DALTON, Ga. — The attorney for a Tunnel Hill man accused in the murder of his reported mistress from Dalton asked for and was granted a continuance on Monday in a Gwinnett County court.

Charmane Goins is charged with murder in the 2014 strangulation death of Dalton’s Lauren Taylor, 26, who police say was having an affair with Goins, a convict-turned-mentor in the Dalton and Chattanooga areas. Taylor’s body was found Oct. 8 at Stone Mountain’s DeShong Park in Gwinnett County.

Defense attorney Adrian Patrick requested a continuance after a report from the FBI on its investigation was released to both the prosecution and the defense last week, and is also seeking further testing of a rape kit performed on Taylor’s body when she was found.

“We didn’t know about that and asked the state to test the rape kit,” Patrick said. “In order to perfect my representation of my client and have the truth come out, that is an essential piece of evidence.”

“Two, we got a report from the FBI we need time to examine,” he said. “The FBI came to Charmane’s home and took dirt from the home and dirt from the park. FBI tested the dirt from the park and from his home, and they ‘eliminated’ that dirt as being from the park.”

Patrick said if police can’t tie Goins to the park, that will be a crucial piece of evidence. He said he received the report on Friday and will seek to have the FBI agents who conducted the testing called as witnesses for the defense.

“I can’t have a trial on a murder case without this report and without being able to analyze it,” Patrick said. “That is some very specialized testing. It could show that he is not guilty and they can find out who truly killed Lauren Taylor.”

Assistant District Attorney Daryl Manns said the state was ready to present its case, but he understands the need to postpone the trial for a second time.

“Their argument was they received new evidence — a report back from the FBI, which really held nothing of particular importance to us and didn’t disclose anything which was new — and they wanted the time to investigate the report further,” Manns said. “The trial hasn’t been rescheduled yet and the case will go back into the regular judicial calendar, so I really have no firm timetable for when it will resume.”

At preliminary hearings in 2015, police testified that Goins admitted to a friend he was having an extramarital affair and told the friend he was trying to find a way to “get rid of her.”

Taylor’s body was found on a walking path and the cause of death was determined to be “manual strangulation.” The body had been covered with gasoline and set on fire.

Police believe text messages from Taylor’s phone explain why she was killed. In the Oct. 6 messages, Taylor is believed to have threatened to expose their affair to Goins’ wife.

“Don’t answer your phone one more time,” one message says, “and see if I don’t call your wife.”