Salon Owner Luther Ordered to be Freed by Texas Supreme Court

Nick Kangadis | May 7, 2020
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In a very quick decision following Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's proclamation that violators of the current pandemic shutdown will not be jailed as a result, the Texas State Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of salon owner Shelley Luther.

The order was sent down prior to any decision regarding the pending writ of habeas corpus concerning Luther.

Luther was freed just a short time ago, where she gave a public statement. Take a look:

A writ of habeas corpus entails the following, as reported by the Cornell Law School's Legal Information Insitute:

In the US system, federal courts can use the writ of habeas corpus to determine if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid.  A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g. institutionalized mental patient) before the court to determine if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful.  A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody. It can also be used to examine any extradition processes used, the amount of bail, and the jurisdiction of the court. 

As said earlier, the Court's decision comes after Abbott's call to get rid of jail as a punishment for violating the shut down order.

"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,” Abbott said in an earlier statement. “That is why I am modifying my executive orders to ensure confinement is not a punishment for violating an order. This order is retroactive to April 2nd, supersedes local orders and if correctly applied should free Shelley Luther."

Luther is the Dallas-area salon owner who violated shutdown orders by opening her Salon a la Mode shop, after which she tore up a "cease-and-desist" letter that gave her orders to close her shop during said shutdown. Fourteenth Civil District Court Judge Eric Moyé ordered Luther to serve jail time on Tuesday for refusing to apologize and obey the shutdown order.

H/T: Fox News

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