Press Release
Press Release
KAUFMAN, TX. — District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley announced today that the Dallas County Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction and life sentence of Stanley Gerald Champ of Grays Prairie, Texas.
On September 1, 2022, a Kaufman County jury convicted and sentenced Champ to Life imprisonment for the continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 years. The appellate court decision was handed down July 16, 2024.
Champ was a member of Grays Prairie Mennonite Church where he served as a custodian for their school and was an elder of their congregation. It was there that Champ gained access to the victim in the case when she was just four years old. The victim’s family relocated to Grays Prairie hoping to find a safe place to raise their children. Jurors heard testimony that Champ abused “Jada” (a pseudonym used for official court filings) from age 4 to 9 years old while she spent time visiting the Champ home.
A prior victim, Champ’s biological sister, testified about his decades long pattern of abuse perpetrated while he resided in a Mennonite Community in Pennsylvania.
On appeal, Champ argued evidence of his prior victim, as well as a recording of him admitting to fondling his infant children while changing their diapers, should not have been admitted to the jury for consideration. In a forty-nine page opinion, the Dallas Court of Appeals rejected Champ’s eight issues on appeal and upheld the decision of Kaufman County jurors.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Ponder led the prosecution team on appeal. The trial phase was led by Assistant District Attorneys Ashley Holman and Leslie Odom.
Criminal District Attorney Erleigh Wiley stated, “I appreciate the great work of the Appellate Division of the KCDA’s office in affirming the jury’s verdict of a life sentence for the years of abuse of a child predator.”