Posted on 01/13/2006 11:48:33 AM PST by freepatriot32
Louisiana Woman Charged After Hurricane Katrina Left Area in Ruins
GRETNA, La. (Jan. 13) - A church deaconess and great-grandmother jailed for two weeks after being accused of looting sausage during Hurricane Katrina will not be prosecuted.
Merlene Maten, 73, learned of the decision Wednesday when she appeared in court for her arraignment, said her attorney, Daniel Becnel III.
"My God tells me it's best to give than to receive. So for anybody to even think of accusing me of doing something like that, it just sickens me to my stomach. But thank God, thank God, thank God it's over," Maten said.
Kenner police spokesman Capt. James Gallagher said he was surprised the charge was refused.
"We thought it was a valid case, but we don't have any control over what the DA does," he said.
Maten had evacuated New Orleans with her disabled 80-year-old husband to a hotel in suburban Kenner. On Aug. 30, the day after Katrina hit, police arrested her, saying they saw her carrying beer and sausage out of a looted store.
But Maten said she was retrieving clothing and sausage from the trunk of her car in the hotel's parking lot. Family and eyewitnesses insisted she had not been looting and said the officers cuffed her in frustration, unable to catch younger looters.
The looting charge alleged she took $63.50 in goods from a deli. Her bail had been set at $50,000, and she was taken to the state women's prison, being used as a temporary jail in the wake of Katrina.
Despite intervention from advocates for the elderly, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.
A judge ordered Maten freed on her own recognizance Sept. 16, hours after her plight was featured in an Associated Press story.
WTH does that prove?!
It means she is receiving lawyers from the federal government.
So?
I knew attorneys who did volunteer work with FEMA after Katrina and Rita, it was just a centralized resource for people who happened to be displaced. It was part of FEMA services available to the evacuees.
So how did the FEMA laywer help her live on the system for years?
Absolutely not.
What part of volunteer do you not understand? Volunteer indicates that they are donating their time to help people. Not that they are being payed by the government
so anyone who received assistence from FEMA in anyway must have been living on the government dole for years?
This women has been living on the system for years because she had these kids.
** HOW DO YOU KNOW SHE'S BEEN IN THE SYSTEM FOR YEARS. Answer the question.
Good heavens, man. Are there any judges left in Louisiana with some sense?
He's not going to answer your question in any real way. He cannot. I did a Google search on this woman, and could not find anything out about her, other than the fact that she has diabetes, an 80-year-old husband, a daughter and grandchildren.
It's impossible to infer from any existing information that she has EVER been on welfare. It was just a stupid remark.
Not holding my breath either way...you have a good weekend MM.
I wonder which NAPS our correspondent is a coordinator for? There are so many.
I'm voting for the National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome.
I'll have the best one I can. You too.
That is a funny one.
So what about the private attorney that was also engaged? that's living on the system for years too?
Stupid remark...
You have been here long enough to know that I don't say stupid remarks more than 99 percent of the time. Ok I did a google search and did not find anything either so I will retract my previous statement with apologies to my fellow freepers.
"Ok I did a google search and did not find anything either so I will retract my previous statement with apologies to my fellow freepers."
Good job!
ping
Of course not. When I first started practicing, I frequently volunteered my services either for free or for a small stipend through various programs to provide legal assistance.
Those clients were not on welfare, but were elderly, single moms, or the sick. Not on welfare, but often unable to afford a full-priced lawyer.
Also, I'm sure I've read of people who've had volunteer representation by lawyers associated w/conservative causes. The lawyers volunteer because the client or the cause appeals to them, not because of the client's financial status.
It's interesting. I just saw the movie Cinderella Man, the biography of James J. Braddock. The movie is set in the Great Depression. In one scene, Braddock's son stole a sausage from the butcher. Braddock returns the boy and the sausage.
His kid confesses that his friends were sent away because there was no food and he was afraid he was going away, so he stole. Braddock looks his kid in the eye and says, "We don't steal. We never steal."
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