Longview Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder of Transgender Tylerite
Posted/updated on: May 30, 2015 at 4:38 pm
TYLER — A Longview man has pleaded not guilty in the murder of a Tylerite. 21-year-old Carlton Champion Jr.’s pre-trial hearing is set for June 26 at 8:30 a.m. in Tyler, with jury selection slated for July 7. Judge Christi Kennedy has set Champion’s bond at $1,000,000. According to KETK, Don Martin with the Tyler Police Department says on January 29, police served a warrant on for the murder of Tyrone Lee Underwood, a 24-year-old transgender woman. Police say Champion and Underwood were, at some point, romantically involved.
Around 2:50 a.m. 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 located the vehicle and discovered the driver, identified as Underwood, had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
