Woman who defied Abbott’s order freed
A Dallas salon owner was released from jail Thursday after a backlash from leading Republicans over her treatment for defying a statewide stay-at-home order.
The Texas Supreme Court issued a temporary order freeing Shelley Luther shortly after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott amended his executive order on the closures to prevent incarceration as a punishment. It had previously threatened violators with up to 180 days in jail.
“Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it,” Abbott said in a statement.
Luther was sentenced Tuesday to a week in jail and fined $7,000 after refusing to close her salon during the lockdown. She has been championed by some conservatives who say their rights and livelihoods were infringed under the emergency restrictions.
On Wednesday, several prominent Republicans came to Luther’s defense, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who offered to pay Luther’s fine and serve her sentence himself, under house arrest.
State District Judge Eric Moyé had offered to impose only a fine if Luther apologized, but she refused. Moyé called her defiance “selfish,” saying she was “putting your own interest ahead of those in the community in which you live.”
Abbott said in his statement that the changes to his order “should free Shelley Luther” and ensure that others aren’t subject to the same fate. In April, two Latina women in Laredo were arrested and briefly jailed for defying the lockdown by running nail salons out of their homes. No state officials intervened at the time.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department said the governor’s action had no impact on the release because Luther had been jailed for contempt of court, not for defying his order. Her appeal to the Supreme Court over her incarceration is still pending.
Luther left the jail around 2 p.m., welcomed by a small crowd of cheering protesters.
The Texas Democratic Party, which has been critical of Abbott’s response to the pandemic, accused him of using the case as a stunt to distract from the public health crisis.
Instead of prioritizing public health measures, the governor “dangles political red meat for his base while ignoring his own established guidelines and executive orders,” Executive Director Manny Garcia said in a statement.
On Thursday, Moyé and 11 fellow judges in Dallas shot back at Paxton, who had urged Moyé in a letter to reverse his ruling.
“For you to ‘urge’ a judge towards a particular substantive outcome in this matter is most inappropriate and equally unwelcome,” they wrote in a response obtained by WFAATV of Dallas.
Paxton later dismissed the censure, saying he was not speaking on behalf of Luther but instead for “the countless Texans outraged by Judge Moyé’s order jailing a mother trying to provide for her children.”