Decades After Wrongful Conviction, Man Freed from Prison

BOSTON, MA - After serving 30 years behind bars, a Springfield man convicted of the 1985 rape of an elderly woman was released from jail on Wednesday.

George Perrot, 48, was convicted of rape in 1992 largely because of a single strand of hair found at the scene of the assault of his neighbor, who was 78 at the time of her attack. His conviction was overturned last month.

Superior Court Judge Robert Kane, saying the FBI testimony on microscopic hair analysis was flawed, released Perrot and said he is unlikely to be convicted if prosecutors were to re-try the charge.

Advancements in forensics debunked the legitimacy of the analysis of the hair, further confirming the innocence Perrot has maintained all these years. The victim, who never identified Perrot as her attacker, had said her attacker was clean-shaven; Perrot had a beard.

There have been 337 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States since 1989, according to the Innocence Project.

Photo courtesy of WHDH, 7-News