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   From: kamala.harris.encourages@black.crime   
      
   https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/4f0d70d/2147483647/strip/t   
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   FILE - Cleotha Abston sits during a court appearance at the Shelby County   
   Criminal Court, July 6, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. A jury in Memphis convicted   
   Abston, Friday, April 12, 2024, of kidnapping and raping the woman in   
   September 2021.(Chris Day/The    
   Commercial Appeal via AP, File)/The Commercial Appeal via AP)   
      
   MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been found guilty of raping a   
   woman a year before he was charged with kidnapping and killing a school   
   teacher who was on an early morning run.   
      
   A jury in Memphis convicted 40-year-old Cleotha Abston of kidnapping and   
   raping the woman in September 2021.   
      
   According to The Daily Memphian, the jury’s Friday decision found Abston   
   guilty on three counts of aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping   
   and unlawful possession of a weapon. Jurors had heard testimony from witnesses   
   Tuesday and Wednesday,    
   and then closing arguments on Thursday.   
      
   The Memphis news outlet reports that the victim reported she had been raped on   
   Sept. 21, 2021, after meeting Abston on a social dating site and agreeing to   
   meet him at his apartment.   
      
   Abston allegedly held her at gunpoint, covered her face with a T-shirt, walked   
   her outside the apartment and raped her in the backseat of his girlfriend’s   
   vehicle.   
      
   “I didn’t want to die,” she testified Tuesday, explaining why she   
   complied.   
      
   Abston was not charged in the 2021 rape case until after being charged with   
   snatching Eliza Fletcher from a street near the University of Memphis on Sept.   
   2, 2022, and forcing her into an SUV. Her body was found days later near a   
   vacant duplex.   
      
   Abston was not arrested on the rape charges before Fletcher’s killing   
   because of a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit, authorities have   
   said. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they will pursue the death   
   penalty if Abston is    
   convicted of first-degree murder in Fletcher’s death, but no trial date has   
   been set in that case.   
      
   The killing of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two,   
   shocked the Memphis community and led to a flood of support for her family.   
   Runners in Memphis and several other cities held an early-morning running   
   events in her honor a    
   week after she was abducted. A second run honoring Fletcher was held last year.   
      
   Abston was arrested after police detected his DNA on sandals found near the   
   location where Fletcher was last seen, an arrest affidavit said. An autopsy   
   report showed Fletcher died of a gunshot wound to the head. She also had   
   injuries to her right leg and    
   jaw fractures.   
      
   After Fletcher’s death, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Tennessee   
   Bureau of Investigation to issue a quarterly report on sexual assault kit   
   testing times.   
      
   Abston’s lawyer, Juni Ganguli, had filed a change of venue motion seeking to   
   have jurors from the Nashville area hear the rape case, but a judge denied the   
   request. Ganguli had said that heavy media coverage and social media   
   commentary threatened    
   Abston’s ability to receive a fair trial if Memphis-area jurors are used.   
      
   Ganguli had said social media comments about news stories in the Fletcher case   
   have been overwhelmingly negative and toxic.   
      
   The rape victim in the 2021 case has since sued the city of Memphis on   
   allegations that the Memphis Police Department did not properly investigate   
   her case, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge.   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-memphis-jogger-killed-rape-   
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