November 5, 2008

Now to the latest on the high profile Hannah Overton case. As you may know, the 31 year old mother of five is currently serving a life sentence for the death of her 4 year old foster child Andrew Burd.

But, this case is far from over. It's now on appeal.
On Thursday morning, the 13th Court of Appeals made up of three judges will hear oral arguments from both sides.

It's one of those cases that stirs up emotion and strong feelings in this community. It's been a high profile one and was just recently featured to a national audience on ABC's 20/20.

Judges Linda Yanez, Rose Vela and Dori-Contreras Garza will hear oral arguments from Hannah's appellate attorney then from the DA's office.

Hannah's attorney Cynthia Orr filed a 52 page appeal brief raising 30 points of error during Hannah's original capital murder trial.

Her defense says the prosecution held back a witness, sufficiency of evidence and the jury instructions were confusing.

The DA countered with a 70 page brief arguing they did not hold back a key witness, and in fact a lower court sided with prosecutors on this issue. Prosecutors want her conviction to stand saying she got a fair trial.

Thursday, will be about fleshing out those briefs and there will likely be an active discussion between the judges and involved parties.

At the end of the day don't expect a decision from the 13th court of appeals. Typically, it takes months to release a written ruling.