Appeals Court Affirms Champion Murder Conviction

TYLER – The 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler has upheld a Tyler murder conviction. The appeals court on Wednesday affirmed the conviction of Carlton Ray Champion Jr. The 22 year old former Texas College football player was found guilty last December and sentenced to life in prison, for the January 2015 death of a transgendered woman, Tyrone Lee Underwood, 24. Tyler police say the two were romantically involved at some point. Champion is said to have shot Underwood, whose car crashed into a telephone pole on West 24th Street.

Around 2:50am on January 26, 2015, 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.