Shelley Luther, a Dallas County salon owner, reopened her salon on April 24th, even though stay-at-home orders were still in place. She justified opening her “non-essential” business because it was essential to her, she needed to feed her family and other stylists at her salon were in the same boat.
Dallas County sent a citation, a cease-and-desist order, and a restraining order demanding that Luther close her shop until the stay-at-home orders were lifted. But she refused to close her salon, so police arrested her and jailed her without bail.
It is hard to believe that such a thing would happen in Texas, but it did.
After her arrest, she appeared in Judge Eric Moye’s court. Moye, a Harvard-trained lawyer, and a Democrat activist, seemed to want to punish Luther and make her grovel for defying the lockdown orders of “elected officials.” Luther stood her ground in the courtroom, indicating that she was willing to pay $7,000 fine and to do the 7 days of jail time, but she would not close her salon, stating that the stylists that work there need to feed their kids, too.
Luther owns the salon, but the other stylists are independent stylists who must earn their living, too. As Luther’s lawyer said, they only get paid when they do haircuts.
After the altercation with Judge Moye in court, Luther’s attorney Warren Norred appeared on Tucker Carlson to discuss what happened to his client, calling Judge Moye a “tiny tyrant” demanding that Luther “apologize” for being selfish and putting her community at risk. The judge gave her the option to avoid jail if she would apologize (grovel) to the elected officials that mandated the lockdown and keep her salon closed until the lockdown is lifted.
Norred laid out the case that Luther was unlawfully jailed: “Though the rule of law is cited by the court, there exists no exception for cities to the general rule that an injunction must be supported by a bond. Without an enforceable injunction, no contempt can be found. Our position is that Ms. Luther has been unlawfully arrested and jailed. I hope to obtain a writ of habeas corpus very soon.”
COVID-19 and jails
By now, it is well known that many states, including Texas, have released thousands of inmates from jail and prison to avoid spreading the coronavirus to prisoners and employees, but Judge Moye thinks that, in the case of Luther and her “defiance,” it is worth the risk.
In a state where over 1300 prisoners and 400 employees have been positive for COVID-19, over a thousand inmates in Dallas County jails have been released into the general population to protect them and slow the spread of the virus in prisons and jails. But Judge Moye thinks that Luther deserves to be exposed to the virus while actual criminals are allowed to go free.
Luther has support
Many people support Luther’s effort to stay open and are showing it by sending money to a GoFundMe page started by Rick Page.
Over 12,000 people have donated close to $500,000 to Luther in a generous show of support.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton chided Judge Moye for his overbearing ruling and called for Luther’s immediate release saying:
I find it outrageous and out of touch that during this national pandemic, a judge, in a county that actually released hardened criminals for fear of contracting COVID-19, would jail a mother for operating her hair salon in an attempt to put food on her family’s table. The trial judge did not need to lock up Shelley Luther. His order is a shameful abuse of judicial discretion, which seems like another political stunt in Dallas. He should release Ms. Luther immediately.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, agreed with Paxton stating:
I join the Attorney General in disagreeing with the excessive action by the Dallas Judge, putting Shelley Luther in jail for seven days. 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.
The Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, said he would pay Luther’s fine and go under house arrest so that she could return to her salon.
Luther should have all of our support in her stand against petty dictates and dictators.
Watch video of Judge Moye and Luther:
Update!
Good news in Shelley Luther’s case. After spending two days in jail, Luther was released by order of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Governor Abbott modified his executive order to remove jail time as a punishment for violating them. Abbott explained:
“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.”
The Texas Supreme court then ordered Luther’s release.
Watch Luther thank everyone for their support:
1,556 Responses
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help reduce content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
What’s up, I would like to subscribe for this webpage to obtain newest updates, thus where can i do it please help out.|
whoah this weblog is wonderful i love studying your articles. Keep up the good work! You realize, lots of individuals are hunting round for this info, you could aid them greatly.
I do believe all of the ideas you’ve offered in your post. They are very convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very quick for novices. May you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.|
I am no longer sure where you’re getting your info, but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or figuring out more. Thanks for fantastic info I was in search of this information for my mission.
Nice post. I used to be checking constantly this weblog and I am impressed! Extremely helpful information specially the closing phase 🙂 I deal with such info a lot. I used to be looking for this certain information for a long time. Thank you and good luck. |
Hello! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!|
Good web web page you’ve got in this article.. It’s hard to locate high-quality writing like yours these days and nights. I seriously appreciate persons like you! Take treatment!
Hi there, I found your website via Google while searching for a related topic, your site came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me.|
This is a truly awesome admittance. Today coming from msn whilst browsing an identical material. I really had upwards what you were required to go over. Maintain the truly amazing work!
Hey! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Wonderful blog and fantastic design.|
I am now not sure where you’re getting your info, however great topic. I must spend some time studying more or working out more. Thanks for great info I was on the lookout for this info for my mission.|
When I initially commented I clicked the Notify me when new feedback will be added checkbox and now each time a comment is added I acquire different e-mails with the same comment. Is usually there any method you can remove people from that services? Thank you!
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s challenging to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance. I must say you’ve done a great job with this. Additionally, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Opera. Superb Blog!|
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.|
That is the precise blog for anyone who needs to find out about this topic. You understand so much its virtually hard to argue with you (not that I truly would need…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply nice!
You’re so awesome! I do not suppose I’ve truly read through a single thing like this before. So nice to discover somebody with unique thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This website is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality!|
It’s very trouble-free to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this article at this web site.|
There is perceptibly a bundle to know about this. I feel you made various nice points in features also.
Hi, its nice part of writing concerning press print, we almost all understand media is a good impressive source of data.
The when Someone said a weblog, Lets hope which it doesnt disappoint me up to this. After all, I know it was my solution to read, but I just thought youd have something interesting to convey. All I hear is usually a couple of whining about something you could fix if you werent too busy in search of attention.
Hi! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the fantastic work!|
Hello excellent website! Does running a blog similar to this require a large amount of work? I’ve very little understanding of computer programming however I had been hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyhow, should you have any recommendations or techniques for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject however I just wanted to ask. Many thanks!|
I enjoy reading through an article that will make men and women think. Also, thank you for allowing me to comment!|
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.|
I really appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say superb blog!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say great blog!
This post provides clear idea for the new people of blogging, that really how to do running a blog.|
It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or advice. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!|
An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a coworker who has been doing a little research on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this topic here on your blog.|
Having read this I thought it was really enlightening. I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this content together. I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worthwhile!|
It’s in reality a great and helpful piece of info. I am happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.|
Hi there would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!|
When someone writes an post he/she maintains the thought of a user in his/her brain that how a user can understand it. So that’s why this post is perfect. Thanks!|
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you have presented in your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very quick for novices. May you please lengthen them a little from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.|
I appreciate, cause I found just what I was looking for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
Definitely, what a great blog and illuminating posts, I definitely will bookmark your website.Have an awsome day!