FILE - In this March, 1, 2017 file photo, former Baylor football player Sam Ukwuachu leaves the 10th Court of Appeals following arguments in Waco, Texas. An appeals court has overturned the conviction of the former Baylor football player whose case helped give rise to the sexual assault scandal that engulfed the nation's largest Baptist school. The Texas 10th Court of Appeals said in a ruling Wednesday, March, 22, 2017, that text messages should not have been excluded from the testimony in Sam Ukwuachu's 2015 trial. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune Herald via AP, File) (The Associated Press)
WACO, Texas – An appeals court has overturned the conviction of a former Baylor football player whose sexual assault case added to a scandal that engulfed the nation's largest Baptist school.
The Texas 10th Court of Appeals said in a ruling Wednesday that text messages should not have been excluded from the testimony in Sam Ukwuachu's 2015 trial.
The court ordered that a new trial be held for the former standout defensive player for the Bears.
The text messages were exchanged between the woman Ukwuachu was convicted of assaulting and her friend.
Media coverage of the case and the 2014 sexual assault conviction of another former player, Tevin Elliott, led the school to hire a Philadelphia law firm to investigate how the university and the football program handled reports of assault.
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