Judge Orders Release of Jailed Grandmother

[RamboLiberal]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KATRINA_COSTLY_SAUSAGE?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=home.htm

A 73-year-old diabetic grandmother and church elder who fled Katrina's floodwaters for the safety of a hotel ended up in prison instead for more than two weeks - all over a bite of food.

Police in this New Orleans suburb arrested Merlene Maten the day after the hurricane on charges she took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli. Though never before in trouble with the law, her bail was set at a stiff $50,000 and she was shipped away to a state penitentiary.

Family and eyewitnesses insist Maten's prison odyssey was unwarranted, claiming she only had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat when officers cuffed her in frustration, unable to catch younger looters at a nearby store.

Despite intervention from the nation's largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.

Then, hours after her plight was featured in an Associated Press story, a local judge on Thursday ordered Maten freed on her own recognizance, setting up a sweet reunion with her daughter, grandchildren and 80-year-old husband.

[JuniperLea]

1. And Bush, et al, walk freely

What is wrong with this picture?

[SteppingRazor]

2. Ah the joys of being black...

Can you imagine them doing this to a 73 year old white woman?

[Lochloosa]

3. Ummmm....she was white

[LisaL]

4. Funny, she doesn't look white to me. Look at her picture

provided in the link. If you think that's white, you need to have your eyes examined.

[SteppingRazor]

5. Ummmm.... no, she was black.

Why exactly did you think she was white?

[Lochloosa]

7. I stand corrected

my local paper ran this story with a white women's pic...
I'll have to check it when I get home

[Robeson]

9. Sounds like Jeb is painting a different picture down there in FL.

[SteppingRazor]

10. For the record, I also live in Florida...

we're not all senseless rubes like Lochloosa here! :evilgrin:

(Just kiddin', Loch! :pals: )

[Robeson]

8. No. I don't imagine they would have.

[gratuitous]

6. Gee I didn't even need to see her picture

And somehow I guessed pretty accurately what Merlene Maten looked like (though I had her pictured as a smidgen more frail; I think she could kick my ass):

[patdem]

12. I agree..though I KNEW she was black...I pictured her to be thin and

elderly looking...she is beautiful. In fact my husband's mother looks like Tina Turner with VERY high cheekbones and very golden cheeks. It is like the rouge she puts on has gold in it? My MIL is a bit heavy, but at over 70...she is still georgeous..and that is a fact!

[NV Whino]

11. 'bout time.