death last week. "Wow, we don't even know where to begin," Hannah Overton told ABC News exclusively after she heard that her case had been dismissed and she would not have to endure another trial. I never knew him but it is obvious from all the wonderful things that people are saying that he was an incredible person and friend to so many. . The thoughts and prayers of your co-workers are with you and your family. The Corpus Christi Caller-Timess online comments section filled with the vitriol of readers, some of whom called for Hannah to receive the death penalty. Hannah Overton was just an ordinary homeschool mom. May your memories bring you comfort. His foster mother had taken him to a pediatrician for an adoption screening shortly before he had come to live with them, and the checkup had raised no red flags. Making him sleep on plywood burning sheets, becoming so enraged she forced him to have 23 teaspoons of hot pepper, and then watched him die in agony.. My deepest sympathy to his family on the loss of a truly extraordinary person. He had so many interests and was loyal to those he knew and was involved with, especially those he sailed with as that is where I knew him. She was native of this place and had been twice married. The very dilute gastric sodium contents suggest . The Overtons live in East Texas and told ABC News they have housed and supported prisoners after their release through their non-profit organization, Syndeo Ministries. The prosecutions most persuasive testimony came from Rotta, the pediatric critical care specialist who had originally expressed concern that Andrew had been mistreated. As long as I can make a nonfrivolous argument, Ill make it, but nothing in my job prevents me from praying for a more just outcome., There have been a few tear-filled nights because one of the kids misses Andrew, Larry said. (During the third week of the trial, moments before the case was sent to the jury, Eastwood had asked Judge Longoria if she could call Cortes as a rebuttal witness, but the judge, who had grown impatient with the length of the trial, denied her request.) Dinner was potato soupIts good and filling, and its cheap, Larry told mewhich the kids dived into after saying grace. — -- Murder charges against Hannah Overton, a south Texas mother of five who had been convicted in the 2007 salt poisoning trial in the death of her foster son, have been dismissed by the . (CPS had not yet sent them his Social Security card, which they needed to get him insured.) The kids took me out back, where they jumped on the trampoline and played hide-and-seek in the salt grass. Fleeing for Your Life? We spoke last Tuesday about a biking trip we had plan in the spring to Cherokee,N.C. Can Andrew be our brother? the girls pleaded. "God is so good!," Overton wrote in the social media post. I shall miss him greatly. Until Proven Innocent (2016) - IMDb He inspired me to take up running, and to go from owning 1 dog to 2! Rather than let him remain in his wheelchair most of the day, as previous caretakers had done, Hannah kept him moving; she took him into his familys pool to stretch and used massage to loosen his contracted muscles. I knew it would probably make him sick, but I wanted him to understand why we were setting limits, Larry explained. I enjoyed each conversation we had about fishing, sailing and other things we both were interest in. How had she known how much salt would kill him? When she was fifteen, Hannah returned to Corpus Christi with her family to visit, and Larry, who had not seen her since they were kids, was immediately smitten. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? To never have been producedit was very strange.. Four subsequent investigations were triggered by reports of abuse or neglect, including one allegation that both his mother and maternal grandmother were incapable of properly caring for him because they used methamphetamines. No amount of money will ever bring back the years that were taken away, and the seven years of freedom I lost. Another nurse, Dina Zapata, remembered Hannah smirking as she tried to resuscitate him. "We are so excited about all God has done in and through all of this. God bless you Dabney, we'll miss you. I would often see him riding with all the dogs in the back of the car. The death of a childparticularly a sudden, unexplained death in which abuse is suspectedevokes strong emotions, even among seasoned investigators, doctors, forensics experts, and prosecutors. . Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. The intentional poisoning of a child is usually perpetrated with sedatives, anticonvulsants, or medications like injectable insulin, not food, he told me. As I read the comments of so many I realize he touched everyone's lives just the same. If I failed in my duties of disclosure before the Hannah Overton trial (which the record corroborates I did not), then so did Ms. Jimenez., Orr filed the writ in April 2011, and soon afterward San Antonio Express-News reporter John MacCormackwhose reporting has raised questions about the fairness of Hannahs convictionmade a routine call to the office to gauge the reaction to the recent developments in the case. Although I believe that Mrs. Overton was remiss in seeking timely medical care for Andrew Byrd, I do not believe that she intended or knew that this would result in his death. The wording of the jury charge, she added, had been ambiguous and confusing. Ultimately, Warfield wrote, I do not feel that justice has been served., Two days after Hannah was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a pediatrician named Edgar Cortes took the unusual step of contacting Gilmore. EMS records show that the boy was admitted with no more than a bruised knee and sores on his right elbow, but during his hospitalization, other significant black-and-blue marks emergedin particular, on his trunk and nose. Overton, who has long maintained her innocence, spent seven years in prison for the young childs death. Sorry to hear of Dabney's passing. Frantic, Hannah began administering CPR in the backseat. Taken together, the disparate details formed a disturbing picture. He was a supportive friend to so many people, including me. Support The National Registry of Exonerations , The Contribution of Forensic and Expert Evidence to DNA Exoneration Cases, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 2022, Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent, Witness Recantations: Preliminary Findings, May 2013, Exonerations in the United States: 1989 - 2012, Tell us about an Exoneration that we missed. An attorney-client relationship will arise between you and our firm only if we specifically agree to act for you. -- Sarah Albiston, I enjoyed working with Dabney from time to time. I always knew I'd be able to catch up with him on occasion at the Village Starbucks. She hugged them and let them climb onto her lap, often returning to Lindale with head lice. As a former private-duty nurse, Hannah felt equipped to handle the challenges of a foster child; she had spent several years caring for special-needs children, some of whom were profoundly disabled. But I was frustrated. On their honeymoon, they stopped at the orphanage in Reynosa, where Hannah wanted Larry to meet some of the children she had told him so much about. Before they started a family, Hannah worked as a private-duty nurse for disabled children, and her longest assignmentwith a four-year-old named Michael Subialdeabecame as absorbing to her as her time in Reynosa. Hannahs conviction was upheld in 2009 by the Thirteenth Court of Appeals. Hess, who investigated child abuse cases for the police forces family violence unit, had a very different impression of Hannah. Four months later, on October 2, 2006, Andrew fell suddenly and acutely ill while he was alone with Hannah. Anne Turner Overton Haile died peacefully at home in Portland, Oregon on December 7, 2021. Fellow church member Anita Miotti remembers their telling her and her husband, Rich, that they were struggling. I didnt realize the seriousness of the situation. Eastwood questioned how Andrew had come to have scratches on his neck. If anything had been wrong, I would have known it, she insisted. He was a gentle and kind person always willing to help others. Sitting in the courtroom, she tried to explain how she had failed to recognize that Andrews condition was life-threatening. Each pregnancy felt extraordinarily fortunate; after Isaac, Hannah had suffered two miscarriages and been advised that she might not be able to have more children. Today I will thank God that I knew Dabney, if only a little. (A former pastor of Hannahs had advocated reprimanding children when they were dishonest by putting a single red pepper flake on their tongues.) How had Hannah, who was six months pregnant and recovering from whiplash, managed to overpower Andrew? Dabney was born on July 31, 1963 and grew up in Essex County, Va. Meny Lukk national monument bank uk; will arnett brothers and sisters He died at 9:30 p.m. Hannah Overton, far right, sits next to her attorney, Cynthia Orr, center, and prosecutor, Doug Norman, April 26, 2012, in Corpus Christi, Texas. As he grasped for the right words to convey the depth of pain a parent feels over the loss of a child, he noticed a row of unfamiliar faces. She was unflappable and unfailingly patient with children. Once reunited with their childrenwho were terrified by the ordealLarry and Hannah had to break the awful news to them about Andrew. Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. Channel Three, Channel Six, Channel Ten, the Caller-Timesthey all knew ahead of time, Gilmore said. The mood in the car was giddy; the kids were excitedly discussing the news that they would have a baby sister when Larry, distracted, ran a stop sign and collided with another car. This was usually on a road trip up or down the Valley. Hannah R. (Saem) Overton (born 1977) - Texas Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Knew him well growing up. probably to punish his behavior, that then goes into cardiorespiratory arrest.. Hannah, we are all so sorry for the loss of your brother. At 4 a.m., she reports to the laundry, where she folds shirts and hands out clean clothes to inmates. But just as the prosecution could not show exactly how Hannah had forced Andrew to ingest a lethal dose of salt, neither could the defense give precise details for how the four-year-old had come to have so much sodium in his body. Or had the tragedy claimed its second victim? The Overtons are nurturing, loving, patient, and very family-oriented, an adoption supervisor noted in her paperwork. Overton spent seven years in prison after she was sentenced in 2007 to life without parole for the death of 4-year-old Andrew Burd, a boy she had planned to adopt with her husband. The cause of death was determined to be salt poisoning, an extremely rare occurrence that, in children, results from either a child inadvertently ingesting too much salt or a caretaker deliberately forcing the child to do so. I am truly shocked and saddened to hear of Dabney's passing. He was preceded in death by his mot Both Larry and Hannah had done missionary work, and as a teenager, Hannah had spent holidays volunteering at an orphanage across the border, in Reynosa, where she had fed, bathed, and ministered to kids who had been living on the streets. They speculated Andrew might have had pica, an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive appetite and that Andrew accidentally poisoned himself by consuming a fatal amount of sodium. Overton was convicted of capital murder after being accused of force-feeding Burd enough sodium to kill him. Alton Lewis Overton, age 66, of Bryant; passed away Wednesday March 7, 2007. I visited Hannah at the Murray Unit one bright, cloudless afternoon, when the warden granted her a few hours to speak with me. Its daily. Andrews former foster mother, Sharon Hamil, who was devastated by the boys death, testified that Andrew had not exhibited significant developmental or behavioral problems, aside from his speech delay, during the time that he lived with hera characterization that was rebutted by numerous members of Calvary Chapel later in the trial but that cast Hannahs credibility into doubt. . His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder, vilified from all quarters, and sent to prison for life. It was later believed the boy suffered a rare medical condition called hypernatremia, which can cause fatal sodium levels in the body. Hess and a group of CPS workers were standing in the back with dark glasses on, their arms crossed, scowls on their faces, Carver said. Fernandez determined that the boy had died as a result of acute sodium toxicity, with blunt force head trauma as a contributing factor. She was always smiling, always laughing. As a teenager, she was captivated by missionaries stories of serving in far-flung places, and she began going on group mission trips herself, once venturing as far as Romania. I was one of those who was lucky enough to share a friendship with this kind, strong and loving man. Knowing Hannah, it was inconceivable that she would ever hurt a child, said Noreen. Larry, who was sitting behind her, broke down. Every Saturday for the past several years, Larry has ridden his motorcycle from Corpus Christi to the Murray Unit, the maximum-security womens prison west of Waco where Hannah is incarcerated: a squat, concrete building walled off from the world with cyclone fencing and coils of razor wire. The following week, Hannahwho had no history with CPS and no previous arrests, and had never had so much as a parking ticketwas charged with capital murder. When Andrew started breathing funny, she told Hess, she had administered asthma medication with a nebulizer, hoping to open up his airways. After your child dies to be told that somebody think its your fault. The entire Davila family sends our heart felt condolences to Dabney's family. He was a great classmate and teamate at St Christopher's. January 21, 2023 Copyright 2023 GRB Studio | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Before he left, Haller recalled his saying, You might want to prepare for the media.. By the time Hannah took the stand, jurors appeared to have made up their minds. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. The experience had affected her deeply, and she told Larry that she was willing to adopt a child with disabilities or an older child who had been unable to find a permanent home. Advertisement. After he completed his probation, the charges were dismissed. On several occasions his fits had grown so extreme that she had resorted to asking a male parishioner to physically remove him from the classroom until he could regain self-control. Hannah managed to clean him up, but when she reiterated that he would have to wait until lunchtime to eat, he defecated on the floor again. My husband, Tom, and I were deeply saddened to hear of Dabney's sudden passing. How do you poison someone with a substance you dont know the contents of? That Hannah had not sought immediate medical attention did not change his view. Other couples they knew who had adopted foster children assured them that their kids had outgrown similar eating issues, and the Overtons assumed that, with time, Andrew would outgrow his as well. Does God want a child to go to bed hurting, in pain, fearful, being looked at by closed-circuit television? But there were many other things she had missed from behind bars. He struck up a correspondence with Hannah, but she did not warm to him until their paths crossed again at a year-long missionary training school outside Tyler, when she was nineteen and he was a more clean-cut twenty. But at a hearing on the defenses motion for a new trial, Eastwood stated under oath that Cortes had always been a passionate advocate for the prosecution; he had even remarked to her that he thought Hannah should fry. Cortes does not dispute that story. Finally she relented, heating up what she had on hand: leftover vegetable-beef soup flavored with Zatarains Creole Seasoning. Make sure relatives of Jonah Lee Overton know they have sympathy messages here. Instead we were arrested.. And a succession of witnesses, nearly all of them members of Calvary Chapel, recounted Andrews unusual eating habits and Hannahs attentive parenting. (92 years old). At a subsequent family court hearing, in which Hannahs civil attorney argued that she should be given access to the infant so that she could continue nursing her, Judge Lewis returned Emma to her parents, but with conditions. Menu. Dabney and I had spirited conversations about baseball. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition. The paperwork Orr now forwarded to him, which showed that Andrews stomach contained a great deal of water, only confirmed the clinical directors initial conclusion. They chattered about an upcoming birthday party and discussed the merits of their favorite colors, finishing each others sentences between slurps of soup. (Like Eastwood, neither Norman nor Jimenez would comment for this article.) "We shall not see his like again". Report an error or add more information about this case. At first, the transition with Andrew went smoothly. Hoping to show him that his behavior was self-destructive, Larry told Andrew one morning that he could have as much as he wanted for breakfast. Beginning next year, she will also receive an annuity. When Gilmore polled the jury afterward, all twelve members stated that they had found Hannah guilty of capital murder by omission for not acting quickly enough to save Andrew; none believed that she had poisoned him. When Emma took her first steps, Larry brought her to the parking lot outside the county jail so that Hannah could watch from her cell above. Please call me at your earliest convenience.. Tell During the consultation the attorney can discuss whether our firm can assist you. The Overtons have said they believed he instead had a rare medical conditioncalled hypernatremia that caused the fatal sodium levels. In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. movie nights, waking up to their beautiful faces. The Court of Criminal Appeals is currently reviewing her writ, which contends that the information about Andrews gastric contents are grounds for a new trial. He acted more like a toddler than a preschooler, they noted; if he wanted an object, he pointed to it and grunted. It was a catastrophic decision. If someone was trying to murder Andrew, they would have restrained him and prevented him from drinking water, Moritz subsequently wrote in an affidavit. We lived in the same neighborhood a few years back and after meeting at the Dog Park, spent some great time together running, kayaking and meeting for a few cold ones at Melitos. Its not even a consideration, she said. Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries Search; Sponsored by Ancestry. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Dabney's memory to Aylett Country Day School, P.O. At the time of his retirement, he was one of the three oldest practicing attorneys in the Commonwealth.