Two days after a salon owner was jailed for operating her business despite a stay at home order, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of her release.
In a tweet on Thursday afternoon, the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) tweeted, “The Supreme Court of Texas has ordered Shelley Luther be released from Dallas County jail!”
BREAKING:
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 7, 2020
The Supreme Court of Texas has ordered Shelley Luther be released from Dallas County jail! pic.twitter.com/lU7KHzJPGi
The court’s order comes a day after Paxton and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called for the release of Shelley Luther who was sentenced to seven days in jail after she refused to shutter her salon despite a restraining order and cease-and-desist letter, as IJR reported.
“As I have made clear through prior pronouncements, jailing Texans for non-compliance with executive orders should always be the last available option,” Abbott said in a statement on Wednesday.
He continued, “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.”
See the statements from @TXAG and me on the jailing of Dallas Salon Owner Shelley Luther. pic.twitter.com/wyOOllGXgj
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 6, 2020
Earlier Thursday morning, Abbott said he was “eliminating jail for violating an order, retroactive to April 2, superseding local orders.”
He continued, “Criminals shouldn’t be released to prevent COVID-19 just to put business owners in their place.”
Throwing Texans in jail whose biz's shut down through no fault of their own is wrong.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 7, 2020
I am eliminating jail for violating an order, retroactive to April 2, superseding local orders.
Criminals shouldn’t be released to prevent COVID-19 just to put business owners in their place.
Luther was found in contempt of court on Tuesday and sentenced to jail as well as fined $500 a day for every day her business was open in defiance of government orders.
While the judge offered to only give her fine her if she admitted to being “selfish,” Luther refused to call her actions “selfish.”
“I have much respect for this court and laws. I have never been in this position before, and it’s not someplace that I want to be,” Luther said.
She continued, “But I have to disagree with you sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids — is not selfish. I have hair stylists that are going hungry because they’d rather feed their kids.”
Additionally, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) announced that he would pay the fine for Luther.
