MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man accused of kidnapping and killing Memphis school teacher and jogger Eliza Fletcher in 2022 was back in court Wednesday, with a Shelby County judge denying his request to draw a jury outside of Shelby County for another rape he's accused of.
Attorney Juni S. Ganguli filed a motion for a change of venue for Cleotha Abston in that rape case, asking the court to select jurors from another county because he said Shelby County jurors can’t be fair due to the Fletcher case.
Wednesday morning Ganguli argued potential jurors in Shelby County already have a bias around Abston, due to the amounts of media coverage and pre-trial publicity. The attorney pointed to some comments online as an example, reading Abston should receive the death penalty and be tried to the highest extent of the law.
In the court filing dated Oct. 10, 2023, Ganguli asked the court to select jurors from Davidson County, which is in the Nashville area, for the pending rape case where Abston is accused of raping another woman.
Prosecutors countered Ganguli's claims, saying the vetting process for jurors was more than enough to ensure a fair trial.
"I know we have a very diverse community, racially, ethnically views and everything else, so we are able to get fair and impartial juries here. I have a good faith in the citizens of Shelby County," said Paul Hagerman with the Shelby County District Attorney's Office.
Wednesday, Shelby County Judge Lee Coffee denied the motion, stating the high-profile nature of the case won't affect a Shelby County jury's ability to rule impartially, largely due to the public's decline of local media consumption. The rape case is now set for trial on April 8, 2024.
After the ruling, ABC24 spoke with Abston's lawyers, who said this result was expected.
"You have to try because you can't again just roll over you have to try and keep trying and maybe catch a break," said Ganguli.
Coffee's decision Wednesday will only affect the rape case involving Alicia Franklin, and will not also serve for the Fletcher case. However, Ganguli says his team intends to file another change of venue location for the Franklin case at a later time.
After being arrested for Fletcher’s murder, Abston was charged with raping the woman in September 2021 — about a year before Fletcher was killed. He was not arrested on rape charges before Fletcher's killing because evidence from a sexual assault kit test had not been available at the time, authorities have said.
Abston is expected to go on trial by the end of 2024 for Fletcher’s murder. That case was pushed back because Abston recently got two new lawyers, and they said they need more time to go through the evidence. The previous public defender for Abston withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest.
Abston could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in Fletcher’s case.
Fletcher was running on the University of Memphis campus when police said she was forced into a vehicle after a struggle about 4 a.m. Sept 2, 2022. Investigators said her body was found Sept. 5 behind a vacant home after a massive search lasting more than three days.
U.S. Marshals arrested Abston a day after the abduction after police said they detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near where Fletcher was last seen, according to an arrest affidavit.
Abston also faces charges of identity theft and of being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun in other cases. He also previously kidnapped a prominent Memphis attorney in 2000 when he was 16-years-old. He spent 20 years in prison for that crime.
Abston remains in jail on a bond of $2,278,500.