73- YEAR-OLD GROCERY SHOPPER JAILED FOR LOOTING

HURRICANE KATRINA Louisiana grandmother mistakenly associated with gang of young men

Merlene Maten, 73, was simply trying to fetch some food from her car after being forced from her home by Hurricane Katrina.

Instead Ms. Maten, a diabetic and church deaconess who helps others as a nursing assistant, ended up spending two weeks in the state penitentiary after being arrested and handcuffed, with her bail at US$ 50,000.

Daniel Becnel III, a Louisiana lawyer who took on Mrs. Maten’s case for free, said yesterday the woman’s ordeal resulted from bad timing, frustration and overzealous policing.

She and her paralyzed husband, Alfred, fled Katrina and checked into a hotel in Kenner, La.

Mrs. Maten had packed some groceries, as advised by authorities, and left the hotel to get some sausage to cook for her husband.

At the same time, in the chaos following the hurricane, some young men were looting the convenience store across the street. Police failed to catch them but a police officer concluded the grandmother of 10 had been part of the gang, and arrested her.

“We’ve had people who have lost their lives, people who have lost their homes, people who have lost their pets, people who have lost their businesses,” Mr. Becnel said.

“ Ms. Maten lost her freedom,”

He said she is innocent and the case “ defies logic.”

Indeed, Ms. Maten tried to do everything right by evacuating the city despite her husband’s ill health. She packed a cooler full of extra food in the trunk of her car, as Mayor Ray Nagin had advised. She also paid for her hotel room with a credit card.

The type of sausage Ms. Maten had in her car was not even stocked at the deli, Mr. Becnel said.

Witnesses protested that she was never near the looted store and even the owner of the Check In Check Out deli is defending her. Christine Bishop told The Associated Press she was angry looters targeted her store, but no one should be charged with a crime if they were trying to survive. “Especially not a 70-year-old woman,” Ms. Bishop added.

Ms. Maten was handcuffed and taken to the local jail. Police alleged she took US$ 63.50 worth of groceries in total.

Because of the devastation, she was shuffled from facility to facility and wound up in St. Gabriel, one of the largest women’s prisons in the United States and home to some of the state’s worst female offenders.

She was allowed only one telephone call to her family, who were scrambling to find her and secure her release.

Ms. Maten’s daughter, Elois Short, called the American Association of Retired Persons for help, who put her in touch with lawyers available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

After the case was featured in national media reports yesterday, Mr. Becnel was finally able to reach District Judge Fredericka Wicker by telephone. She heard his plea and agreed to free Ms. Maten, who was expected to be released yesterday.

“We’re just happy for her release. She’s never been in any kind of trouble before,” said Ms. Short, another resident of New Orleans who is staying at a hotel in Dallas.

“ We’re just happy that she’s out because she has diabetes and she is the primary caregiver for her husband. They need to be together.”

Ms. Maten is expected to join her husband in Breaux Bridge, La., where he is staying with friends.

But her saga is not over: Her home in the Ninth Ward is still under three metres of water and she must appear in court in October on the looting charge.

National Post

mvallis@ nationalpost. com