Randy M. Mott, representing Michael Chapel, who is in prison for the 1993 robbery and mur- der of Emogene Thompson, said investigators for the 1-year-old organization don't yet have enough evidence to file a motion for a new trial.
Mott encouraged those with information about Thompson's killer to come forward, and he asked interested donors to send money for the foundation's investigation.
The new discoveries produced at the press conference were more examples of courtroom lawyering, Mott admitted, ' than facts sufficient enough to prove Chapel was falsely accused of shooting Thompson in the fiead twice to steal $7,000 from her.
Mott did allege that authorities withheld a State Crime Lab report stating that gunpowder residue wasn't found on Chapel's raincoat.
"We neverlook at a person's clothes [for gunpowder residue] unless they have a gunshot hole," said Kelly Fite, supervisor of the lab.
Fite and Gwinnett District Attorney Daniel J. Porter said the lab did not perform a residue test on the jacket and no such report exists.