Sentencing board formed after Eliza Fletcher’s death begins review
Cleotha Abston, who served 19 years of a 24-year sentence, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Eliza Fletcher. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
A new Tennessee Inmate Disciplinary Oversight Board is taking shape two years after Memphis school teacher and runner Eliza Fletcher was abducted and killed.
The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill in May 2023 in reaction to Cleotha Abston’s early release from prison. Abston, charged with first-degree murder in Fletcher’s September 2022 death, served 19 years of a 24-year sentence following his 2001 conviction on charges of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery. He was released in November 2020.
The May 2023 bill created the board, which grants and denies sentence credits for good behavior and determines whether sentence credits previously awarded should be removed because of disciplinary infractions. Previously, each county’s disciplinary review board reviewed infractions without oversight.
“Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t see the flaws in the system until something bad happens,” said Vanessa Murtaugh, the board’s chair.
State House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who proposed the bill alongside Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, said the board is modeled after the state’s Board of Parole. The new board, along with the state’s 2022 truth-in-sentencing bill that requires people convicted of certain offenses to serve 100% of their sentences, is what Sexton sees as a step toward preventing similar occurrences.
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State of Tennessee Eliza Fletcher Cameron Sexton Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Julia Baker
A lifelong Memphian, Julia Baker graduated from the University of Memphis in 2021. Other publications and organizations she has written for include Chalkbeat, Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent magazine and Memphis magazine.
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