NEW BOSTON, Texas: A jury began hearing testimony Wednesday at the Bowie County courthouse in the case of a man accused of fathering a child with a teen girl.
Christopher Jeff Langston, 47, was allegedly 39 when a 14-year-old girl gave birth to his son in August 2014. Langston allegedly began molesting the girl when she was 12.
Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards told a jury of seven men and five women that Langston is the “dictionary definition of a pedophile,” in her opening statement Wednesday morning. Richards said paternity testing shows Langston is the father of the child.
Richards said that while the pandemic has slowed the pace for trials in Bowie County, Langston has manipulated alleged victims, run interference by tampering with witnesses and “setting people up to give false statements,” causing delays.
Richards told the jury that another girl allegedly molested as a teen by Langston will testify that Langston gave her money for sex until family members found text messages in her phone and called police.
Langston’s attorney, John Delk of Texarkana, reserved his opening statement for when the defense begins to call witnesses in the trial.
Langston is being tried this week for sexual assault involving the teen who allegedly had his baby. Other charges of sexual assault involving two other girls are pending. Langston also has a pending charge of witness tampering for allegedly calling the alleged victim from a smuggled cell phone in the Bowie County jail in May 2021. Langston allegedly told her to lie to investigators.
The alleged victim, now 22, testified that she received calls about her testimony on Tuesday night and on Friday from “random” numbers she did not recognize, under direct examination by First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp.
She testified that Langston told her to tell others that a teen boy was the father.
The trial is expected to end this week. 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison is presiding over the trial.
