The state Court of Appeals has upheld the 2007 murder conviction of David Williams, who was sentenced to life in prison for killing a college student.

Williams was convicted in Lafayette County Circuit Court in the death of Demetria Bracey of Jackson. Williams and Bracey were students at the University of Mississippi. He had claimed the stabbing death in Oxford was part of a mutual suicide pact.

The appeals court on Tuesday rejected Williams’ claims that the trial court erred when it didn’t allow the jury to consider if he only assisted Bracey in killing herself.

Williams also argued on appeal that the court erred when it didn’t allow a local priest to be questioned about conversations with Bracey.