Texas salon owner who defied shutdown out of jail

A Texas salon owner who was jailed for defying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's public health orders walked out free to cheering supporters on Thursday, shortly after the governor weakened his mandate following an outcry by conservatives who are escalating calls to lift coronavirus restrictions.

Shelley Luther, owner of a Salon A La Mode in Dallas, wore a mask while leaving jail less than 48 hours after a judge ordered her to be locked up for a week for flouting public health orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Luther, who refused to apologize or promise to keep her business closed even after a Dallas judge said dong so might keep her out of jail, said she was overwhelmed as she walked toward a crowd chanting her name.

In April, Luther tore up a cease-and-desist letter in front of TV cameras at an "Open Texas" rally in the Dallas suburbs.

"I just want to thank all of you who i just barely met, and now you're all my friends," Luther said after leaving jail. "This would have been nothing without you. Thank you so, so much."

Her release came hours after Abbott rushed to her defense by removing jail as a punishment for defying virus safeguards, thereby removing the toughest enforcement mechanism of his own executive order.

The swift relaxing of his own rules reflects the increasing pressure Abbott is under to more quickly reboot the Texas economy, even though he has already allowed restaurants and retailers to start letting customers back inside — a step many other governors have been reluctant to take.

Abbott made the announcement in a statement just before meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the response to the pandemic.

That statement also mentioned two women along the Texas border, Ana Isabel Castro-Garcia and Brenda Stephanie Mata, who were similarly jailed for violating his executive orders but whose arrests have not drawn as much attention or inspired protests.

"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.

(Representative Image)