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Appeals court hears challenge to gun evidence and unpreserved texts in Abston rape conviction
Summary
At oral argument, defense counsel challenged admission of a handgun photograph recovered 11 months after the alleged assault and argued the state failed to preserve text messages; the state said the photograph was relevant and any error was harmless. The court took the matter under advisement.
Junie Ganguly, attorney for Cleotha Abston, argued on appeal that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of a handgun recovered during Abston's September 2022 arrest and by refusing to instruct the jury that the state had a duty to preserve text messages viewed by investigating officers.
The issue over the firearm arose because the state introduced a photograph of a handgun officers recovered when they arrested Abston in September 2022. "We submit that was error," Ganguly told the panel, arguing that Alicia Franklin had only described the weapon in vague terms and that there was "absolutely no way" to prove the firearm introduced at trial was the same gun she described in September…
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