MEMPHIS, Tennessee – A Tennessee man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Friday for raping a woman a year before he was accused of kidnapping and murdering a teacher who was jogging early in the morning.
Cleotha Abston, whose history of criminal charges dates back to the 1990s when he was a minor, received 40 years in prison for aggravated rape, 20 years for aggravated kidnapping and another 20 years for being a felon in possession of a weapon. The sentences will run consecutively, or one after the other, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee ruled.
Abston, 40, was convicted on April 12 of raping a woman while holding her at gunpoint in September 2021. The victim said she was raped after meeting Abston on a social dating site and agreeing to meet him in your apartment. A jury found that Abston covered the woman’s face with a T-shirt, escorted her out of the apartment and raped her in the backseat of his girlfriend’s vehicle.
Coffee said Abston treated the victim with “exceptional cruelty.”
Abston waived a sentencing hearing where witnesses could have testified for or against him. His lawyer, Juni Ganguli, said waiving a sentencing hearing meant they could avoid a “circus” in court. Prosecutor Paul Hagerman said Abston received what is “effectively a life sentence.”
Ganguli said he plans to appeal the conviction and will file a motion for a new trial.
“We had a strong defense,” Ganguli told reporters outside the courtroom on Friday. “I don’t believe for a second that he raped, kidnapped or had a gun, that he put a gun on that woman.”
Abston was not charged in the 2021 rape case until after he was accused of kidnapping Eliza Fletcher from a street as she was jogging before dawn near the University of Memphis on September 2, 2022, and forcing her into an SUV. Her body was found days later near an empty duplex.
Abston was not arrested on the rape charges before Fletcher’s murder due to a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit, authorities said. He pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty if Abston is convicted of first-degree murder in Fletcher’s death. No trial date has been set in that case.
The murder of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, shocked the Memphis community and sparked an outpouring of support for her family. Runners in Memphis and several other cities held morning running events in her honor, a week after she was kidnapped. A second race in Fletcher’s honor was held last year.
Abston, who also goes by the name Cleotha Henderson, was arrested after police detected his DNA on sandals found near where Fletcher was last seen, an arrest affidavit said. An autopsy report showed that Fletcher died from a gunshot wound to the head. She also had injuries to her right leg and fractures to her jaw.
After Fletcher’s death, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to publish a quarterly report on testing times for sexual assault kits.
The rape victim in the 2021 case sued the city of Memphis over allegations that the Memphis Police Department failed to properly investigate her case, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge.
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