Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is already facing national outrage after just a few days on the job.
The progressive district attorney was forced to apologize after he accused the Tennessee Board of Parole of botching the release of convicted kidnapper Cleotha Abston.Abston is accused of kidnapping and murdering Eliza Fletcher, a school teacher and mother of two boys.
In 2000, when he was just 16 years old, Abston forced attorney Kemper Durand into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. The attorney survived after a security guard heard his cries for help.
Abston pleaded guilty in 2001 and received a 24-year sentence.
Mulroy falsely stated during an interview on Fox News Channel that Abston had been paroled.“This is a completely erroneous and defamatory statement,” the Board of Parole said in a statement. “The Board did not have any involvement in Mr. Abston’s release as he was not parole eligible due to his sentence structure, which is determined by the courts who apply the laws established by the state legislature. Mr. Abston NEVER had a parole hearing with the Tennessee Board of Parole.”
The Board of Parole demanded an immediate retraction — which they received.
“This morning during a media interview I erroneously reported that Cleo Abston (aka Cleo Henderson), the defendant in the Liza Fletcher case, had been paroled from his prior kidnapping charge,” the professor-turned-district attorney said in a statement. “In fact, he had been released early from his original 24-year sentence, but not due to the action of the Parole Board. I regret the error.”Regardless, had Abston served his entire sentence, Mrs. Fletcher would still be alive.
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