A Massachusetts man who was released from prison after serving 30 years for a Springfield rape he says he didn't commit is facing new charges.
The Essex district attorney's office has charged George Perrot with raping a woman in Lawrence in January, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, and open and gross lewdness.
In a statement, the DA's office said that on January 4, Perrot was found unconscious on top of a partially naked, unconscious woman.
The woman was revived by using the overdose drug Narcan, and later told police Perrot offered her drugs, and that she didn't remember anything after that. She said she did not consent to sexual contact with Perrot.
Perrot pleaded not guilty in Salem Superior Court to all charges Monday.
Perrot was convicted of raping 78-year-old Mary Prekop in her Springfield home in 1985, based in part on one strand of hair. He was freed in 2016 after a judge found an FBI agent's testimony about microscopic hair evidence was flawed. Prosecutors dismissed those charges in 2017.
"He's been treated very poorly by the system, as we know, and even once released, he was released with no direction for counseling — and drugs and alcohol became a part of his life," his attorney Tom Torrisi told NEPR.
As for this most recent case, Torrisi said his client is maintaining his innocence.
"The facts are eventually going to speak for themselves," he said.
Torrisi said some news articles he's seen "certainly depict what I would suggest is a far cry from the truth in this matter, and what the facts will ultimately turn out to be."
Perrot is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing next month.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
