STORY: "Prosecutors to retry woman in foster child's death," published by Associated Press on October 17, 2014.
GIST: "Prosecutors say they'll retry a South Texas woman whose capital murder conviction in the 2006 salt poisoning death of her 4-year-old foster son was overturned. Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka said Friday that he has ordered a new trial for Hannah Overton of Corpus Christi, who had served seven years of a prison sentence of life without parole. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Overton's conviction in September, citing ineffective trial counsel at her 2007 trial for the death of Andrew Burd. Overton contended Andrew had emotional and medical problems, including an eating disorder in which he'd consume odd food items. An autopsy showed elevated sodium levels in his body.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.kxxv.com/story/26817998/prosecutors-to-retry-woman-in-foster-childs-death
See related Wrongful Convictions Blog post: "She has served seven years of a life sentence for capital murder in the death of her 4-year-old stepson who died of a sodium overdose (salt poisoning). She truly did have ineffective assistance of counsel, because her attorney did not present the videotaped deposition of a salt poisoning expert saying that the overdose was likely unintentional, and there was nothing she could have done. But here’s the part of the story that really gets me. Overton had also filed a claim that the prosecution had withheld exculpatory evidence (Brady violation), and the court was presented with both the IAC claim and the Brady claim. In it’s ruling, the court declined to rule on the Brady claim, saying it was unnecessary since they had granted a new trial based upon the IAC claim. They let the prosecutor off the hook."
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2014/10/17/texas-appeals-court-grants-new-trial-but-lets-prosecutor-off-the-hook/
GIST: "Prosecutors say they'll retry a South Texas woman whose capital murder conviction in the 2006 salt poisoning death of her 4-year-old foster son was overturned. Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka said Friday that he has ordered a new trial for Hannah Overton of Corpus Christi, who had served seven years of a prison sentence of life without parole. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Overton's conviction in September, citing ineffective trial counsel at her 2007 trial for the death of Andrew Burd. Overton contended Andrew had emotional and medical problems, including an eating disorder in which he'd consume odd food items. An autopsy showed elevated sodium levels in his body.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.kxxv.com/story/26817998/prosecutors-to-retry-woman-in-foster-childs-death
See related Wrongful Convictions Blog post: "She has served seven years of a life sentence for capital murder in the death of her 4-year-old stepson who died of a sodium overdose (salt poisoning). She truly did have ineffective assistance of counsel, because her attorney did not present the videotaped deposition of a salt poisoning expert saying that the overdose was likely unintentional, and there was nothing she could have done. But here’s the part of the story that really gets me. Overton had also filed a claim that the prosecution had withheld exculpatory evidence (Brady violation), and the court was presented with both the IAC claim and the Brady claim. In it’s ruling, the court declined to rule on the Brady claim, saying it was unnecessary since they had granted a new trial based upon the IAC claim. They let the prosecutor off the hook."
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2014/10/17/texas-appeals-court-grants-new-trial-but-lets-prosecutor-off-the-hook/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
