Hannah Overton

I must warn you: what I'm writing about today will make your blood boil.

When I first heard about Hannah Overton, it was from a friend's email in 2007. I recall this email was very passionate, even angry. As it happens, Hannah had been convicted of capital murder of a foster child in the care of her and her husband, Larry, in their home in Corpus Christi, Tex. This little boy, Andrew, had died in their home at the age of four from what doctors deemed salt poisoning. Andrew's life was short, tragic, and his death was profoundly sad. Hannah was blamed for his death, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

My friend is Hannah's pastor and he was getting the word out about what he was calling a total miscarriage of justice; he believed completely and passionately in Hannah's innocence. He asked for support and prayers in gearing up for a battle for justice, which would end only when she was freed and restored to her husband and their five children.

My reaction to that email at the time was extreme skepticism. I figured, "His heart's in the right place. This woman went to his church, the family has been through a tragedy and he's just too biased to look at this even-handedly."

In short: I thought my friend was being fooled.

I figured like most people do: the authorities know what they're doing. After all, they're the authorities -- we hire them, elect them, appoint them, and pay them to know what they're doing, don't we? Why should we question them?

Like most people, I placed my blind trust in the authorities.

But when I actually began reading up on Hannah's case, I became aware of just how wrong my prejudices were, in large part due to the excellent reporting of the San Antonio Express-News, which took the the lead in exposing the inconsistencies, absurdities, and outright fabricated smears in the prosecution's case.

What really crystallized my change of heart, however, was viewing this 20/20 report on her case in October 2008:





I remember watching with astonishment, literally open-mouthed in horror, as the 20/20 report exposed the flimsiness of the case against Hannah. The most telling moments were listening to the lead prosecutor and two jurors justify their incompetence:



For the first time, I felt palpable anger at what had been done to Hannah Overton. Travesty had been heaped upon tragedy in her life and those responsible for this injustice showed no remorse or even ambivalence about what they had done.

I felt shame at my own misguided trust in the system and hard-heartedness to the call to pray for justice.

I later apologized to my pastor friend for my wrong assumptions. I confessed to him how skeptical I'd been about his claims of Hannah's innocence and told him how sorry I was that I had not immediately taken seriously his request for prayer on her behalf.

And that really gets to the heart of the matter -- why should we care about what happens to someone halfway across the country, whom we likely will never even meet?

As Christians, we are under obligation to care. Proverbs 31:9 says

Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

I am very happy to report that after four long years the tide does seem to be turning -- slowly -- in favor of overturning Hannah's conviction. The San Antonio News-Express published an article in April detailing exculpatory evidence that was withheld by the prosecution, along with the effort to use this revelation as grounds for an appeal. In May, the editorial board of the News-Express published an editorial calling for the case to be re-opened. And on August 1, News-Express columnist O. Ricardo Pilmentel penned a column calling for Gov. Perry to pardon Hannah.

Most telling in these latest calls for Hannah's conviction to be overturned are the words of Anna Jimenez, "a former prosecutor who helped convict Overton" according to the News-Express. She wrote a letter included in an appeal on Hannah's behalf that stated her belief that lead prosecutor Sandra Eastwood had committed prosecutorial misconduct, writing in part:

“I am writing this letter because I do believe that an injustice has been done. I do not believe there was sufficient evidence to indicate that Hannah Overton intentionally killed Andrew Burd,” Jimenez wrote in February.

“It is because I witnessed Sandra Eastwood's behavior before, during and after trial that I fear she may have purposely withheld evidence that may have been favorable to Hannah Overton's defense,” she added.

What happened to Hannah Overton is an affront to justice, an affront to God Himself. We should care deeply about what has happened here and we can do something about it: we can pray, we can write a letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry on her behalf, we can donate to her legal fund... but again and most importantly, pray, pray, pray. I urge you to join me in doing these three things.