Lie:  Hannah confessed beating the #### out of Andrew.

 Truth:  Officer Mike Hess stated under oath that Hannah did not say this.  CPS reports state that an officer reported this to them.  CPS blames the officer, the officer blames CPS and the media reported this for more than 3 months.

Lie:  Hannah made Andrew sleep on a bare board for weeks at a time.

Truth:  Andrew was upset the day before the incident and was sent to his bed for time out.  He defecated and wiped his feces on the bed and walls because he was angry.  His mattress was washed and laid atop the swing-set to dry.  Larry tried to get Andrew to sleep with his brother in his bed; Andrew was upset and refused.  He was put on top of a sleeping bag for padding on top of the smooth wood of his bed.  He was covered with a blanket after that.  He threw his bag and blanket off and within 15 minutes was brought to sleep with the sleeping bag and blanket beside Hannah’s bed for the night.  How 15 minutes with a sleeping bag for padding on a smooth surface becomes weeks on a bare rough board is really the big news.

Lie:  Andrew would be sent to his room for days at a time being forced to defecate and urinate on himself and his bed 

Truth:  This rumor is an absolute lie.  We have no idea where anyone got this idea.  Truth is, Hannah did not want Andrew to see his bed or bedroom as punishment so normally on a time out, Andrew would sit on Hannah’s bed. This is also a recommended way to work with children with Emotional Deprivation or Reactive Attachment Disorder – keep them close to you when they act out.

Lie:  Hannah wanted to spy on Andrew 

Truth:  Hannah was in bed a lot after the accident, her husband set up a monitoring camera so she could make sure the children were safe.  Andrew and Sebastian had also started to wake up in the middle of the night and raid the refrigerator and get into other things.  The camera was movable and was used to help while Hannah recovered from the accident. The camera, whose box shows a mom & baby on the front, was seen and approved of by Ana Billeaux, the social worker from the adoption agency, Spalding.

Lie:  Andrew’s sheets were burned to torment him 

Truth:  Andrew kept on getting his soiled sheets out of the trash and exposing himself to the feces.  Because they knew he was insecure, they already had replacement sheets plus a special set of Superman sheets ready for his mattress once it dried.  The sheets were burned but Andrew knew by that time he had Spiderman and Superman sheets waiting for him.

Lie:  Hannah used Zatarain's Seasoning to punish Andrew 

Truth:  Andrew would finish a meal and always want more; if he did not get more he would often get very upset.  Concerned about this, Hannah had asked someone familiar with eating disorders in foster children how to curb this fixation with food.  They suggested putting something they may not like on their food once they had eaten enough.  They had tried lemon prior to this but it did not work.  The day before she had tried Zatarain’s but he ended up liking it.  Behavior modification out of a concern for his health showed love and is much different than punishment.

Lie: Hannah created a toxic brew of spices, put it in a sippy cup and forced Andrew to drink it therefore causing his death. 

Truth:  Hannah gave into Andrew’s desire to have an extra helping of food on the day of the incident.  His insecurity and desire for extra food had been increasing since the car accident 3 weeks earlier.  He threatened to throw poop on her so she heated up a can of HEB vegetable soup (she called it chili in the interview but it was soup,) he wanted the Zaterain’s sprinkled on it (he decided he liked it the day prior.)  She gave one or two small shakes onto the soup, he wanted more and started to get upset again and was grabbing at the container in her hand spilling it in the kitchen.  She thought if he wanted the flavor, she could give him a bit of the flavor in water instead of giving him more food.  She put two shakes into a tumbler and then poured that into a small sippy cup, put on the top and let him drink that.  This equals no more than 1/4^th of a teaspoon of Zaterain’s.  Maybe not the wisest thing to do but certainly not the amount of spices the prosecution proposes.  The amount was less than the salt lime and chili we put on our fruit at the fruit stand.

• Question:  How do you force anyone to drink anything out of a sippy cup with a gasket in it?
• Question:  How do you get slurry to even come out of a sippy cup? 
• Question:  How does a 6 month pregnant, small stature woman with whiplash force a strong, 4 ½ year old boy to drink anything?
• Question:  How come the police did not even take the tumbler or the sippy cup into evidence?
• Question:  If you were trying to kill a child, why in the world would you tell the truth to the police like Hannah did?  And she told that same truth 5 times over 3 ½ hours.
• Question:  Why would you kill a child whom you could return to foster care at any time?

 Truth:  Hannah is small, had whiplash, was 6 months pregnant and does not have three hands as the prosecution proposed.  How long would she have had to hold him there to force him to suck on the sippy cup to get the slurry to come out and go into his mouth, and that without having him spit it out?  Someone needs to start thinking.

Lie:  Hannah beat him in the face and nose 

Truth:  Hannah performed CPR in a moving car on the way to the hospital; his nose looked like it was pinched not punched.  When I sat with him in the hospital all day long the next day, he had tape surrounding his mouth.  CPR is a loving act trying to save Andrew, the bruising from proper CPR was used against her in court.

Lie:  There was evidence of months of abuse 

Truth:  Four to Six days before the incident Ana Billeaux from Spaulding Adoption had visited Andrew and found him happy and outwardly healthy in his new home.  This is when Hannah had brought up the subject with her concerning his eating disorders and Anna was going to get her more information. 

The prosecution found it amazing that a 4 ½ year old boy would have any bruising at all.  The bruises on his knees match the benches at the kitchen table.  Most of the other bruising and bottom redness was explained by Dr. Melenik, the board-certified medical examiner as being caused by the immediate inability of the blood to clot after someone stops breathing and the blood becomes acidic as well as a contact dermatitis, such as diaper rash.  Andrew was in this condition when he was moved from car to UCC to ambulance to Emergency room at South to ambulance to Emergency room at Driscoll to ICU at Driscoll.  Then the autopsy took place two days later while his blood continues to pool and seep from his pours and every small bump or bruise.  Scratches on the upper back were vertical and consistent with reaching over your shoulder and scratching your own back.  Testimony from the woman who lived in the home with the Overton family for months was that there was no abuse only love and no abuse was evident to any of the children’s ministers at the church.

Lie:  Hannah starved Andrew 

Truth:  Andrew was at the average weight for his age.  He missed some snacks because of his behavior, but who of us has not?  He never missed his meals.

Lie:  Hannah waited and watched Andrew die waiting nearly three hours to get him medical help. 

Truth:  Hannah treated his symptoms, he was cold, she put him in blankets and laid him in bed, he was still cold and they put him in a warm bath.  He seemed to be wheezing, she gave him a breathing treatment, when he did not respond she rushed him to the hospital and on the way he stopped breathing.  She gave him CPR in the car and again at the urgent care clinic until the paramedics arrived.  From the first signs of symptoms to the UCC it was 1:49 which became nearly 3 hours when reported by the media.  This timeframe was repeated for at least 9 months in the media.

Lie:  Hannah acted very suspicious when arriving at the UCC 

Truth:  Hannah was pregnant with high blood pressure and whiplash.  When she arrived at the UCC she had performed CPR in the car and Andrew had thrown up in her mouth.  When at the UCC, they were very slow in acting; with all the medical professionals there she was the one who helped the doctor perform CPR.  She had a child dying and people are judging her attitude and not saving this child.  Everyone acts different in pressure situations; does that mean she is guilty of murder?

Lie:  Hannah beat Andrew on the head causing blunt force head trauma 

Truth:  No doctor reported any bruising on the scalp prior to the autopsy.  Even in the autopsy there was no bruising on the scalp but only underneath it.  A medical examiner from San Francisco , top graduate from Harvard explained that this would be a result of the high sodium in his blood and his bloods inability to clot.  Turns out I rubbed his head all day in the hospital and even this could have caused his sub-skin bruising.

Lie:  Hannah regularly forced spices down her children’s throats 

Truth:  Nether I or the leadership of Calvary Chapel have ever told anyone how to specifically discipline their children as was a rumor on the blogs and reported by TV stations in CC.  Instead of soap (which is common,) “Focus on the Family” recommends Tabasco sauce on the tongue when a child cusses or lies.  Reasoning, soap is toxic and Tabasco sauce is a food substance and much safer.  A respected friend of Hannah’s recommended one fleck of “Pizza Hut” pepper (again a food substance) on the tongue when a child lied or cussed.  This has nothing to do with the Zaterain’s seasoning and was never been used as discipline on Andrew or any of the younger children.  Confusion arose with the term “pepper” because the families’ favorite drink is Dr. Pepper and is referred to as Pepper by the whole family.

Lie:  If the medical examiner calls it a homicide it is a homicide 

Truth:  The Nueces County medical examiner could lose his certification because he does more than twice the amount of autopsies he is supposed to do.  We also suspect he is moonlighting in Austin on the weekends.  He had the investigating officer in the autopsy with him as well as CPS workers who had already made up their minds about Hannah murdering the child.  In the opinion of the medical examine who testified for the defense, and who is board-certified in many disciplines related to forensics, he did an extremely sloppy job believing it was an open and shut case.  He never tested the green chunk in Andrew’s stomach even though he stated it was a chili pepper, when it was more likely a green bean from the soup.

Lie:  Hannah is hiding behind her faith and is using it to manipulate people. 

Truth:  From the beginning Hannah’s faith has been used against her.  In court no one brought up her faith except the prosecution in order to make her look like some Kool-Aid drinking nut.  She prayed and we prayed in response to a tragedy.  There is nothing unusual about that unless you work for CCPD, CPS or the Corpus Christi DA’s office.  Hannah’s faith is simple, Biblical and evangelical, full of grace and truth.

Lie:  The news media is completely independent of the DA’s office, police department and CPS. 

Truth:  Where did all the allegations and lies then come from for the previous 10 months?  The lead prosecutor was seen talking with the reporter from KIII channel 3 at 9:30 pm during the trial.  Even though a gag order was in place, behind the scenes information was reported in the news that only attorneys could possibly know.  If the media disrespects the opinions of the DA or the police, they may not be privy to the newest story to come out.  Anything said in defense of Hannah was twisted and used against her and is only now, a little late, starting to change.

Lie:  Andrew was a completely healthy boy

 Truth:  Andrew was born to a mother who admitted to abusing methamphetamine, coke, marijuana, crank, acid and alcohol while pregnant with Andrew.  Andrew had some speech and coordination issues, he also had 5 markers for diabetes which were undiagnosed.  There were missing records from Andrew’s file from CPS; he never had a well child evaluation.  We have no record of blood work prior to his placement with the Overtons. 

Hannah’s heart was to work through all these things and see Andrew have the best life he possibly could.  It seems a sick child was given to Hannah and when he died, CPS hid their negligence by accusing the mother of murder.  Anybody want to adopt a foster child through CPS?

Andrew also fit the classic mold of a child suffering Emotional Deficit Syndrome also known as Reactive Attachment Disorder.  This is becoming better known among foster children.  He fit all of the 10 signs of this disorder perfectly.  A specialist who was blocked by the prosecution from testifying because they kept delaying their case was going to testify of this.

Andrew was physically ill and working through things emotionally but he was loved by all who were around him.

Lie:  If Hannah had gotten to the hospital before Andrew stopped breathing, he would have lived 

Truth:  The foremost salt poisoning expert in the world would have testified had the delays of the prosecution not stopped him from testifying, that if Andrew’s high salt was due to him ingesting it, the window of opportunity was 5 minutes from the time of ingestion to get him to the hospital and treated.  He would have also stated that the first signs that he had ingested anything would have shown up only after about a half an hour.  This was already too late.  We believe that Andrew had an underlying condition – most probably undiagnosed diabetes – which was causing his body to retain sodium.  When he ate food high in sodium – the soup with the Zatarain’s on it as well as other substances unbeknownst to Hannah – his sodium levels went over the threshold level.   But Hannah and Larry would have no way of knowing that was what was wrong.   Even Detective Hess, testifying for the prosecution, testified that he did not know that too much salt could be fatal.  Why is Hannah in jail?

Lie:  The jury found Hannah guilty of committing murder 

Truth:  The jury did not find Hannah guilty of committing murder but of omission or not seeking medical help.

            Question:  Who got Andrew to the UCC?

Truth: Hannah was trained 10 years prior to the incident (at 18 and 19 years old) as a Licensed Vocational Nurse which is much different from a Registered Nurse. I believe she had some EMS training. An LVN is more of a nurse's aid than a proper nurse. She never worked in the medical field.

She only once worked as a caretaker for a young man with Cerebral Palsy.

She did testify on the stand that she was not currently competent to practice in the medical field.

Question: If the prosecution felt she was such a wonderfully qualified nurse, how come they did not consider her care as medical care?

I don’t know for sure.  Hannah spoke with her neighbor for 10 to 15 minutes on her porch while Andrew was still inside at the table eating his soup (this was testified to by her neighbor.)  He could have poured straight salt or Zaterain’s in his soup.  He could have had a complete diabetic reaction.  He could have had salt diabetes or a million other issues to cause this.  We will never know because of a sloppy autopsy and assumptions made about Andrew’s death by medical professionals.  They could have answered these questions but did not because they never considered any other option but murder.

What I do know is this loving mother, willing to take in a foster child, lost her new little boy tragically has never had even a moment to grieve that loss, and now her 5 children have lost their mommy wrongfully.

Keep Praying