Hannah Overton: Still a child killer

Trench Reynolds

Hannah Overton case upheld by appeals court:

I originally posted about Hannah Overton here.

To recap she was convicted of killing 4-year-old Andrew Burd by sodium poisoning and abuse and failure to get him proper treatment. A ‘Free Hannah’ movement grew out of her conviction because she belongs to a church. So because she’s a ‘Christian woman’ she couldn’t have possibly killed Andrew. Apparently her followers never heard of Occam’s Razor which says the most likely answer is usually the correct one.

Anyway her movemnet was dealt a serious blow this past week when The 13th Court of Appeals handed down a 95 page smackdown on the appeal of her conviction. Check out what the appeal itself said…

Overton appealed the conviction on several grounds, including errors in the indictment and jury charge, insufficient evidence, prosecutorial misconduct and a claim of newly discovered evidence. The defense also accused 214th District Judge Jose Longoria of abusing his discretion in allowing testimony from the medical examiner and a doctor who treated the boy.

That’s what I like to call the spaghetti defense. By that I mean they throw everything against the wall and hope that something sticks.

Now let’s hear from one of the Free Hannah movement, Doug Hoffman assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel Coastlands, aka Free Hannah ground zero.

“We are confident that Hannah will be released someday — not just released but found innocent, that she did not intentionally harm this child,” Hoffman said. The ruling “was a punch in the stomach, but it wasn’t totally unexpected from knowing how things are sometimes handled there.”

You can be as confident as you want she’s in jail and will be staying there for the rest of her natural life. This isn’t some kind of Christian persecution or conspiracy, it’s justice.

Sphere: Related Content

Related Posts


  • Eccentric_Lady

    Well, I know it can’t bring Andrew back, but its good to hear that conviction was upheld. I despise the fact that people think because she’s Christian she couldn’t have killed the child. That’s some serious caca de toro there…just because one believes in Christ, does not mean they’re perfect at all. Very capable as the next person to commit wrongdoing, and needs to be held to accountable to boot. There’s an argument that Christians need to be held to a higher standard, but with this Free Hannah movement kind of makes that train of though a bit dubious. :roll:

    Yeah, spaghetti defenses fall out a lot of the time for it’s full of undercooked reasons – therefore nothing sticks! :razz:

  • Eccentric_Lady

    Well, I know it can’t bring Andrew back, but its good to hear that conviction was upheld. I despise the fact that people think because she’s Christian she couldn’t have killed the child. That’s some serious caca de toro there…just because one believes in Christ, does not mean they’re perfect at all. Very capable as the next person to commit wrongdoing, and needs to be held to accountable to boot. There’s an argument that Christians need to be held to a higher standard, but with this Free Hannah movement kind of makes that train of though a bit dubious. :roll:

    Yeah, spaghetti defenses fall out a lot of the time for it’s full of undercooked reasons – therefore nothing sticks! :razz:

  • Angel

    I’m glad the ruling was upheld. People like this woman (and her preacher) are one of the primary reasons that Christianity is struggling right now. Non-Christians hear of things like this and think to themselves, ‘If this is what Christians do, then I don’t want any part of it.’ True Christians do NOT behave in this manner – a TRUE Christian would have admitted their guilt, and taken their punishment. Because that’s the only way to forgiveness. If you cannot admit your sin, then how can you be forgiven for it?

    For those (and I’m sure there will be some) who want to come on here and quote the ‘judge not’ verses – before you do that, might I suggest you go and read the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy first? Then come back here and tell me how people should only be held accountable AFTER they die. It’s BS. If we were still following the laws and sentencing guidelines handed down by God then, then this website would have many happier regular readers. Because God’s sentence for things like murder and rape….was death. To be meted out by His children on Earth. I, personally, think this animal (Overton) got off light.

  • Angel

    I’m glad the ruling was upheld. People like this woman (and her preacher) are one of the primary reasons that Christianity is struggling right now. Non-Christians hear of things like this and think to themselves, ‘If this is what Christians do, then I don’t want any part of it.’ True Christians do NOT behave in this manner – a TRUE Christian would have admitted their guilt, and taken their punishment. Because that’s the only way to forgiveness. If you cannot admit your sin, then how can you be forgiven for it?

    For those (and I’m sure there will be some) who want to come on here and quote the ‘judge not’ verses – before you do that, might I suggest you go and read the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy first? Then come back here and tell me how people should only be held accountable AFTER they die. It’s BS. If we were still following the laws and sentencing guidelines handed down by God then, then this website would have many happier regular readers. Because God’s sentence for things like murder and rape….was death. To be meted out by His children on Earth. I, personally, think this animal (Overton) got off light.

  • Sue

    I thought your comment about the spaghetti defense was cute, around here we call it the shotgun approach when a lawyer files umpteen charges, so it’s another good analogy!
    I don’t understand how so many inappropriate people are allowed to foster and adopt kids.
    By the way, if you read the bible, you will find many examples of religious jews and christians that committed murder. christian or religious, there needs to be better homestudies done when someone applies to take control of a child’s life.

  • http://none Sue

    I thought your comment about the spaghetti defense was cute, around here we call it the shotgun approach when a lawyer files umpteen charges, so it’s another good analogy!
    I don’t understand how so many inappropriate people are allowed to foster and adopt kids.
    By the way, if you read the bible, you will find many examples of religious jews and christians that committed murder. christian or religious, there needs to be better homestudies done when someone applies to take control of a child’s life.

  • Eccentric_Lady

    Reverend Angel,

    You’re preaching to the choir here. ;-) For I feel the same way you do – what she’s sentenced is pretty light compared to the hell she put her own flesh and blood through. :evil:

  • Eccentric_Lady

    Reverend Angel,

    You’re preaching to the choir here. ;-) For I feel the same way you do – what she’s sentenced is pretty light compared to the hell she put her own flesh and blood through. :evil:

  • Eccentric_Lady

    Sue,

    I think people need to realize the mentality of “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it” is wrong. If folks realized that the saying about how “children do not belong to you, they come from you, they are life longing for itself” is much more appropriate mentality, abuse may not be so rampant. For it is true, it’s a parent’s responsibility to teach and protect a child in their care – but not to abuse them as if they’re owned, like furniture or something like that.

    But until more people realize this, maybe the only way to get it in their thick noggins is holding them accountable for their repulsive acts.

    And yes, Angel, you can call this pot black. (This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black I think. )

  • Eccentric_Lady

    Sue,

    I think people need to realize the mentality of “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it” is wrong. If folks realized that the saying about how “children do not belong to you, they come from you, they are life longing for itself” is much more appropriate mentality, abuse may not be so rampant. For it is true, it’s a parent’s responsibility to teach and protect a child in their care – but not to abuse them as if they’re owned, like furniture or something like that.

    But until more people realize this, maybe the only way to get it in their thick noggins is holding them accountable for their repulsive acts.

    And yes, Angel, you can call this pot black. (This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black I think. )

  • Kathy Thomas

    She can be forgiven IN PRISON. Like Trench said, it’s called JUSTICE.

  • Kathy Thomas

    And she will let free IN HEAVEN. Not here.

  • http://ParentsBehavingBadly Kathy Thomas

    She can be forgiven IN PRISON. Like Trench said, it’s called JUSTICE.

  • http://ParentsBehavingBadly Kathy Thomas

    And she will let free IN HEAVEN. Not here.

  • Sanity

    These comments are truly sad. If you did serious research about this case you would see that there certainly wasn’t conclusive evidence against Overton, and that the sentence is severely and excessively harsh. Doctors providing evidence on both sides – notably the prosecution, but also for the defense – have now stated that they believe she is innocent, and that the boy’s death could easily have been related to his pico medical condition which led him to ingest large amounts of many different kinds of food uncontrollably.

    It’s richly ironic that someone on here says that Christians like this woman, who can’t admit guilt, are the reason Christianity is failing. Hardly. Rather, it’s people who omnipotently think they know everything (including being certain of guilt in a case where that is impossible) and refuse to offer others any chance of redemption and understanding, who are much more of a problem. Go and read the new Testament, not the first couple of books before Christ came to save people. I’m not even a Christian, but at least I know about that.

    You can delete this, but I know you’ve read it. Words cannot describe my disgust at you people. I hope Hannah will go free.

  • Sanity

    These comments are truly sad. If you did serious research about this case you would see that there certainly wasn’t conclusive evidence against Overton, and that the sentence is severely and excessively harsh. Doctors providing evidence on both sides – notably the prosecution, but also for the defense – have now stated that they believe she is innocent, and that the boy’s death could easily have been related to his pico medical condition which led him to ingest large amounts of many different kinds of food uncontrollably.

    It’s richly ironic that someone on here says that Christians like this woman, who can’t admit guilt, are the reason Christianity is failing. Hardly. Rather, it’s people who omnipotently think they know everything (including being certain of guilt in a case where that is impossible) and refuse to offer others any chance of redemption and understanding, who are much more of a problem. Go and read the new Testament, not the first couple of books before Christ came to save people. I’m not even a Christian, but at least I know about that.

    You can delete this, but I know you’ve read it. Words cannot describe my disgust at you people. I hope Hannah will go free.

  • Karla

    @Sanity,

    I took this from a website called Celebgalz, where one justiceforandrew writes the following:

    “If the Free Hannah Overton facebook and website are wanting to bring up Andrew’s troubled past, then they should also be bringing up Hannah Overton’s family history. Hannah Overton’s father, who helped raise Hannah, founded and was the Pastor for Calvary Church (same church as Calvary of the Coastlands) on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi. Hannah’s pastor father murdered a teenage girl by bludgeoning her to death with a crowbar and dumping her body by Bob Hall Pier (you can see this pier in the background of some of the photos where Hannah is posing on the beach), and he was convicted for the murder. When Hannah’s father, Pastor Bennie Saenz, was charged with this young girl’s murder, he made up an abduction story to explain her blood in the church van (he claimed he and the murder victim were both kidnapped, but only she was killed while he was unscathed). The authorities didn’t buy this story, especially after he confessed, but Calvary Church did buy his lies- after all, he was a man of God, a Pastor, and Calvary church rallied to Saenz’ defense. I heard from a reliable sourse that Hannah Overton, when she filled out her adoption application to adopt Andrew, wrote that her father was unjustly convicted of murder. THAT is the mentality of Hannah Overton and the Calvary Church. But, it doesn’t end there. Hannah Overton’s grandfather was Marshall Applewhite, the Heaven’s Gate Cult leader, who led 22 people to suicidal death by drinking poison in San Diego, California. I wonder how much Rod Carver, the current Pastor of Calvary Church of the Coastlands and Hannah’s most ardent supporter, and others, are leaving out in their continued misleading efforts to free Hannah. I do know they have raised $ 700,000 from naive, kind-hearted Christians who haven’t heard the whle story. So, sure, Free Hannah Overton supporters, continue to slam Andrew for his past. Just be sure to tell the entire story… Sharon Hamil’s testimony (his only foster mother who said Andrew was a wonderful child with no eating disorders for the 18 months she continuously fostered him), Dr. Cortes’ last medical report finding no behavioral or physical problems, the testimony of world expert, Dr Alexandre Rotta, who found this was child abuse, the video statement of Hannah Overton admitting to making Andrew sleep on plywood and giving him zatarains, and the testimony of a highly-respected Medical Examiner who autopsied Andrew and found burns, abrasions, a life threatening head injury caused by blunt force trauma to the head and ruled Andrew’s death a homicide (not a suicide, not from natural causes, but a HOMICIDE)with the cause of death acute sodium poisoning and secondary cause of death, blunt force head trauma. Incidentally, he also found jalapeno peppers in Andrew’s enflamed stomach.”

    I copy pasted the above, because I dont have time to write it myself. Nevertheless, if you have a minimum knowledge on the Internet or basic information research, you will quickly be able to verify most of what justiceforandrew writes.

    So how christian is it to support killers simply because they are a member of your church? The church that Hannah belongs to is brilliant at Internet propaganda. They are worldclass at spinning whichever information they choose to suit their agenda for the day – the agenda for now being to support a child killer. They have the money, the time and the ressources. Money I’m quite certain they somehow managed to swindled ou of kindhearted and decent christians who truly believe that they are supporting a worthy cause.

    AND – before you dismiss all of the evidence in the case, take a look at the autopsy report. The boy died after he had 24000mg of salt introduced to his body. How on earth do you ecplain that? Are you suggesting that a 4-year-old sat down and voluntarily ingested that much salt?? Be realistic – this woman killed an innocent child. Why, we may never know. But to support her simply because she was good at faking being a good christian is just wrong. I can only imagine the kind of “christian values” she was taught with the family she grew up in.

  • Karla

    @Sanity,

    I took this from a website called Celebgalz, where one justiceforandrew writes the following:

    “If the Free Hannah Overton facebook and website are wanting to bring up Andrew’s troubled past, then they should also be bringing up Hannah Overton’s family history. Hannah Overton’s father, who helped raise Hannah, founded and was the Pastor for Calvary Church (same church as Calvary of the Coastlands) on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi. Hannah’s pastor father murdered a teenage girl by bludgeoning her to death with a crowbar and dumping her body by Bob Hall Pier (you can see this pier in the background of some of the photos where Hannah is posing on the beach), and he was convicted for the murder. When Hannah’s father, Pastor Bennie Saenz, was charged with this young girl’s murder, he made up an abduction story to explain her blood in the church van (he claimed he and the murder victim were both kidnapped, but only she was killed while he was unscathed). The authorities didn’t buy this story, especially after he confessed, but Calvary Church did buy his lies- after all, he was a man of God, a Pastor, and Calvary church rallied to Saenz’ defense. I heard from a reliable sourse that Hannah Overton, when she filled out her adoption application to adopt Andrew, wrote that her father was unjustly convicted of murder. THAT is the mentality of Hannah Overton and the Calvary Church. But, it doesn’t end there. Hannah Overton’s grandfather was Marshall Applewhite, the Heaven’s Gate Cult leader, who led 22 people to suicidal death by drinking poison in San Diego, California. I wonder how much Rod Carver, the current Pastor of Calvary Church of the Coastlands and Hannah’s most ardent supporter, and others, are leaving out in their continued misleading efforts to free Hannah. I do know they have raised $ 700,000 from naive, kind-hearted Christians who haven’t heard the whle story. So, sure, Free Hannah Overton supporters, continue to slam Andrew for his past. Just be sure to tell the entire story… Sharon Hamil’s testimony (his only foster mother who said Andrew was a wonderful child with no eating disorders for the 18 months she continuously fostered him), Dr. Cortes’ last medical report finding no behavioral or physical problems, the testimony of world expert, Dr Alexandre Rotta, who found this was child abuse, the video statement of Hannah Overton admitting to making Andrew sleep on plywood and giving him zatarains, and the testimony of a highly-respected Medical Examiner who autopsied Andrew and found burns, abrasions, a life threatening head injury caused by blunt force trauma to the head and ruled Andrew’s death a homicide (not a suicide, not from natural causes, but a HOMICIDE)with the cause of death acute sodium poisoning and secondary cause of death, blunt force head trauma. Incidentally, he also found jalapeno peppers in Andrew’s enflamed stomach.”

    I copy pasted the above, because I dont have time to write it myself. Nevertheless, if you have a minimum knowledge on the Internet or basic information research, you will quickly be able to verify most of what justiceforandrew writes.

    So how christian is it to support killers simply because they are a member of your church? The church that Hannah belongs to is brilliant at Internet propaganda. They are worldclass at spinning whichever information they choose to suit their agenda for the day – the agenda for now being to support a child killer. They have the money, the time and the ressources. Money I’m quite certain they somehow managed to swindled ou of kindhearted and decent christians who truly believe that they are supporting a worthy cause.

    AND – before you dismiss all of the evidence in the case, take a look at the autopsy report. The boy died after he had 24000mg of salt introduced to his body. How on earth do you ecplain that? Are you suggesting that a 4-year-old sat down and voluntarily ingested that much salt?? Be realistic – this woman killed an innocent child. Why, we may never know. But to support her simply because she was good at faking being a good christian is just wrong. I can only imagine the kind of “christian values” she was taught with the family she grew up in.

  • Sanity

    I’m just saying that, I find your evidence to be massively disorted, and that there should not have been a conviction. Your attempts to make the evidence seem convincing are just that, attempts. To steal an Arnold quote, the holes in your logic are so big I could drive my car through them.

    Your argument is driven by hatred and desperation to place blame, not justice or fairmindedness. It is terribly tragic that Andrew died, of course I think so too. But that doesn’t mean I rush to condemn someone who it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt committed the crime. You avoided responding to my statement that the doctors for both prosecution (who lied about what their doctor reported, by the way – you should read up on that) and defense now believe Hannah is innocent and that she did not intend to kill Andrew or force feed him the salt. I wonder whether you have the guts to take that in. You can look up videos on youtube where both doctors come out and say this, and where the prosecution doctor says that the prosecutor lied about what he told them.

    Unlike you, I do not convict or condemn a person based on their father or grandfather having been abusive. Also I believe that your allegations of her severely and chronically abusing the child are ridiculous and unsubstantiated. I have done research on more than just the websites of this ridiculous, loser Trench guy.

    And if someone has a severe pica disorder where they involuntarily stuff themselves with food and non-food items that are not good for them, then yes they could certainly ingest 24 grams of salt in a feeding frenzy.

    One guess I would venture is that a majority of the different-named posts on this thread were made by the same bitter woman. Find something better to do with your time.

    And don’t bother responding to this because I’m not coming back to argue further. I know that close-minded people like you cling to your hatred the way a climber clings to a frayed rope, and you will not give it up easily. Good riddance.

  • Sanity

    I’m just saying that, I find your evidence to be massively disorted, and that there should not have been a conviction. Your attempts to make the evidence seem convincing are just that, attempts. To steal an Arnold quote, the holes in your logic are so big I could drive my car through them.

    Your argument is driven by hatred and desperation to place blame, not justice or fairmindedness. It is terribly tragic that Andrew died, of course I think so too. But that doesn’t mean I rush to condemn someone who it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt committed the crime. You avoided responding to my statement that the doctors for both prosecution (who lied about what their doctor reported, by the way – you should read up on that) and defense now believe Hannah is innocent and that she did not intend to kill Andrew or force feed him the salt. I wonder whether you have the guts to take that in. You can look up videos on youtube where both doctors come out and say this, and where the prosecution doctor says that the prosecutor lied about what he told them.

    Unlike you, I do not convict or condemn a person based on their father or grandfather having been abusive. Also I believe that your allegations of her severely and chronically abusing the child are ridiculous and unsubstantiated. I have done research on more than just the websites of this ridiculous, loser Trench guy.

    And if someone has a severe pica disorder where they involuntarily stuff themselves with food and non-food items that are not good for them, then yes they could certainly ingest 24 grams of salt in a feeding frenzy.

    One guess I would venture is that a majority of the different-named posts on this thread were made by the same bitter woman. Find something better to do with your time.

    And don’t bother responding to this because I’m not coming back to argue further. I know that close-minded people like you cling to your hatred the way a climber clings to a frayed rope, and you will not give it up easily. Good riddance.

  • http://thetrenchcoat.com Trench Reynolds

    And don’t bother responding to this because I’m not coming back to argue further.

    How mature.

  • http://parentsbehavingbadly.com Trench Reynolds

    And don’t bother responding to this because I’m not coming back to argue further.

    How mature.

  • Angel

    Yeah, but I still don’t beileve her, Trench. I think (in)Sanity will be back, because she cannot stand to NOT have the last word. I hope Hannah remains in jail until she is too old to abuse another child….or until she dies – whichever comes first. She killed this innocent baby,and no amount of misdirection of the evidence (by her defenders) will change that fact. She is a murderer. I’m sure (in)Sanity will be back shortly. :roll:

  • Angel

    Yeah, but I still don’t beileve her, Trench. I think (in)Sanity will be back, because she cannot stand to NOT have the last word. I hope Hannah remains in jail until she is too old to abuse another child….or until she dies – whichever comes first. She killed this innocent baby,and no amount of misdirection of the evidence (by her defenders) will change that fact. She is a murderer. I’m sure (in)Sanity will be back shortly. :roll:

blog comments powered by Disqus