MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Cleotha Abston, a convicted rapist and admitted killer, was denied an appeal by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday.

Abston filed for an appeal last year after he was convicted of aggravated rape and kidnapping.

Cleotha Abston was sentenced to 80 years in prison for raping Alcia Franklin at gunpoint.

He also received a life sentence last year after pleading guilty to the kidnapping and killing of Eliza Fletcher.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WREG. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WREG staff before being published.

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