Texas AG tells judge to free Dallas woman 'unjustly jailed' for operating hair salon
By: Tyler Olson (Fox News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A salon owner in Dallas, Texas, is fighting to keep her business open amid the coronavirus outbreak despite receiving citations and threats of arrest.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday sent a letter urging a Dallas judge to free a woman he sent to jail a day earlier after she refused to apologize for keeping her hair salon open in violation of Gov. Greg Abbott's order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
Soon after, Abbott said he agreed with his attorney general on the matter. Later Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick vowed to pay her fines -- $500 for each day the salon was open -- and volunteered to go under house arrest on the condition she be freed.
Paxton, whose office said Shelly Luther was "unjustly jailed" in a release, told Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moye that he had abused his discretion and emphasized that the woman was keeping her business open in order to feed her family.
"As a mother, Ms. Luther wanted to feed her children," Paxton said in his letter. "As a small business owner, she wanted to help her employees feed their children. Needless to say, these are laudable goals that warrant the exercise of enforcement discretion."
Luther was given three choices by the judge: She could offer an apology for selfishness , pay a fine and shutdown until Friday, or serve jail time.
"I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I'm selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish," she told the judge. "I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they would rather feed their kids. So sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision. But I am not going to shut the salon."
Her sentence reportedly was meant to reflect the seven days she kept her salon open in violation of the governor's order, but on Wednesday the governor sided with Luther.
"I join the Attorney General in disagreeing with the excessive action by the Dallas Judge, putting Shelley Luther in jail for seven days," Abbott said. "As I have made clear through prior pronouncements, jailing Texans for non-compliance with executive orders should always be the last available option. Compliance with executive orders during this pandemic is important to ensure public safety; however, surely there are less restrictive means to achieving that goal than jailing a Texas mother."
Patrick tweeted: "7 days in jail, no bail and a $7K fine is outrageous. No surprise Texans are responding. I'm covering the $7K fine she had to pay and I volunteer to be placed under House Arrest so she can go to work and feed her kids."
Shelly Luther
Paxton also cited in his letter the state's efforts to reduce its jail population and the fact that the order keeping salons closed is set to expire Friday.
"In light of the foregoing, your actions abused your discretion in holding Ms. Luther in contempt and ordering her to jail in a civil court proceeding," Paxton said. "For these reasons, the Court should immediately reconsider its order and release Ms. Luther from confinement."
The dustup Wednesday over Luther's actions came after two Texas Republican lawmakers got illegal haircuts at another business in protest of the fact that hair salons and barbershops were not part of the initial wave of businesses to reopen under the governor's plan.
"Hairstylists and the cosmetology industry don't have a lot of lobbyists in the Capitol advocating for them, whereas maybe the big-box stores and large restaurant chains do and sadly they were overlooked when this should have been an industry that was opened first, because of how regulated they are and the health standards they have to comply with," state Rep. Briscoe Cain said, according to Fox 26 Houston.
He was joined by Rep. Steve Toth in his act of civil disobedience.
Hours after the two politicians' haircuts, Abbott announced that hair salons, barbershops and tanning salons would be allowed to open beginning on Friday, but with strict social distancing measures. For example, each stylist can only be assisting one customer at a time, according to Fox 26 Houston.
The announcement by Abbott moves up the timeline for those businesses, which were previously supposed to open in mid-May along with businesses like gyms and traditional offices.
Fox News' Nick Givas contributed to this report.
Tyler Olson covers politics for FoxNews.com.
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
Tags
Who is online
316 visitors
Portrait of an entitled elitist Judge presiding over a minor case in a Dallas Courtroom. A strong woman (as strong as a west Texas wind) stands up for herself and the children she strives to feed. She refuses to bend to the judge's demand that she call herself "selfish".
A total lack of compassion by another Harvard educated degenerate!
Ahhh gee whiz, you missed a chance to slam Southern Methodist University and black Democrats.
The whole neighborhood was out this morning for a 2 second glance of the Blue Angels rocketing past us in full military power and Ms. Luther was mentioned and not one person on this block supported her. My neighbors are plumbers, electricians, cops, firemen and retirees almost all republican. Not even a single supporter for the young lady.
That's strange....When I looked out my window last night I could see a bright star lighting up the sky to the west. Funny how some don't see what's right in their midst.
I'm not quite as race conscious as you are.
She apparently got exactly what she wanted. $500,000 in go fund me donations. She told Dan Patrick she doesn't need his help with the fines. Now she can pay Warren Norred and everybody is smiling.
“...refused to apologize...”
... was her sin.
That's right, the Judge wanted her to bend her knee and she said NO!
Uh, Carlson is one of those elites. Why should you believe him?
"Uh, Carlson is one of those elites. Why should you believe him?"
Duh, I didn't make a class distinction. It is noteworthy that you trivialize an opinion from somebody you perceive as too rich or the suffering of a victim you think is too pretty.
Yet you listen to one elite telling you not to listen to another elite...
Again, why believe one over another.
And no, I don't think she is pretty.
In other words Ms. Luther feels too entitled to go to the Dallas food Bank and wait three hours for a weeks worth of food.
In other words, Ms. Luther would have us believe that she doesn't run a predominantly cash business and did not have a rainy day fund for just such an emergency? What would she do if her place of business was destroyed by a tornado? Apply for SNAP like everyone else?
Did she apply for the CAREs PPP $$ loan like every other small Texas business?
She called a press conference covered by CBS and others to publicly rip up a valid cease and desist order issued in compliance with the Governors own shut down declaration.
The top 3 elected officers in Texas, including Gregg Abbott, who happen to be Republicans, responded by essentially shitting on the Judge's decision to uphold the letter of the law and the way in which the grandstanding was performed.
No surprise that the Judge is a Democrat.
Suffice it to say that I cannot imagine Ms. Luther going hungry. She shares a "Christian home" with her children, her lover, solo artist Tim Georgeff and his child.
I wonder how much Dan Patrick knew before he bought a few votes for $7K?
And the Judge loves Cuban cigars & thick steaks. None of that is the issue.
Why in the world are republicans now championing people breaking the law?
People that do hair and nails are in the closest proximity one can get.
Sounds like she is not hurting for money at all and I would tell her to lay off the plastic surgery.
what law was passed that is being broken?
disclaimer: I surfed most every day during the stay home lockdown and have ignored every "mandatory" evacuation order ever given in this state during my lifetime. I don't evacuate for storms, I go surfing instead.
hint:: no law was passed saying what I did was illegal.
left, right, red, blue, repub, democrat, regardless, no one tells me to stay home and no one tells me to leave my home either.
I surfed there about 15yrs ago while visiting family in nc... was a couple feet overhead. had a blast.
to date, I have surfed every ocean on the planet, 5 countries, one us territory (guam) all three coasts in the usa and 2 lakes
am old also... LOL
still on my 5-10 twin fin most days... at or over 20ft and I get out my longboard which is 6-1
no shame in recognizing one's limits.
I am crazy however I am not drownable (the ocean has tried many times) ever been knocked out unconscious in the water? that is a trip. my brain kept repeating "dont breath" over and over until I woke up.
but the most pain I have ever felt was when I was forced to suffocate myself to keep from drowning... LOL
I agree this was all unjust. But it's also kind of messed up that you have legislatures and governors putting cops and judges in the position of jailing people for this stuff - then you turn around and condemn them for enforcing the thing you asked them to enforce.
The amazing thing is that this Judge was elected by the people of Dallas - and Dallas is not some shit hole! It will be interesting to see what happens now that this horse's ass has been exposed.
I've noticed this and I believe they get elected by, I'm guilty of this also, people seeing the judges they are voting for on the ballot for the first time and pick the first one in the list or randomly without knowing what they stand for.
I believe that. Judges don't really campaign, do they? This incident will give the voters something to think about.
thank you Tacos, exactly what a lot of my Republican Texas neighbors were saying yesterday.
Here, if a business defied the order to shut down, the utilities to the business were shut off.
I just saw on the news that the Texas Supreme Court has ordered her release.
update:
The Supreme Court of Texas has ordered Shelley Luther be released from Dallas County jail!
I'm closing this one down. My good friend from Texas has got a more recent seed going.