Enforcement of restrictions in question
DISTANCING ORDERS: Abbott drops all criminal penalties
As Gov. Greg Abbott sparked phase two of reopening the Texas economy on Friday with strict conditions on businesses, more questions arose about how those rules will be enforced.
In Harris County, the state’s most populous county, residents lit up phone lines with almost 10,000 tips about possible violations.
But at the same time, court challenges are exposing weaknesses in the patchwork of state and local rules and Abbott’s last-min
ute decision to eliminate all criminal penalties for violating the orders drew groans from some law enforcement officials.
“If the governor is going to keep changing the tune he plays as he leads the state out of this pandemic, there is little incentive to put your own necks on the line to enforce an order that could be invalidated the next day,” said the Texas District and County Attorneys Association in its weekly guidance to the state’s prosecutors.
Three arrests
The threat of up to 180 days in jail and fines of up to $1,000 had led to only three arrests that were widely reported in the media.
But that was three too many for Abbott, who had consistently dialed back stricter measures — such as last week when he struck down any local fines for those who decline to wear face coverings in public — and directed state agencies to give ample warnings before levying citations.
“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 to happen,” Abbott said in a statement to the media about his decision. His office declined further comment on Friday.
Civil libertarians and conservatives agreed, saying that lifting the stay-home order that Abbott imposed for the month of April is supposed to give people their lives back.
“Jailing or fining our citizens for noncompliance with these orders was always a last resort,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson. “Safeguards and precautions were taken to ensure the freedoms and liberties of our citizens were not infringed upon.”
On the other hand, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo blistered
Abbott on Twitter for criticizing local officials who used the enforcement tools he had provided in his own order.
“Respectfully, @GregAbbott_TX, you shouldn’t issue orders that include the jailing of violators to cover the science, just to turnaround & excoriate those who enforce YOUR executive order to cover the political backlash. Your actions are hypocritical.”
Meanwhile, Texas Supreme Court has hinted that even noncriminal coronavirus restrictions may not stand up in court.
“As more becomes known about the threat and about the less restrictive, more targeted ways to respond to it, continued burdens on constitutional liberties
“Jailing or fining our citizens for noncompliance with these orders was always a last resort.
Rand Henderson, Montgomery County Sheriff
may not survive judicial scrutiny,” Justice James D. Blacklock wrote in an opinion Tuesday.
License investigations
State agencies, such as the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, have mostly focused their efforts on education. That hasn’t changed since Abbott’s latest order.
Yet licensed professionals such as Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther, whose weeklong jail sentence prompted Abbott’s fiery statement, remain among those most likely to face fines or license forfeiture for future violations.
As of early this week, the licensing and regulation department had nearly 300 active investigations into barbers, cosmetologists and massage therapists who have been accused of violating state or local orders to stay closed. It remains to be seen how many of those will be contested.
“We are still opening complaints and reviewing cases for violations of TDLR rules and cosmetology/barbering/massage therapy laws during the executive order,” the agency said in response to questions Friday. “We are continuing to investigate the consumer complaints that were lodged against Ms. Luther for violations of TDLR rules.”
Luther was sentenced on Tuesday to a week in jail and fined $7,000 after refusing to close her business during the lockdown and was released from jail Thursday after an outcry from many leading Republicans over her situation.
She was the third person arrested after violating a coronavirus restriction in Texas. Last month, two Laredo women — Ana Isabel Castro-Garcia, 31, and Brenda Stephanie Mata, 20 — who were arrested for offering beauty and cosmetic services from home were released on bond. They now no longer face confinement as a punishment.
Shannon Edmonds, spokesman for the district and county attorney’s association, said the organization has been recommending for months that criminal enforcement of these orders be a last option.
“There’s a lot of good reasons for why we’ve been doing that the last two months and among those are that the rules can change at any time, and we’re seeing that firsthand here,” Edmonds said.
Law enforcement agencies can still make arrests, even if a judge could not sentence the person to jail time, Edmonds said. And a judge has the discretion to jail someone who doesn’t pay the $1,000 fine for violating Abbott’s order — but he said it’s unlikely, as traditionally courts have frowned upon anything resembling debtor’s prison.