RELEASE: P+R Productions, announces the premiere of its latest documentary, “Until Proven Innocent,” the company's second film to be screened at the Dallas International Film Festival.
GIST: “We
are excited to be back with the story of Hannah Overton, a Corpus
Christi mother wrongfully convicted of killing her foster son,” said
Jenna Jackson, founder/CEO of P+R Productions. In October 2006,
four-year-old Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. His
foster mother, Hannah Overton, was almost immediately charged with
capital murder, vilified in the press and sent to prison for life. But
was this church-going young woman a vicious child killer? Or had the
tragedy claimed its second victim? “Until Proven Innocent” follows the
journey as Hannah not only survives prison but helps transform others
inside, as her husband Larry raises their five children without her,
never missing a weekend visit with his wife.........“'Until
Proven Innocent is a deeply personal story, following Hannah Overton
and her family through the most difficult time of their lives. It is
also a critically important film, depicting a horrible injustice that
should not happen, but does – far too often. If this can happen to
someone as good as Hannah, it makes very clear every single citizen is
only one detective or DA's incorrect hunch away from jail time,” said
film maker Richard Linklater.
http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/news/j-ville-natives-screen-second-film-in-dallas/article_2272523c-036a-11e6-9ab5-cbb2e2cdc664.html
See the documentary's web site at the link below. (Executive Producers Kelli Weinzierl Pamela Colloff Producers David Hobbs Anthony Jackson Jenna Jackson Directors Jenna Jackson Anthony Jackson Supervising Editor David Hobbs Director of Photography Matt Godwin Gaffer Mike Spicer Sound Design Pierre Cardenas Greg Armstrong Larry Servin Camera Operator Adrian Garcia Assistant Editors Sam Butler Braeden Sawyer Aerial Photography Operator Andre Production Coordinator Casey Hobbs Production Assistants Jordan Powell Lauryn Sanford Sarah Byington Art Director Bryan Martin Controller Alexis Kiker.)
http://pandrproductions.com/until-proven-innocent/
Pamela Coloff (an Executive Producer of 'Until Proven Innocent') did some outstanding reporting on the Overton case. See the following story she wrote for Texas Monthly on the dismissal of the charge as referenced in a previous post of this Blog. HL.)..."The many problems in Hannah’s case were also investigated by her appellate attorney, Cynthia Orr, who asked that the Court of Criminal Appeals re-examine Hannah’s claims of innocence. Orr’s tenacity prevailed; in February 2012, the CCA ordered that an evidentiary hearing be held in Corpus Christi. The dramatic, six-day hearing that followed that April laid bare the many flaws in the state’s case and suggested that Hannah’s conviction rested on both bad lawyering and bad science. Orr went on to present her case to the CCA’s nine justices this spring, and in September, the court overturned Hannah’s conviction, finding that her attorneys did not do an adequate job of defending her at trial. Today, Hannah’s new legal team made the most of what was supposed to be a straightforward bond hearing, putting on numerous witnesses—including three pastors and a man whose severely disabled son Hannah had once ably cared for—who testified that Hannah was a person of good character who could be trusted around children. ........Arguably the most dramatic moment of the hearing came when Hannah’s attorneys revealed that one of the state’s star witnesses at trial, Dr. Alexandre Rotta—who had treated Andrew on the night he was brought to the hospital in 2006 in a coma—had recently contacted Hannah’s defense team. Dr. Rotta told Hannah’s attorneys in an email that seven years after Hannah’s trial, her conviction still kept him up at night. This complicates matters for Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka, who has vowed to retry Hannah on capital murder charges. The fact that key prosecution witnesses such as Dr. Rotta— along with Dr. Edgar Cortes , another physician who examined Andrew on the night he was admitted to the hospital—now question Hannah’s conviction casts doubt on whether Skurka can win his case again."
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2014/12/hannah-overton-texas-pamela-colloff.html
http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/news/j-ville-natives-screen-second-film-in-dallas/article_2272523c-036a-11e6-9ab5-cbb2e2cdc664.html
See the documentary's web site at the link below. (Executive Producers Kelli Weinzierl Pamela Colloff Producers David Hobbs Anthony Jackson Jenna Jackson Directors Jenna Jackson Anthony Jackson Supervising Editor David Hobbs Director of Photography Matt Godwin Gaffer Mike Spicer Sound Design Pierre Cardenas Greg Armstrong Larry Servin Camera Operator Adrian Garcia Assistant Editors Sam Butler Braeden Sawyer Aerial Photography Operator Andre Production Coordinator Casey Hobbs Production Assistants Jordan Powell Lauryn Sanford Sarah Byington Art Director Bryan Martin Controller Alexis Kiker.)
http://pandrproductions.com/until-proven-innocent/
Pamela Coloff (an Executive Producer of 'Until Proven Innocent') did some outstanding reporting on the Overton case. See the following story she wrote for Texas Monthly on the dismissal of the charge as referenced in a previous post of this Blog. HL.)..."The many problems in Hannah’s case were also investigated by her appellate attorney, Cynthia Orr, who asked that the Court of Criminal Appeals re-examine Hannah’s claims of innocence. Orr’s tenacity prevailed; in February 2012, the CCA ordered that an evidentiary hearing be held in Corpus Christi. The dramatic, six-day hearing that followed that April laid bare the many flaws in the state’s case and suggested that Hannah’s conviction rested on both bad lawyering and bad science. Orr went on to present her case to the CCA’s nine justices this spring, and in September, the court overturned Hannah’s conviction, finding that her attorneys did not do an adequate job of defending her at trial. Today, Hannah’s new legal team made the most of what was supposed to be a straightforward bond hearing, putting on numerous witnesses—including three pastors and a man whose severely disabled son Hannah had once ably cared for—who testified that Hannah was a person of good character who could be trusted around children. ........Arguably the most dramatic moment of the hearing came when Hannah’s attorneys revealed that one of the state’s star witnesses at trial, Dr. Alexandre Rotta—who had treated Andrew on the night he was brought to the hospital in 2006 in a coma—had recently contacted Hannah’s defense team. Dr. Rotta told Hannah’s attorneys in an email that seven years after Hannah’s trial, her conviction still kept him up at night. This complicates matters for Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka, who has vowed to retry Hannah on capital murder charges. The fact that key prosecution witnesses such as Dr. Rotta— along with Dr. Edgar Cortes , another physician who examined Andrew on the night he was admitted to the hospital—now question Hannah’s conviction casts doubt on whether Skurka can win his case again."
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2014/12/hannah-overton-texas-pamela-colloff.html
