Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has intervened in the case of a Far North Dallas salon owner whose jail sentence for violating a coronavirus closure order has become a cause célèbre among some conservative Republicans.
“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,” Paxton said in a letter Wednesday to state District Judge Eric Moyé.
“The trial judge did not need to lock up Shelley Luther,” Paxton wrote. “His order is a shameful abuse of judicial discretion, which seems like another political stunt in Dallas. He should release Ms. Luther immediately.”