The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the 2017 conviction of a Lauderdale County man sent to prison for killing his girlfriend.

The court on Thursday upheld the second-degree murder conviction of Brian Kenneth Weaver on a seven-to-one ruling, with one judge not participating, by declining to review the case.

On Feb. 2, 2017 a Lauderdale County 10th Circuit Court jury found Weaver guilty of the 2015 second-degree murder of Sara Beard Mullett, his girlfriend. Weaver claimed he shot the woman in self defense while returning from a casino in Philadelphia on Sept. 18, 2015.

A fisherman discovered Mullett’s body four days later in a North Lauderdale pond off of Gipson Road, north of Collinsville. 

Weaver received the maximum 40 years at his sentencing, with 10 years suspended and five years of probation.

The September 2018 ruling from the Court of Appeals stands. Seven appeals court judges ruled in favor of the state while two judges dissented, saying Weaver should be granted a new trial.

Judge Eugene Fair argued that Weaver deserved to have a jury hear his “imperfect self-defense theory” and said he would reverse Weaver’s conviction and remand a new trial..

“Weaver’s story may be dubious, but his credibility was an issue for the jury, not an issue for the court,” Fair said in his dissenting opinion. “The imperfect self-defense theory was supported by the evidence and should have been submitted to the jury.”

Fair disagreed with the majority that “Weaver’s claim about his fear of (Mullett) shooting him first to be utterly unsupported by evidence… Weaver’s story may be dubious, but it was enough to have the jury instructed on his theories of the case.” 

The majority opinion, authored by Presiding Judge Tyree Irving, said that “There is not one scintilla of evidence that could be interpreted as supportive of the notion that Weaver could have believed… that shooting (Mullett) was necessary to save his own life or prevent great bodily harm to himself.”

The court dismissed Weaver’s request for a change of venue to the 8th Circuit Court since Mullett’s body was found in a pond in Lauderdale County, though Weaver said he killed Mullett in Neshoba County. The dissenting opinion didn’t disagree with this ruling.