If you would like on or off the Louisiana Ping list please FReepmail me and your name will be added or taken off of the list.
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.
If you would like on or off the Louisiana Ping list please FReepmail me and your name will be added or taken off of the list.
Somebody's planning a huge lawsuit. If memory serves, her attorney, Danny Becnel, is a plaintiff attorney that takes mega-bucks suits. He made his name with the Luling Ferry catastrophe, and since then only handles the major lawsuits.
"intervention from advocates for the elderly"
Sorry this doesn't equate to your assertion that she lived on welfare for years. Try again.
BINGO! I think. There is an attorney from LaPlace named Becnel who has made a fortune of personal injury, etc. It could be the same guy.
I don't know if she committed the crime of looting; but, I do know she committed the crime of being STUPID!!!!! She evacuated to Kenner, LA a whopping 20 miles from New Orleans. It is amazing that there are people in this world stupid enough to only evacuate 20 or 30 miles; but, I know she isn't the only one. I have heard on local TV of several families who always evacuated to nearby hotels, one or two story hotels, not highrise hotels. The Red Cross won't even set up evacuation shelters below I-12 in Baton Rouge anymore and haven't for a couple of years. They consider anything south of I-12 too risky to use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.