By the time Chandler Caylor’s toddler grows old enough to understand the concept that his father was murdered, two of the three men involved will already be walking free, Caylor’s girlfriend, Kaleigh Quinn, said in court.
Two Chattanooga teenagers avoided life sentences Tuesday in connection with the 2022 fatal shooting of Caylor and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and attempted aggravated robbery as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Leon Abernathy, 18, was sentenced to eight years in prison, and Jaylon Bell, 18, was sentenced to 10 years.
“You understand you were facing life in prison for first-degree murder?” Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman asked.
“Yes, sir.” Abernathy said.
Abernathy and Bell were both about 16 when Caylor was killed during a drug deal on Sept. 6, 2022.
Caylor, who was 21, went from Cleveland, Tennessee, to Chattanooga to sell marijuana to Abernathy, Bell and Zion Reeves, according to authorities. It became apparent the three teenage boys planned to rob Caylor, so he tried to drive away from the drug deal, prosecutors said.
One of them pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots at Caylor’s car.
Chattanooga police then responded to a report of a person shot at 14 Trewhitt St., prosecutors said.
Police found Caylor dead from a gunshot wound to the neck, and his girlfriend, Quinn, was beside him with a gunshot wound to the left leg.
“Have you ever felt the inside of someone’s neck while they struggle to breathe?” Quinn said to Abernathy and Bell in an impact statement.
She was one month pregnant with Caylor’s child at the time.
Quinn’s femur was shattered, and she was unable to walk for months. She suffered through the recovery process without painkillers, she said.
During an interview with police, Abernathy told investigators Reeves was the shooter, prosecutors said.
Reeves, 17, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Caylor lost the opportunity to spend his life with his son, and Caylor’s mother, Darlene Hawkins, will miss out on the same, Hawkins said.
He didn’t deserve to die, Hawkins said.
“You’re just as guilty as Zion Reeves,” Hawkins said to Abernathy and Bell. “You two may have not pulled the trigger, but you all three are responsible for me losing my child.”
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In most criminal cases, the attention falls on the accused because life and liberty are on the line, Steelman said.
Victims, such as Hawkins and Quinn, having the chance to speak can refocus attention on the life-changing effect of crime, he said.
Abernathy and Bell are young enough that they have plenty of opportunity to make better choices going forward, Steelman said.
Both men can make positive choices about what groups to associate with and how to spend time while incarcerated, he said.
While they both must go to prison, which is not a good place to be, they do not have to be saddled with negativity for the rest of their lives based upon decisions they made as minors, Steelman said.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.