5-6-2020
Fox News reports that 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.
Paxton, whose office said Shelly Luther was “unjustly jailed” in a release, told Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moyé 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 was reportedly 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.
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.”
Story Credit: Fox News