Shelley Luther, a Dallas salon owner, was sentenced to seven days in jail and fined for refusing to offer a groveling apology to Democratic Judge Eric Moyé for opening her shop in defiance of Texas shutdowns.
Luther is the owner of Salon a la Mode in Dallas. Shelley reopened her hair salon two weeks ago after closing it in March because, without it, she has no income.
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The judge issued a cease-and-desist order, commanding her to close her business. Luther reacted by ripping up the cease-and-desist order at a protest last week.
Luther said she was exercising proper safety precautions at her shop, including taking customers’ temperatures and giving them masks upon entry. She said she can’t afford to keep her Dallas hair salon closed indefinitely, and neither can her employees.
In court, Judge Moyé demanded that Luther do the following or he’d throw her in jail:
- Apologize for “being selfish” for keeping her shop open.
- Shut down until Friday (May 8).
- Pay a fine.
Luther responded by saying she’s not selfish for wanting to feed her two daughters, so she took the jail time instead of bending the knee to a despot.
“I have no choice,” Luther said in court. “I need to feed my family. And my stylists could not feed their families.”
(Source: Fox News 4 Dallas)
District Judge Eric Moye angrily groused: “Your actions were selfish, putting your own interests ahead of the community in which you live. You disrespected the orders of the state, the county and this city!”
Luther replied (see below): “I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish. 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.”
(Source: Andrea Lucia/CBS11)
In response, Judge Moye found Luther guilty of civil and criminal contempt of court. She was sentenced to seven days in jail — one for each day her salon was open after the court ordered her to close.
Moyé also fined Luther $7,000 ($1,000 for each day her salon was open). She’ll continue to be fined $1,000 for every day her shop is open until Friday.
Texas is allowing hair salons to reopen on May 8, so the jail sentence was nothing more than petty power-tripping.
Moyé is up for re-election on November 3. Hopefully, Texans will vote him out after this shameless power play.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page to support Shelley Luther and her unemployed staff has raised more than $500,000.
Twitter erupted over the insanity of jailing a mom because she wanted to work so she could feed her children.
Dan Bongino tweeted: “THIS WOMAN IS MY NEW HERO! She has a spine of pure titanium. God bless her!”
https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1257808419505012736
A Texas small business owner noted: “In 3 days hair salons will be allowed to be open. She’ll be in jail for opening her salon 3 days early. She should have declared her business a “sanctuary salon.”
In 3 days hair salons will be allowed to be open. She’ll be in jail for opening her salon 3 days early.
She should have declared her business a “sanctuary salon”https://t.co/To5vLZRPEq
— Keith Roberts 🇺🇸 (@Roberts175) May 6, 2020
One person tweeted: “The judge in Dallas is a power-hungry a**hole. The judge said Shelly Luther did not have rights.”
https://twitter.com/0ptomist613/status/1257783253446123520
This explains a lot.
https://twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/1257959602211225601
UPDATE May 7: Shelley Luther has been released from jail after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded her immediate release. The Supreme Court of Texas has also ordered Luther’s release.
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Samantha Chang is a senior staff writer for BizPac Review. She is a financial editor and lawyer based in New York City.
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