MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man accused of kidnapping and killing Memphis mother and teacher Eliza Fletcher in 2022 was found guilty on three felony counts for the 2021 rape of Alicia Franklin.
Cleotha Abston was found guilty of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping and possession of a weapon in commission of a felony in the widely-publicized 2021 case, which brought to light the issue of significant delays in rape kit testing.
“For Cleotha Abston, this rape lasted minutes,” Deputy Shelby County District Attorney Paul Hagerman said Thursday. “For Alicia Franklin, it’s never stopped.”
That was Hagerman’s plea to the jury during closing arguments as he walked them through the testimony Franklin gave earlier this week. She stated that she and Abston met on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2021 and made arrangements to get dinner. Testimony showed Franklin told Memphis Police they had discussed exchanging sex for money previously, but there were no plans for the two to have sex that night. When she arrived at Abston’s Hickory Hill apartment, Franklin claims Abston put a gun to her neck and forced her into his car, where he raped her.
“Every single time, (with) every single police officer and in front of you, the story has been absolutely consistent,” Hagerman reminded the jury. “CJ, Plenty of Fish, the apartment complex, walked to the door, gun to my neck, shirt on my head, walked to a vacant apartment to the back, to the Dodge Charger, where I was rapped, not sexed, where I was raped in the car.”
Hagerman also reminded jurors how Franklin took action, calling and reporting the incident to a friend who was a police officer and going to Regional One.
“Immediately, the same night,” Hagerman said. “So immediate, that when Lt. Love is like, ‘We’ll go to the crime scene in a day or two, she’s like ‘No, lets go tonight. There may be evidence there.”
Abston’s attorney Juni Ganguli remained adamant Abston and Franklin had consensual sex, saying this case was not about rape.
“It is about prostitution. It is about prices. It is about lies,” he said.
He also argues that Abston’s actions don’t match those of a rapist.
“What kind of rapist or kidnapper for that matter, sends their picture, their phone number and their address to the victim?” Ganguli said.
The defense attorney claims this was not about victim-blaming Franklin.
“If she wants to meet men on the internet, if she tells strangers on the internet that her time’s not free and that she wants to have sex with them in that scenario, it’s her body, it’s her choice,” Ganguli said. “However, her lies cannot and should not lead to a conviction.”
D.A. Hagerman says Franklin’s testimony has remained honest throughout this process.
“She tells the police, ‘we talked about sex,’ she tells the police, ‘ee even talked about sex for money,’” he said.
There was a brief point during Thursday afternoon's deliberations where the jury requested to again see body cam footage of Franklin talking to police immediately after her encounter with Abston.
Abston is still facing charges in the 2022 death of Eliza Fletcher.