Carlton Champion Jr. Sentenced to Life In Prison
Posted/updated on: December 19, 2015 at 4:40 pm
TYLER — Carlton Champion was sentenced to life in prison for murder Friday. A Tyler jury Thursday afternoon found Champion, 21, of Tyler guilty in the January death of transgender woman Tyrone Lee Underwood, 24. Tyler police say the two were romantically involved at some point.
Around 2:50am on January 26, officers were dispatched to a traffic accident at 400 West 24th Street. A citizen called and said a vehicle struck a telephone pole. The caller then revealed her children told her they heard what they believed to be several gunshots. When officers arrived a few minutes later, they found the vehicle and discovered the driver, identified as Underwood, had been shot.
During the investigation investigators discovered that Champion was wanted out of Gregg County for a probation violation. On January 29 Tyler investigators arrested Champion for the outstanding warrant while the murder investigation continued. Champion was transported to Gregg County Jail on the probation violation and held without bond. When Tyler investigators had enough evidence to charge Champion with murder, State District Judge Christi Kennedy signed the warrant and placed a $1,000,000 bond on him.
