RICHMOND – The state Court of Appeals has turned down a Chesterfield County man’s request to reverse his convictions on sex-related charges, claiming that the evidence produced at trial was not enough to find him guilty.

In a ruling released Tuesday, the appellate court said the circumstances leading to Andrew Luke Neff’s convictions clearly showed his guilt in the attack on a Dinwiddie County woman at her home. In his appeal, Neff claimed he thought the act was consensual because the woman did not try to stop him and had previously enticed him with comments about enjoying “rougher sex.”

Neff was convicted in 2022 of sexual battery and strangulation of the victim. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, all but three months suspended.

Neff was a volunteer at Southside Virginia Emergency Crew in Petersburg when he met the victim, who was employed there full-time. According to court records, the two had known each other for a few years when they went on their first date in January 2021.

The victim testified that she had told Neff “No funny stuff” when he came over, yet he still tried to force himself on her. Neff claimed they were kissing on the couch when the victim asked for a back rub.

According to testimony, Neff began rubbing the victim between her legs and tried to strangle her on the couch. The victim said she tried to get him to leave several times, but each time, he resisted.

She said he later forced her into her bedroom claiming that he was “craving physical touch” and tried to cover her face with a pillow. Forty-five minutes after he left, the victim testified he texted her and she told him she “didn’t agree with what he did and [she] was afraid of confrontation to tell him in person, but [she] wasn’t into whatever it was that he was doing and to not contact [her] again.”

Neff later wrote the victim a letter saying he was “overwhelmed with the need for physical touch” and “got extremely carried away” that night. He also said he was trying to be “sexual and kinky” with her because she had told him she preferred sexual contact that way.

The victim waited until September of that year to report what happened to the authorities. An investigation was conducted, and Neff was arrested.

In the appeal, Neff’s lawyers claimed that the prosecution had failed to show the victim was physically injured by the strangulation. They also repeated the claim that the contact was consensual.

The appellate court ruled that evidence presented at trial was enough to show that Neff’s contact was “by force” and intimidation.

“There is no question that Neff’s conduct shows that he committed the offense ‘with the intent to sexually molest, arouse, or gratify’ either [the victim] or himself,” the opinion read. “By his own admission, he sought to create an ‘erotic moment’ and craved physical touch.”

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State court upholds conviction in 2021 Dinwiddie sexual-battery case