SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A man whose conviction for rape was overturned in 2016 was back in court Monday, this time in a new sexual assault case.
George Perrot, 51, is charged with rape, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and gross lewdness. He was ordered held without bail.
Perrot was arrested in Lawrence in January. The Essex District Attorney's office said he was found unconscious, on top of a woman who was also unconscious, on a sidewalk near Broadway in Lawrence.
That woman, who was also only partially clothed, was revived with Narcan. She told police Perrot had sexually assaulted her after giving her a powder police said was heroin.
The Essex DA's office also said in a release that Perrot "charged at the police officer when he woke him up, and was combative during the booking process."
"I detected an [sic] strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting before I deployed my baton and ordered Perrot to place his hands behind his back, which was met with him raising his right fist and attempting to punch me," the arresting officer wrote in the police report.
That report also alleges Perrot used racial slurs and threatened to kill one of the arresting officers and his family.
Perrot recently got out of prison, his conviction for a 1985 rape in Springfield overturned after activists went to work on his behalf. He had served 30 years.
His attorney, Thomas Torissi, said Perrot was living on the streets, drinking, and using drugs following his release—but Torissi said his client did not rape the alleged victim.
"Once he was released, he was released with no direction, and he fell into what would be expected, a life of living on the street, of drugs and alcohol," Torissi said. "This particular case, I suggest, will certainly not take 30 years for justice."
Last week, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, whose district includes Springfield, posted about Perrot on Facebook, seeming to suggest that Perrot had been guilty in the first case.
"Originally sentenced to life in prison, for a horrific Springfield rape, which was negated in 2016 by a superior court judge granting a new trial," his post read. "He just re-offended in Lawrence."
Perrot is due back in court June 10 for a dangerousness hearing.
Photo: Getty Images
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WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports