Democratic clerk caught with gun at courthouse faces no punishment

<img src="http://coxrare.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/073c20c74c7688f153bd1f96515c1... align="right">The sign on the federal courthouse in Detroit reads plain and simple: No weapons allowed.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ office manager broke that rule recently when security officers found a gun in her purse.

But unlike others caught doing the same thing, the Michigan Democrat’s clerk didn’t lose her job — or get criminally charged.

Conyers’ Detroit office manager Betty Petrenz, who was in court for her fiasco on May 1, got luckier. She got a ticket for having a gun on federal property and was recommended for pretrial diversion — a form of punishment that one federal magistrate recently referred to as “a gift.” It involves no fine or jail time, but essentially requires a person to have good behavior for a certain amount of time, and then the ticket gets dismissed.

See http://rare.us/story/democratic-clerk-caught-with-gun-at-courthouse-face...