After being delayed twice, a court appearance lasted just minutes for a man charged with killing a Lynchburg brother and sister in a drunk-driving crash last year.
Caleb Evans, 21, of Rustburg, waived his preliminary hearing.
Virginia State Police have accused Evans of driving drunk while heading the wrong way on U.S. 460 last year at night with his headlights off. In the early morning hours of July 3, police said, Evans’ Ford Explorer collided head-on with Tara Davis’ Dodge PT cruiser, killing her and her brother Tearle.
Evans, free on bond, paced nervously outside the courtroom in the Prince Edward County courthouse as he awaited the hearing. As a busy morning slate of cases ran late, a deputy kept those with afternoon cases outside the courtroom in a small lobby — witnesses for the prosecution waiting on one side, Evans on the other.
The preliminary hearing was set to determine if there was enough evidence to send the felony charges to a grand jury to consider indictment. Instead, Evans waived his right to the hearing on the felonies. At the same time, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Edward Mann dropped the misdemeanor drunk-driving charge.
When a defendant is charged with a mix of misdemeanors and felonies, prosecutors often drop the lesser charges at the preliminary hearing stage, only to bring them back before the grand jury so all charges can be heard in one trial.
The grand jury is set to meet April 17.
Tara, 23, and Tearle, 21, were in Farmville that night to attend a dance with a group of friends. Most were traveling on a charter bus, family members said, but Tara showed up late in her personal vehicle. Tearle didn’t want her to drive back to Lynchburg alone, said their grandmother, Ann Brown.
The roadside on westbound U.S. 460 in Prospect, at the scene of the wreck, remains blanketed with colorful wreaths Monday afternoon.
Both Tara and Tearle left behind a child.
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