Waco Trib by Tommy Witherspoon 6/6/2018
The state's highest criminal court ruled Wednesday that Waco's 10th Court of Appeals erred when it reversed the 2015 sexual assault conviction of former Baylor University football player Sam Ukwuachu.
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, in an opinion written by Justice Scott Walker, effectively reinstated Ukwuachu's sexual assault conviction, but it sent the case back to the 10th Court to rule on other appellate issues that court did not consider in reversing the original conviction.
The opinion comes after the McLennan County District Attorney's Office last year asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to review the 10th Court opinion, which was written by Chief Justice Tom Gray.
William Bratton, Ukwuachu's attorney, did not immediately return phone messages Wednesday morning.
The 10th Court ruled in March 2017 that Ukwuachu deserved a new trial because a series of text messages between the victim and her friend sent shortly before the incident were improperly excluded from evidence at Ukwuachu's trial, and that 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson abused his discretion by doing so.
More:
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/court-of-criminal-appeals-reverses-opinion-in-ukwuachu-appeal/article_df94eac0-974a-5d96-9d4e-1f9906c780a2.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
