By Katie Buehler

Law360 (May 7, 2020, 2:58 PM EDT ) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday he had eliminated jail time as a punishment for violating his coronavirus-related executive orders, and the Texas Supreme Court released a Dallas salon owner who had been sentenced to a week in jail for operating her business during the statewide shutdown.

Abbott made the jail time elimination retroactive to April 2 and said it supersedes any local orders of confinement. His executive orders, which began shutting the state down in mid-March, originally carried fines of up to $1,000 and up to a 180-day jail sentence for violators. 

"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 the statement. "That is why I am modifying my executive orders to ensure confinement is not a punishment for violating an order."

Shortly after Abbott's announcement, the Texas Supreme Court ordered the release of Shelley Luther, owner of S&B Hot Mess Enterprises LLC, doing business as Salon a la Mode, who had been sentenced Tuesday to seven days in jail for violating the shutdown orders.

Luther opened her salon to customers April 23, despite Abbott's orders that prohibited salons and select other businesses from opening until Friday. Dallas County Judge Eric Moye granted the city of Dallas a restraining order against Luther on April 28 prohibiting her from operating her salon until allowed by the state, but she continued doing so anyway. The judge found Luther in contempt of court on Tuesday for violating the order and sentenced her to jail.

The Supreme Court didn't provide an explanation for its order freeing Luther.

The salon owner's attorney, Warren Norred of Norred Law PLLC, had filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the validity of Judge Moye's restraining order with the court early Thursday morning, which is still pending, according to the high court. The petition argues the restraining order was invalid because it lacked specificity and didn't require the city to pay a bond, both of which are required by Texas law.

"There is no evidence that her business posed any greater risk to the public than businesses being allowed to operate, such as movie theaters, day cares and home improvement stores," the petition said.

Norred didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the latest developments in Luther's case Thursday.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded the high court's release of Luther in a statement released Thursday.

"No Texan should face imprisonment for peacefully resisting an order that temporarily closed a lawful business and drastically limited their ability to provide for their family through no fault of their own," Paxton said. "Texans must all work together to overcome this crisis, and ensuring freedom from excessive punishment is critical."

Paxton had previously vowed to confront violators of Abbott's executive orders with the full force of the law. 

The court's Thursday decision is the latest in a fast-moving chain of events that began with Judge Moye's Tuesday order finding Luther in contempt of court and calling her actions "open, flagrant and intentional" defiance of the court's order.

Along with the jail sentence, he ordered Luther and her salon to pay a $500 fine for each of the seven days she operated her salon. He also ordered additional fines of $500 for each day after his Tuesday order that the salon remained open through the end of the restraining order on Thursday, according to court documents.

Luther was taken into custody late Tuesday afternoon, according to Dallas County jail records.

Abbott and Paxton released statements Wednesday admonishing Judge Moye's decision and urging him to reconsider it. Paxton called the judge's decision "another political stunt in Dallas," a county that has released some jail inmates to avoid the spread of the coronavirus in detention facilities.

Judge Moye's office didn't respond to requests for comment from Law360 on Wednesday. But the judge did join the 11 other civil district judges in Dallas County in signing a letter sent to Paxton on Wednesday as a response to his statement and a letter he sent to Judge Moye about his concerns.

The judges told Paxton they were troubled by his behavior, writing that as a current member of the Texas Bar, he should be aware that the letter he sent to Judge Moye urging him to reconsider his order was improper.

"In this context, for you to 'urge' a judge towards a particular substantive outcome in this matter is most inappropriate and equally unwelcome," the judges said. "Please do not communicate with the court in this manner further."

The judges said Paxton should allow the appellate courts to do their job and work this issue out.

"For the sake of ALL of the citizens of Texas, please let the judicial process play out without any further interference," the judges said.

Before her jail sentence, Luther and her salon had led a group of 11 businesses and residents in a failed petition to the Supreme Court of Texas challenging what they called "unsupportable" edicts and executive orders that city and county officials issued to limit businesses during the pandemic. The court declined to review the challenge Tuesday, finding it should be addressed at the trial court level first.

The businesses argue that government restrictions during the pandemic violate their constitutional rights. The group also claimed the local orders that defined essential versus nonessential businesses did so arbitrarily and without legal basis, according to the petition.

The orders further stripped business owners and employees of their livelihood without relieving debts or providing financial assistance, the businesses claimed.

The trial court-level petitions have not yet been filed, according to court records.

Luther is represented by Warren Norred of Norred Law PLLC.

Her petition for habeas corpus is In re: Shelley Luther, case number 20-0363, in the Supreme Court of Texas.

--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.

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