The Texas Tenth Court of Appeals has ruled against former Waco Police officer George Kristopher Neville’s request to have his assault and official oppression conviction thrown out.

A jury convicted Neville in 2018 of assaulting Qualon Deshon Weaver while he was already in police custody for a traffic stop on May 4th, 2016.

Neville appealed the conviction on three separate grounds. He wanted the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office disqualified. Neville also claimed that since he did not use excessive force, there was not sufficient evidence to back the conviction. Lastly, he argued the trial court erred in failing to submit his request defensive instruction to the jury.

In an opinion filed by Chief Justice Tom Gray Monday, all three arguments were denied. You can read that opinion below.

The initial stop was conducted by officers Kevin Spicer and Adam Beseda near the intersection of J.J. Flewellen and Herring Avenue.

They had reported that the car driven by Qualon Deshon Weaver had stopped, then moved forward slowly, then stopped only to move on again before finally coming to a stop.

They had reported that he had been seen moving around in the car and appeared to be hiding something.

Officers including George Neville arrived on the scene to assist and it was after Weaver had already been handcuffed that he and Neville exchanged heated words and Neville was reported to have grabbed him around the neck.

Following the incident a supervisor from the Detective Division was assigned to determine if criminal charges applied in the case.

As the investigation unfolded, Officers Beseda and Spicer received 5-day suspensions but were cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but a warrant was issued for the arrest of Officer Neville.

Then Interim Police Chief Frank Gentsch indefinitely suspended Neville.

Neville was named in charges of Class A assault and official oppression. He has received no sentence yet, but a pre-sentence investigation report was ordered.