Cleotha Abston denied venue change in Alicia Franklin rape case by Shelby County judge

Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man charged with kidnapping and killing Memphis school teacher Eliza Fletcher in September 2022, was not granted a change in venue for a separate rape case of a woman that occurred a year earlier.

Juni Ganguli, Abston-Henderson's new attorney in both of those cases, filed a motion for a change of venue in October 2023. In that motion, Ganguli said the media attention around the case pointed to Abston-Henderson not being able to have a fair and impartial jury if the pool consisted of Shelby County citizens.

Instead, Ganguli requested jurors be taken from the Nashville area.

The Shelby County District Attorney's Office opposed Ganguli's motion, citing case law that went against the defense attorney's motion.

In court Wednesday, Ganguli said that the case law the DA's office cited in its response predated the widespread use of the internet.

"The amount of publicity in this case is overwhelming," Ganguli said. "Not only is it overwhelming, but it's also negative. It's possible, I suppose, that the comments and commenters who have chimed in on The Daily Memphian articles, The Commercial Appeal articles, as well as Facebook sites for other media outlets are from outside Shelby County. But it's unlikely. When you hear hoofbeats, you've got to think of horses, not zebras. If you agree with that reasoning, the people that would comment about Memphis articles, about Memphis criminal matters, are probably from Memphis."

In his ruling to deny the venue change, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee V. Coffee cited a number of cases that have received more media attention than the Alicia Franklin rape case that are currently pending in Shelby County's courts, including the Tyre Nichols and Ezekiel Kelly cases. He also referenced the case of former Grizzlies player Lorenzen Wright, and Billy Ray Turner's trial, saying that received "worldwide publicity."

"Every defendant that has a case pending that has generated a lot of press publicity, we take extreme measures to make sure that that defendant, in fact, does receive a fair trial by an impartial jury of his peers," Coffee said, citing how few jurors — three out of nearly 200 — were disqualified during the Lorenzen Wright case. "When you look at those questionnaires, and where people get their news from and where they get their information from, it's a sad commentary on what's going on in Shelby County. Most people don't read newspapers anymore. They don't read The Commercial Appeal. They don't read The Daily Memphian. They don't watch TV."

Coffee also said, in response to Ganguli's concerns over internet information, that most jurors say in their questionnaires that they do not get information from the internet either.

In addition to citing his experience with media coverage on cases, Coffee said he believes the most fair jurors for Abston-Henderson would come from Shelby County.

"In order for me to grant this motion for the change of venue, I would have to speculate," Coffee said. "I would have to say, 'I don't trust jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee. They are inherently untrustworthy. They're inherently unreliable. I don't think these jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee will give a defendant a fair trial.' I cannot make that statement. There is nothing before the court that indicates that there's any actual prejudice or any bias against Cleotha Abston. I would be asked to speculate."

What comes next?

Abston-Henderson's rape charge came days after his arrest in connection with the Eliza Fletcher kidnapping when CODIS, a national DNA database, returned a hit for a rape kit taken from Alicia Franklin.

In the months since his arrest, Abston-Henderson was appointed new attorneys for both the Fletcher case — in which he is now represented by Ganguli and Lauren Pasley — and the Franklin case — where he is represented by only Ganguli.

The Franklin case is slated to start trial April 8 this year, with prosecutors and Ganguli saying Franklin's alleged rape not only happened before the alleged kidnapping of Fletcher, but that there is far less discovery to comb through.

The Fletcher case will take place some time after the Franklin case, and is mainly being handled by Pasley while Ganguli focuses on the Franklin case. The motion for a change of venue was made specifically for the Franklin case, but both Ganguli and Pasley said they plan to file a similar motion in the Fletcher case.

"I think those are the steps that we take in all those cases, regardless of what the outcome is," Pasley told reporters after Wednesday's ruling. "You've got to go step by step. Those are important matters we cannot ignore. That's what I mean by keep trying and doing it."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Cleotha Abston denied venue change in Alicia Franklin rape case