MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The jury has reached a verdict in the rape trial of Cleotha Abston, who is accused of raping a woman in 2021, one year before he allegedly abducted and killed Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher.

The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

The jury found Abston guilty of aggravated rape, guilty of aggravated kidnapping, and guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, in the rape of Alicia Franklin.

Judge Lee Coffee affirmed the jury’s verdicts in a three-count indictment against Abston. He will be detained without bond pending a sentencing hearing.

The state argues back in 2021, Cleotha Abston put a gun to Alicia Franklin’s neck, placed a shirt over her face, and raped her in a car behind a vacant apartment in Hickory Hill. 

Abston’s defense has argued this is a prostitution case that started with an argument over money. “The victim did admit on camera that she and Mr. Abston had discussed prices,” said Juni Ganguli, Cleotha Abston’s defense attorney. “She expected to get paid two hundred dollars for having sex with him.”

“She had the courage, not just to say things that would “benefit the case” but just to tell the truth about the whole thing even in embarrassing details, for which she was raked over the coals this week,” said Paul Hagerman, Deputy District Attorney.

Hagerman says Franklin was determined to pursue charges against Abston even as she waited for rape kit DNA results. Now Hagerman believes Abston should pay.

“The maximum sentence in this was eighty years so I expect the state to ask for an eighty-year sentence,” Hagerman said.

Abston did not testify in his defense. Sentencing is scheduled for May 17.