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    'What happened to you': Eliza Fletcher's family agrees to spare her killer from execution

    By Alberto Luperon,

    2 days ago
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1i5Hyx_0wQ2ck3q00
    Cleotha Abston (Shelby County Jail). Eliza Fletcher (Memphis Police Department).

    With the support of a slain teacher’s family, prosecutors in Shelby County, Tennessee , reached a plea deal with her killer. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office previously sought the death penalty against Cleotha Abston, 40, for abducting, beating, and shooting Eliza Fletcher, 34, while she was on an early-morning jog.

    On Monday, however, they announced that they reached a deal in which he pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree aggravated kidnapping, and tampering with evidence, authorities said. In exchange, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said they reached the deal with the support of Fletcher’s family. District Attorney Steve Mulroy read their statement on their behalf in court, in which they mourned Eliza, and called out Abston for his actions.

    More Law&Crime coverage: Suspects blame each other, give horrific details of rape and murder of 12-year-old girl, warrant says

    “We have no idea what happened to you to turn you into someone so filled with a desire to hurt people,” they wrote. “Whatever it was, it does not excuse or explain what you have done. You have changed our lives forever, and nothing will ever be the same. Your actions were evil. There is no other word for it. You murdered Liza, even though she did nothing to deserve it. She did not hurt you. In fact, she would’ve been the first to help if you needed it.”

    Prosecutors described Fletcher as a devoted mother and beloved kindergarten teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School.

    Related Coverage:

      This guilty plea and sentence follow several months after jurors convicted Abston in a similar case in which he kidnapped and raped a woman at gunpoint, and was sentenced to 80 years in prison without the possibility of parole. The survivor, Alicia Franklin, stepped forward amid Fletcher’s 2022 death, and she sued the city of Memphis, saying police neglected to investigate her own case. That lawsuit ended in a 2023 dismissal.

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      The post ‘What happened to you’: Eliza Fletcher’s family agrees to spare her killer from death sentence first appeared on Law & Crime .

      Related Search

      Eliza FletcherCleotha AbstonVictim'S family supportMemphis police departmentAlicia FranklinLife in prison

      Comments / 18

      Add a Comment
      Guest2023
      7m ago
      All these attorneys, lawyers, secretaries on this post. I guess y'all were in the courtroom.
      ¥universe¥
      18h ago
      So many other murders but this one on the news for years now smh..he's in jail on to someone else
      View all comments

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