AUSTIN, Texas — Texas' highest criminal appeals court has reinstated the 2015 sexual assault conviction of a former Baylor University football player whose case ignited a scandal that engulfed the nation's largest Baptist school.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Wednesday that a lower court erred by overturning the conviction of Sam Ukwuachu based on text messages between the victim and a friend that had not been allowed in trial.

Former Baylor football player Sam Ukwuachu, left, leaves the 10th Court of Appeals with his attorney, William Bratton III, following arguments on March, 1, 2017, in Waco, Texas. Ukwuachu is waiting on a ruling for a new trial after his conviction in 2015 for the rape of a woman. Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune Herald via AP file

The trial court only allowed into evidence texts she sent after the assault. Ukwuachu's attorney argued the earlier text messages would show the woman consented to sex.

Ukwuachu was sentenced to six months in jail, but served an abbreviated sentence. The ruling allows him to continue appealing his conviction, but not on the text message issue.