Ringgold, Ga., evidence tampering trial pushed back one week

Friday, September 27, 2013

photo Davida Caylor

A case against a Ringgold, Ga., woman accused of fabricating evidence against a Heritage High School assistant principal has been continued.

Davida Kaye Caylor faces charges of making a false statement and obstruction of a police officer, as well as two counts of tampering with evidence. She was scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

But the day the case was supposed to begin, Superior Court Judge Kristina Cook Graham granted a continuance to push the trial back one week. Then, on Wednesday, the court apparently granted a longer continuance.

The delay comes because Caylor switched attorneys. Originally, public defender David Dunn represented Caylor. But on Sept. 18, Dalton-based attorney Richard Murray took over the case. The continuance will give Murray time to get up to speed.

On Feb. 8, Caylor filed a complaint against Heritage High School Assistant Principal Eric Beagles. Her son, Aaron Black, had been in Beagles' office for disciplinary reasons two days earlier, and somehow his hand got bruised.

Caylor told media outlets that when her son disagreed with the punishment he was supposed to receive, Beagles broke the son's hand. The boy said that his principal grabbed his hand, twisted it and slammed it on Beagles' desk.

Catoosa County Schools spokeswoman Marissa Brower said in a news release at the time that this alleged abuse did not happen. She said the altercation revolved around a phone on Beagles' desk. Black allegedly grabbed it, and Beagles then took hold of it himself and put it back on the receiver.

All the while, Brower said, Black held on to the phone, and it pressed down against his hand. But the incident did not cause any injury, she said. Sheriff Gary Sisk also said at the time that his office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found Caylor's allegations to be false.

Then, on March 1, prosecutors charged Caylor with giving false statements and tampering with evidence. When deputies arrived to arrest Caylor, she allegedly refused. She was charged with obstruction of a police officer and a second count of tampering with evidence.

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or at tjett@timesfreepress.com