Michael Harold Chapel

Michael Harold Chapel is a former Gwinnett County Georgia police officer, who was convicted in the April 15, 1993 murder of fifty-three-year-old Emogene Thompson outside a muffler shop on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Sugar Hill, Georgia.

Chapel has maintained his innocence for over twenty-eight years. Supporters point to a number of instances of lost, manipulated, and suppressed exculpatory evidence.

On April 15, 2021 the newly elected District Attorney, Patsy Austin-Gatson, announced the formation of the Convictions Integrity Unit, to look into past wrongful convictions in Gwinnett County.

Murder of Emogene Thompson

On the evening of April 15, 1993, Thompson was shot twice in the head while she was seated in her parked car.[1][2] Her body was discovered inside her car, with the ignition on but not running, the following morning at Gwinnco Muffler Shop on Peachtree Industrial Blvd., in Buford. The primary evidence against Chapel was that a police car was seen by witnesses that night along with Thompson's car.

Trial and Conviction

The case was presided over by Judge Bishop. Verdicts in the case were returned from a jury on September 8, 1995 and September 10, 1995 of life imprisonment, instead of the death penalty.[3]

Completely independent of both the prosecution and a mandatory Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA) review of the accusations, Congressman James Traficant launched an investigation of his own into the charges against Chapel.[4]

References
  1. "Overview". Gwinnett-online.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  2. "Chapel v. The State. FindLaw's Supreme Court of Georgia case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2012-03-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. de Szigethy, J. R. "Christmas In Murdertown". www.americanmafia.com. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
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