A Texas judge sentenced a Dallas hair salon owner to seven days in jail and a $7,000 fine for opening the salon in defiance of lockdown orders, the local CBS affiliate reported.
Judge Eric Moye told owner Shelley Luther that although her decision was “selfish,” she could avoid jail time if she apologized and admitted wrongdoing.
Moye said Luther’s statement should make clear “that you now see the error of your ways, and understand that the society cannot function where ones own belief in a concept of ‘liberty’ permits you to flaunt your disdain for the rulings of duly elected officials.” The statement would also include acknowledgement that the “proper way” to challenge a ruling would be to hire a lawyer to make that case.
The judge told Shelley Luther she
could avoid jail time if she apologized, admitted she was wrong, and agreed to close her hair salon until it was allowed to open.This is her response…@CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/1phdNUsLme
— Andrea Lucia (@CBS11Andrea) May 5, 2020
“Judge, I would like to say that I have much respect for this court and laws,” Luther said in response. “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. 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.”
Representative Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) criticized the judge’s ruling.
“These punishments are NOT just,” Crenshaw wrote on Twitter. “They are not reasonable. Small-minded ‘leaders’ across the country have become drunk with power. This must end.”
The coronavirus pandemic has forced most U.S. states to implement widespread closures of businesses and schools to mitigate the spread of the pathogen. As a result, 30 million Americans, around 18 percent of the workforce, have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic.