SALEM, Mass. (WHDH/AP) — A Lawrence man who spent three decades in prison for a rape he says he did not commit before being freed in 2016 was ordered held without bail Monday on several charges, including rape, after police say they found him passed out on top of a partially-naked unconscious woman in January.
George Perrot, 51, appeared in Salem Superior Court to answer to charges of rape, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and open and gross conduct.
He has a dangerousness hearing scheduled for June 10.
Officers responding to the area of 272 Broadway on Jan. 4 found Perrot and the victim unconscious on the ground, police said. Perrot allegedly raped the woman, charged at a police officer who woke him up and acted combatively during the booking process.
The victim was revived using Narcan and told officers that Perrot allegedly offered her drugs but she did not remember anything after that. The victim also told police she did not consent to sexual contact and that she was not in a relationship with Perrot.
Perrot was indicted on March 25. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
Perrot was convicted and sent to prison on allegations he raped a 78-year-old woman in Springfield in 1985 when he was 17. But he was freed in 2016 based on flawed testimony about microscopic hair evidence.
An investigation is ongoing.
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