And it all happened live.
It’s not often you can say, “I saw the most entertaining hearing in civil court,” but if you saw the City of Dallas vs Shelly Luther live, you are saying those words now. Judge Eric Moyre is amazing and he gave Luther a Texas-Sized smackdown.
Who is Shelly Luther?
We have written about her previously when she got the support of anti-Texan Congressman Chip Roy and again today regarding the interruption of this case for Abbott’s announcement to open Texas.
In a nutshell, Shelly Luther is a far right-wing extremist who has tried to paint herself as a martyr for opening up her salon before Governor Abbott said salons could open. She’s been making videos surrounded by idiots in American flag t-shirts, who claim the coronavirus is just like the flu while screaming about tyranny and their constitutional rights. Y’all know the type.
Shelly Luther loves Trump, thinks that New York hates Jews, believes in QAnnon conspiracies, and is friends with nearly every RWNJ east of Abilene.
What started everything?
As everyone knows Greg Abbott announced on April 27th that many businesses can open back up, with restrictions. Yet, salons, gyms, and offices were to remain closed until phase 2.
Well, little miss “I’m special,” thought it wasn’t fair some people could open their businesses, but she couldn’t. Not only did she mention that in more than one of her videos, but she also demonstrated her what-ism complex in this social media post:
If you can stomach her videos, she has a ton on her social media pages, but they’re long stretches of a Trump lover talking about liberty and tyranny, and I know most of y’all got enough of that during the rise of the open-carry movement. You’ve been warned.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]So, she opened her business. And on the 29th of April was served a temporary restraining order. Well, being the special snowflake that she is, she decided she was going to keep her business open because that was only fair (since everyone else got to do it, first).
What followed was several days of interviews with every right-wing idiot who had an audience. She gained more supporters showing up to her business spouting conspiracies and waving Trump flags. In interviews, she said she was doing this because she has bills to pay and it’s her constitutional right.
She was ordered to appear back at court on May 5th,.
The hearing.
Luther’s attorney, also a far-right leaning Republican, attorney Warren Norred argued that Luther was being safe and the salon was clean. He tried to make the point of how clean and sanitary Luther has been.
The City of Dallas argued that it doesn’t matter what steps or precautions Luther was taking, she had a restraining order, which she violated. Period.
Norred, who was incredibly combative with the judge from the beginning, just kept arguing about how clean Luther’s salon was. The prosecutor objected again and again until Norred got so frustrated he told the judge, he didn’t want to keep wasting his time if he was going to get interrupted. To which the judge replied, the hearing was not about the salon’s operating safety, but about whether or not Luther violated the restraining order.
Yeah, that’s how it was going.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]The truth eventually comes out.
Finally, Luther was called to testify. Here is what we learned. She is not a licensed stylist, but a salon owner. So, the way she makes money is by renting booths to hairstylists. Her business was open for 7 days, violating the restraining order. She said in those 7 days, she had 2 stylists at her shop, but none of them had paid her any money.
She said that the reason she was opening was to make sure she could pay her bills and her stylists could pay their bills. Yet, since she has been open, she hadn’t made any money.
Then, Luther’s attorney asked if she got any government loans. Y’all are gonna love this.
She said that she did get a government loan, but it wasn’t until two days ago. But, she didn’t spend any of that money yet, because she hasn’t checked to see what is for yet.
What the hell?
How many broke people do you know who have to go to drastic measures to try and feed their family, they would get a lump sum of money in their bank account, and not even check it out…for days?
Please. Does anyone believe that?
When asked if she had been operating her business since she received the loan, she said yes.
To recap, Shelly Luther opened her business, even though she had a restraining order. She said she had mouths to feed. Yet, she hasn’t earned any money since opening. But, she did get a government loan, which she hasn’t used yet to feed her mouths. The reason she hasn’t used this money yet is that she hasn’t checked into it since she received it… two days ago.
The prosecutor asked the court to hold both Ms. Luther and her business, (an LLC), in civil and criminal contempt for $500 for each day she was open or 180 days in jail.
Then Judge Moye got ready to put the Texas-sized smackdown on Shelly Luther.
The Judge said to Luther that if she were to apologize, admit she was selfish, and that she saw the error of her ways she would be facing a fine and the judge would not sentence her to prison.
He told her, a society cannot function where one’s own belief in a concept of liberty permits you to flaunt your disdain for the rulings of duly elected officials.
Here is a small clip of what he told her.
Then it was Luther’s turn to respond.
“Judge, I would like to say I have much respect for this court and laws. And I have never been in this position before, and it’s not someplace I want to be. But, I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I’m selfish. Because, feeding my kids, is not selfish. I have hairstylists 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.”
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Here is her statement:
Her sentence:
Judge Moye then sentenced Luther to 7 days in jail, $3,500 for the days she was open, violating the restraining order, and $500 a day for each day she is open until Friday.
Don’t feel bad for her, though. As of this morning, her Go Fund Me is up to $188K. She won’t have any trouble paying her bills now, although it’s not clear that was her motivation behind this whole stunt.
And, just like that, the RWNJs have a new sweetheart.
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