Judge dismisses Alicia Franklin's lawsuit against City of Memphis

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Mary Wagner has dismissed Alicia Franklin's lawsuit against the City of Memphis, which claimed the Memphis Police Department could have prevented the kidnapping and killing of a Memphis teacher and mother if they had adequately investigated her rape a year earlier.

Franklin's attorney, Jeff Rosenblum, said they would weight their next options and did not rule out the possibility of an appeal.

"She's disappointed in the ruling, but she's not discouraged," Rosenblum said.

In December, the City of Memphis filed a motion for dismissal containing four arguments, including an argument that the city "did not owe a duty to Ms. Franklin to investigate her rape," according to court documents.

The city said in its motion that the officers did their job properly and that imposing a general duty to investigate would allow courts to infringe upon Memphis police's constitutional right "to direct the use of limited police resources."

The court disagreed with this argument as well as the city's argument that Franklin could not establish causation for her physical and emotional suffering and an argument that stated police work is discretionary.

The fourth opinion, Rosenblum said, was the clencher.

The court said Tennessee's Public Duty Doctrine, recently enhanced by the Tennessee Supreme Court, provides protections for government employees bring sued for their actions or inactions.

Rosenblum said he greatly appreciated the court's care and thoroughness applied to the city's arguments, but "we do believe the court got this one wrong." He added that, generally speaking, he believes public duty doctrines should be challenged in higher courts.

Franklin, who says she was raped by Cleotha Henderson, sometimes known as Cleotha Abston, in September 2021, filed the suit nearly a year after the assault, and about two weeks after Eliza Fletcher's body was found.

Fletcher was reported missing Sept. 2, 2022, which triggered a citywide manhunt for the missing jogger. Henderson was connected to the crime scene after police said DNA evidence on a pair of slides, which had been sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, was tested and matched Henderson's.

Days after Henderson was arrested in connection to the Fletcher case, he was indicted for Franklin's 2021 abduction and rape.

In Franklin's lawsuit against the City of Memphis, she said she met Henderson on a dating app. When she went to meet him, Franklin said he raped her and left her in an abandoned apartment, threatening to kill her if she left.

According to the lawsuit, Franklin provided Memphis police with Henderson's name, contact information and social media information, but he was never arrested for the rape. A rape kit was taken and sent to TBI for testing, but it did not return until after Henderson was arrested in connection to the Fletcher case.

The kit, according to TBI, was not sent with a "rush" designation and was placed in a "queue of unknown assailant kits...and no suspect information or DNA standard was included in the submission."

Police, according to the lawsuit, also did not collect evidence from the crime scene, such as fingerprints, when Franklin eventually called them to the Lakes at Ridgeway apartment complex, where the assault took place.

The city also argued that if Franklin's claim were to be successful in court, it would open the city up to similar claims.

Wagner dismissed the Franklin's lawsuit the same day that, in another circuit courtroom, Judge Gina Higgins ruled that the lawsuit against the City of Memphis for the mishandling of 12,000 rape kits could move forward as a class-action suit.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal who covers issues tied to access and equity. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Judge dismisses Alicia Franklin's lawsuit against City of Memphis