From the beginning, the case of my daughter, Hannah Overton, has been tried not only in the courts, but also inaccurately in the media.

I want to set the record straight.

First, Hannah suffered the loss of a child from a tragic accident. She had welcomed Andrew with open arms as her son. She had the same hopes and dreams for him that she has for all the children in her family. Anyone who has lost a child can tell you it is a blow from which you never fully recover.

But to add to her agony, before she had the slightest chance to process her unspeakable grief, she was besieged by the false accusations that she had murdered her son.

Immediately, CPS misled the public, with an affidavit that Hannah had confessed to beating Andrew and to punishing him with spices. When that confession was proven false in court testimony, no one in the media corrected the misperceptions they created.

For the record, Hannah never beat Andrew, and never gave him spices as punishment. She did not abuse him. And she did not confess to doing so.

We do not know for certain the exact cause of Andrew’s death, because the autopsy tests were incomplete. The evidence points to an undiagnosed condition which caused his body to retain salt, and to him eating substances on his own, unbeknownst to Hannah, with high amounts of salt in them, due to his documented eating disorder. The food Hannah gave him, which he liked, was high in salt content. She had no way of knowing that he already had high levels of sodium in his system. Without Hannah knowing it, he reached a threshold level of sodium. He vomited and said he was cold – symptoms of many common childhood illnesses. When the symptoms worsened, Hannah and Larry rushed him to the medical care, still not knowing what was wrong.

We endured the agony of the trial, in which the prosecution withheld evidence and prevented a key witness for the defense from being heard. Hannah’s attorneys – several of whom were working without pay because they believe firmly in her innocence – objected time after time to the prosecution’s misconduct.

We watched as a jury found Hannah guilty of capital murder – by means of omission – for failing to recognize the symptoms of sodium intoxication and not seeking medical help earlier. Nowhere in either the indictment nor in the charge to the jury was there any mention that Hannah knew that immediate hospitalization was necessary to prevent Andrew’s death– which is required by the law for murder to be charged.

We pledge our continued interest in our system of justice and participation in improving it.

We are profoundly grateful for the unfailing support of our family and friends – in particular our Christian brothers and sisters. This is what Christian fellowship means – to love one another. We grieve when we think of others who may be falsely accused & convicted who have no such support.

We know Hannah is innocent. We are not seeking sympathy. We are seeking justice.