© 2008 The Associated Press
Nov. 7, 2008, 9:51AM

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A woman serving a life sentence for killing her 4-year-old foster child after forcing him to drink Cajun spices is seeking a new trial, arguing that the boy may have died from eating salt while left unattended.

Hannah Overton, a mother of five, was convicted of capital murder in the 2006 death of Andrew Burd, whom she was in the process of adopting.

Defense attorney Cynthia Orr also argued before a state appeals court Thursday that the indictment failed to charge an offense under the law, and the jury in 2007 wrongfully convicted Overton by omission without any evidence she intended to kill the boy.

Orr said the boy could have died not from drinking a mixture of Cajun spices and water as the prosecution asserted, but from eating salt on his own. She also disputed the claim that the boy's bruised nose was evidence that Overton force fed the mixture to him, saying the marks came from cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Prosecutor Doug Norman said Overton said she noticed the boy not breathing but still waited more than 90 minutes to take him to a clinic. No matter how the toxic level of sodium occurred, that delay made her responsible for his death, Norman said.

"At a certain point Hannah Overton knew this child was going to die and she did nothing about it," he said in a story for Friday's online edition of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

During the trial, Overton, a former licensed vocational nurse, admitted she gave Andrew a cup of water mixed with spices but said it wasn't to punish or harm him. Her attorneys said Andrew had behavioral problems and an eating disorder and ingested something on his own to cause the toxic sodium levels.

Overton's husband, Larry Overton, also was charged with capital murder and pleaded no contest in March to a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to five years of deferred adjudication probation and a $5,000 fine.

Court officials said it could take several months before the appeals court issues an opinion.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6100339.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor