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Salon owner jailed for reopening during Texas lockdown released after
governor intervenes Supporters chanted "Shelley's free, Shelley's free"
after Shelley Luther ended her short time behind bars. Image: Shelley
Luther Salon owner Shelley Luther walks with her boyfriend, Tim Georgeff,
left, and lawyer Warren Norred after she was released from jail in Dallas
on Thursday, May 7, 2020.LM Otero / AP

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May 7, 2020, 6:56 PM EDT
By David K. Li

A Dallas salon owner who had defied her state's shutdown orders walked
out
of jail Thursday after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amended his executive order
on coronavirus restrictions.

Shelley Luther was sentenced to seven days behind bars Tuesday for
disobeying state coronavirus orders, doing business well ahead of even
the
aggressive reopening plans in Texas. Image: Shelley Luther
Salon owner Shelley Luther speaks to the media and supporters after she
was released from jail in Dallas on Thursday, May 7, 2020.LM Otero / AP

But Abbott on Thursday removed jail as punishment for violating his
executive order, and the state Supreme Court ruled that Luther should be
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Supporters chanted "Shelley's free! Shelley's free!" as Luther, wearing a
face covering, stepped out of the Dallas County Jail.

"I just want to thank all of you who I just barely met, and now you're
all
my friends," Luther told supporters. "You mean so much to me. This would
have been nothing without you. Thank you so, so much."

Dallas County Judge Eric Moye had held Luther, owner of Salon À la Mode,
and her corporate entity, Hot Mess Enterprises, in criminal and civil
contempt.

Throwing Texans in jail whose biz's shut down through no fault of
their own is wrong.

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. — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 7,
2020

Abbott, who was at the White House on Thursday to meet with President
Donald Trump, said Luther and two other women from Texas didn't deserve
to
be locked up.

Ana Isabel Castro-Garcia and Brenda Stephanie Mata had also been jailed
for violating his shutdown owners in Laredo, but their cases didn't
garner
nearly as much attention as Luther's. Undercover police arrested
Castro-Garcia, 31, for offering nail service and Mata, 20, allegedly for agreeing to perform eyelash service.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

"We should not be taking these people and put them behind bars, these
people who have spent their life building up a business," Abbott told
reporters in the Oval Office.

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