Ringgold mom’s evidence-tampering case gets pushed back
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A Ringgold woman, arrested earlier this year on charges that she fabricated evidence in a claim that a high school administrator injured her son, has had her trial pushed back in the wake of her switching attorneys.
Davida Kaye Caylor was arrested March 1, after an investigation by the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office revealed she allegedly made false statements and tampered with evidence regarding an incident that occurred three weeks earlier between her 15-year-old son Aaron Black and Heritage High School assistant principal Eric Beagles.
Black claimed the assistant principal struck his hand with a telephone receiver while he was in Beagles’ office for disciplinary reasons.
“The student was unhappy with the punishment for his behavior,” Marissa Brower, communications specialist for Catoosa County Public Schools, said following the incident. “He stood, reached across the assistant principal’s desk, and grabbed the telephone receiver. When the assistant principal attempted to hang up the phone, the student reported that he was injured.”
Following the incident, the student and Beagles gave different accounts. Black alleged Beagles grabbed his hand and slammed it on the desk. Beagles said Black’s hand was under the telephone receiver when he went to hang it up.
After that, a photo of Black’s alleged bruised hand began surfacing on Facebook and Twitter, causing a stir at the school.
The sheriff’s office then deemed Caylor’s claim “unfounded” and arrested her at the family’s home on Rolling Hills Drive.
Two motions regarding evidence in the case were heard and denied in Catoosa County Superior Court by judge Brian House on Thursday, Sept. 12, with the trial slated to begin on Sept. 23.
However, Caylor switched from public defender David Dunn to Dalton-based attorney Richard Murray on Sept. 19, court records show.
Murray and assistant district attorney Chris Arnt then entered into a continuance by agreement on Monday, Sept. 23, which was approved by judge Kristina Cook Graham, delaying the trial until the second week of criminal jury trials beginning Monday, Sept. 30.
The clerk of court’s office says that the case could be continued further if Caylor’s new attorney needs additional time to get up to speed with the case, which has a list of 27 possible witnesses.
Caylor was indicted on two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of making false statements, and one count of obstruction of an officer on June 5, and entered a plea of not guilty on June 24.