Lawyer for Cleotha Abston, charged in Eliza Fletcher case, wants Nashville jurors

A new defense attorney for Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man charged with kidnapping and killing Eliza Fletcher last September, is requesting that jurors in the case be taken from Davidson County instead of Shelby County, citing extensive media coverage and public comments on news stories being "overwhelmingly negative as it relates to Mr. Abston."

The motion comes weeks after the Office of the Shelby County Public Defender requested it be recused from the case, citing a conflict of interest. That conflict was not disclosed publicly.

"The publicity has been overwhelming," attorney Juni Ganguli wrote in the motion. "Review of the Facebook pages and comments online on other social media outlets makes it clear that the public's reaction to Mr. Abston is toxic. Mr. Abston will not receive a fair trial if jurors were drawn from Shelby County."

Other than media coverage, which Ganguli noted was both local and national, he said the existence and attendance at the "Finish Liza's Run" event, a memorial run that attracted at least a thousand Memphians in 2023 and over 2,000 in 2022, was a reason for the change in juror selection.

"In addition to media coverage, thousands of people in Memphis have participated in an event — both in 2022 and 2023 — named 'Finish Liza's Run,'" Ganguli wrote. "That event also has generated publicity. The Daily Memphian reported that '[m]ore than 2,000 Memphians gathered in the early hours' of Sept. 12, 2022, to run in her remembrance. In 2023, at least a thousand Memphians attended that event."

The motion appears to be filed in a separate case that Abston-Henderson is involved in, the rape case of Alicia Franklin that took place a year before Fletcher was abducted. He was indicted for that case after a rape kit returned a match for Abston-Henderson shortly after his arrest. He faces aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping and unlawful possession of a weapon in that case.

It is not clear if the motion will serve as notice for a change in the juror pool for both cases, though.

Abston-Henderson was arrested a day after the abduction was reported, and Fletcher's body was found days after that. He was charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, unlawful possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence.

In July, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said it would be seeking the death penalty in the Fletcher case.

"The phrase heinous, atrocious and cruel is a term of art that is in the statute," Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy explained to reporters after the announcement. "It is one of the listed statutory aggravating factors. You have to show at least one of those aggravating factors in order to get the death penalty and what it refers to is a level of violence that goes above and beyond that necessary in order to cause the death."

Mulroy added that torture is often involved when invoking that aspect of the statute.

"You often see heinous, atrocious and cruel aggravating factors found in cases in which torture was involved," he said. "We are alleging that applies in this case."

Abston-Henderson will next be in court on Oct. 12.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice 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: Lawyer for man charged in Eliza Fletcher case doen't want Memphis jurors