You may have heard of Hannah Overton. Until watching 20/20 last night, I had not. Hannah is a mother of five who in my opinion, and the opinion of many others, was wrongfully convicted of allowing the death of her foster son.
I won't go into too many details because you can google her name on the web and find plenty of details on the case. But the main conclusion was that the boy died of salt poisoning. How he got that salt poisoning is not clear, but there had been suggestions that he had Pica, a disorder where the person will eat non-food items. (Actually, pregnant women can also suffer from this.) Although there were many theories on how he got the salt poisoning, including one by the D.A. that Hannah force-fed this child to ingest tablespoon after tablespoon of salt. (seriously?) The conclusion in her conviction was that she did not get the child medical help fast enough, resulting in his death. Basically it was implied that she knew the child was dieing, yet didn't get help.
Hannah had stated that he seemed to have flu-like symptoms come on suddenly. After 1 hour and 50 minutes of trying a few things to help him, she and her husband drove him to emerg, which was a 5-7 minute drive down the road. They were also criticized for not calling an ambulance. He stopped breathing minutes before the hospital where she started to administer CPR.
I don't know about you, but I know there have been times with my daughter where I have paced the floor back and forth trying to decide if I should take her into emerg or if I was overreacting. I have spent hours watching her symptoms, trying to soothe her in other ways, and deciding if I should take her in. At the first sign of your child throwing up the last thing you want to do is overreact and run to the hospital.
Also, the times I have been in emerg, once for me in serious abdominal pain, barely able to walk, and crying, I did not one time think of calling the ambulance. If I could breath, and wasn't passed out, and had my husband here to drive me, that's what we did. Obviously this would have been different if I had been alone, or my condition got worse.
Hannah has been sentenced to life without parole. She is a homeschooling mom of 5 (One child was born while she was awaiting trial.) Anything anyone has said of people who truly know her has only spoken positively about her. I have been to her site and saw letters written by her, and as much of a struggle it is, you can see through her letters she is trying hard every day to rely on the strength of God. Yet, her faith was also used against her in the trial when she was seen praying.
I was up half the night last night thinking about this woman and the way that the media has portrayed her-up until now. 20/20 did an excellent show about her, but after I watched the show I went online and read past articles, and people's comments. The hatred that is shown against her is awful! However, today, after reading articles after the 20/20 show, because of the real facts coming to light, the general consensus of the public has changed, and the majority of people seem to believe in her innocence.
I ask that you pray for this woman, and her family. Her 5 kids need her at home. She also needs time to mourn the loss of the son they were in the process of adopting. She has been in jail for about a year, and I think that there are some proceedings coming up that could help free her, but in the mean time she has to sit and wait. Her husband has been a single parent of 5 kids for the past year.
I have never felt so strongly about a case. If I was honest, I'd say most of the time after hearing of a case I tend to lead more to believing they are guilty. But for Hannah, I feel 100% she is innocent. It was a death that was accidental, and no one is sure exactly how he got such a high level of sodium in his body. There are details surrounding that, and you can google those details if you like.
Please support Hannah Overton. I truly believe she will eventually be freed, but when that will be is another story. Her website is www.freehannah.com.
I won't go into too many details because you can google her name on the web and find plenty of details on the case. But the main conclusion was that the boy died of salt poisoning. How he got that salt poisoning is not clear, but there had been suggestions that he had Pica, a disorder where the person will eat non-food items. (Actually, pregnant women can also suffer from this.) Although there were many theories on how he got the salt poisoning, including one by the D.A. that Hannah force-fed this child to ingest tablespoon after tablespoon of salt. (seriously?) The conclusion in her conviction was that she did not get the child medical help fast enough, resulting in his death. Basically it was implied that she knew the child was dieing, yet didn't get help.
Hannah had stated that he seemed to have flu-like symptoms come on suddenly. After 1 hour and 50 minutes of trying a few things to help him, she and her husband drove him to emerg, which was a 5-7 minute drive down the road. They were also criticized for not calling an ambulance. He stopped breathing minutes before the hospital where she started to administer CPR.
I don't know about you, but I know there have been times with my daughter where I have paced the floor back and forth trying to decide if I should take her into emerg or if I was overreacting. I have spent hours watching her symptoms, trying to soothe her in other ways, and deciding if I should take her in. At the first sign of your child throwing up the last thing you want to do is overreact and run to the hospital.
Also, the times I have been in emerg, once for me in serious abdominal pain, barely able to walk, and crying, I did not one time think of calling the ambulance. If I could breath, and wasn't passed out, and had my husband here to drive me, that's what we did. Obviously this would have been different if I had been alone, or my condition got worse.
Hannah has been sentenced to life without parole. She is a homeschooling mom of 5 (One child was born while she was awaiting trial.) Anything anyone has said of people who truly know her has only spoken positively about her. I have been to her site and saw letters written by her, and as much of a struggle it is, you can see through her letters she is trying hard every day to rely on the strength of God. Yet, her faith was also used against her in the trial when she was seen praying.
I was up half the night last night thinking about this woman and the way that the media has portrayed her-up until now. 20/20 did an excellent show about her, but after I watched the show I went online and read past articles, and people's comments. The hatred that is shown against her is awful! However, today, after reading articles after the 20/20 show, because of the real facts coming to light, the general consensus of the public has changed, and the majority of people seem to believe in her innocence.
I ask that you pray for this woman, and her family. Her 5 kids need her at home. She also needs time to mourn the loss of the son they were in the process of adopting. She has been in jail for about a year, and I think that there are some proceedings coming up that could help free her, but in the mean time she has to sit and wait. Her husband has been a single parent of 5 kids for the past year.
I have never felt so strongly about a case. If I was honest, I'd say most of the time after hearing of a case I tend to lead more to believing they are guilty. But for Hannah, I feel 100% she is innocent. It was a death that was accidental, and no one is sure exactly how he got such a high level of sodium in his body. There are details surrounding that, and you can google those details if you like.
Please support Hannah Overton. I truly believe she will eventually be freed, but when that will be is another story. Her website is www.freehannah.com.
1 comment:
To protest this verdict, here are some addresses to write letters to.
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
dkeith@governor.state.tx.us
- - - - - - -
Texas Attorney General
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
greg.abbott@oag.tx.us
- - - - - - - -
Nueces District Attorney
901 Leopard St.
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
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