Hannah Overton free after seven years in jail

A Texas judge released Hannah Overton from jail yesterday morning, allowing the mother of five from Corpus Christi to hold her children for the first time in seven years.

Overton, 37, was convicted in 2007 of murdering her 4-year-old foster son by force-feeding him salt. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her conviction in September 2014, but she must go back to court next year to try to convince another jury of her innocence.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka had the option of dropping all charges, trying Overton on lesser charges, or retrying her for capital murder. He chose the latter.

The original trial was plagued with both competency and ethical issues from both the prosecution and the defense. Prosecutor Sandra Eastwood was accused during the appeals process of lying to the defense and withholding a laboratory analysis of vomit collected from 4-year-old Andrew Burd, which showed low sodium levels inconsistent with recent salt ingestion. During a February 2012 evidentiary hearing, Eastwood admitted that at the time of the trial she had been under the influence of both alcohol and prescription diet pills. She was released from the District Attorney’s office in 2010 after admitting she was romantically involved with a known sex offender. The defense admitted to presenting an inadequate case to the jury and failing to pursue appropriate expert witnesses to rebut the testimonies of prosecution-retained medical experts and the local medical examiner, Dr. Ray Fernandaz.

The real question at this point in the case is why pursue another capital murder conviction? There is adequate conflicting evidence to question the need to pursue a capital murder verdict. A jury poll taken after Overton’s first trial indicated jurors convicted her because of her delay in getting Andrew medical care. (She called her husband at work to come home before taking the child to an urgent care clinic.) Jurors didn’t convict her because they believed she force-fed Andrew salt. This coupled with the known tendency of abused children to have an eating disorder called pica—an uncontrollable desire to consume inappropriate substances such as salt—further dilutes the prosecution’s case.

Overton’s arrest and eventual conviction divided the community but united the city’s pastors, who even asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry to grant her clemency. The prosecution tried to use her Christian faith against her during her trial, showing jurors video of her praying in a police interrogation room. Her actions, Eastwood said, were not those of someone suffering from a child’s death but those of someone who wanted to get out of trouble. Her supporters speculated hostility toward Overton’s faith might have motivated her prosecution.

On Tuesday, prosecutors asked the judge to set a $250,000 bail and restrict Overton from having any contact with children. Instead, he set bail at $50,000, with no restrictions.

Overton’s children were among the supporters who gathered outside the courtroom yesterday, crying and hugging as they celebrated her release.