Trial date set for Dalton man charged with arson

Published 12:43 am Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Jurors are expected to be picked on Monday for the trial of a Dalton man charged with arson and aggravated assault.

Gary Vernon Davis Jr., 40, was arrested Nov. 30 of last year by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office when a woman reported he came to her house at 1319 Jackson Road in Dalton, choked her and then set her house on fire.

Calendar call, when attorneys say whether the case is ready for trial, was on Monday in Superior Court before Judge Cindy Morris.

An incident report from the night of Nov. 30 said police arrived on the scene and saw flames coming out of the windows and doors of the house. A woman and a juvenile were at the home but got out in time.

The woman said Davis came to her home at 1:15 a.m. and tried to lie in bed with her. When she told him to leave, he got upset and began throwing items from a night stand. She was able to get past Davis, wake up her daughter and take her to the car, the report said. The woman said she knocked on her neighbor’s door several times but there was no answer. She then drove around in her car, honking the horn trying to get someone’s attention.

After going back to her house, the woman told Davis to leave and that she had called police. She said Davis then said, “You want the cops … I will call them for you.” He grabbed her by the throat and called 911 with his other hand but did not say anything, according to the report.

The woman said he tightened his grip on her throat and pressed his elbow on her shoulder to the point she could not scream or breathe. She started punching and scratching at him until he let go. She ran outside to the car.

She said Davis left but when she went back into the home she saw a mattress on fire. She attempted to put the fire out and then went to a neighbor’s house and asked them to call 911, the report said.

When police arrived, they asked how Davis got into the home but the woman did not know, saying that all the doors were locked. She said Davis was drunk.

The report said her hands were black with blisters from trying to put the fire out and her neck was red with what appeared to be a hand print.

Police interviewed the juvenile who said she was sleeping when she heard screaming from her mother’s room and heard Davis. After leaving the home, she said she stayed in the car and saw smoke coming from the house and saw Davis leave.

The sheriff’s office requested deputies with the Murray County Sheriff’s Office check Davis’ mother’s house to see if he was there. He was arrested at his mother’s home.

Davis remains in jail awaiting trial. He is charged with arson in the first degree, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and acts, and cruelty to children.