A small, but determined group marched to the Capitol Saturday hoping to bring awareness to the number of wrongful convictions in the United States.
Austin's Freedom March was one of 17 across the country. According to group organizers, Texas leads the nation in verified wrongful convictions, with 38 people exonerated by DNA evidence, so far.
"We've seen 133 people exonerated and released from death row, due to evidence of their wrongful conviction, since 1973 and that includes nine here in Texas," Kristin House, with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said. "I think it's this issue of whether or not we can get it right, and if we can't get it right 100 percent of the time, should we really be in the business of killing people?"
The majority of Saturday's crowd consisted of a group from Corpus Christi who know Hannah Overton.
In 2007 a jury found Overton guilty of capital murder for poisoning a foster child she and her husband were trying to adopt.
She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Overton's friends and family say the child had an eating disorder and ate a large amount of a salt.
"They were doing all that they knew how to do, and then they were blamed for his death," Overton's mother Lane Hisson said. "They were grieving his death and at the same time they were being blamed for his death."
Overton's supporters say she didn't get a fair trial.
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Freedom March
News 8's Jenna Hiller caught up with the Freedom March.
 
Personal Story
Hiller tells us more about one group's work to raise awareness, and help a friend.
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"We believe that the jurors found Hannah guilty of murder without intent, which has to be proven in a murder case," Overton's pastor Rod Carver said.
Carver said the mother of five didn't know the child was suffering from sodium poisoning until he'd been sick for more than an hour.
"They didn't prove she poisoned the child," he said. "They found her guilty of not getting to the hospital quick enough."
Carver believes there are countless other cases like Overton's, which is why he wants to spread the word.
"You're not normally involved until it affects you personally, but when it affects you personally, it's too late. If it happened to a wonderful mother like Hannah, it could happen to anybody," Carver said.
Jeff Blackburn is an attorney who works for the Innocence Project of Texas.
"If you've got supporters like this. If you've got a strong family in back of you, and certainly this woman, Ms. Overton, does. I'd say she's 50 percent free already," Blackburn said.
He says the word about wrongful convictions is spreading.
"This is part of a big movement not only in Texas, but all over the country. It's amazing to me to see this movement getting so much support and getting bigger, and bigger and bigger, gradually and over time," Blackburn said.
