Published January 27, 2016
A Massachusetts judge has ordered a new trial for a man who has spent 30 years in prison after being convicted of raping an elderly woman in 1985 based in part on one strand of hair.
WCVB-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1PjJWUc) that the judge decided Tuesday that testimony by an FBI agent that a hair found in the 78-year-old victim's Springfield home matched George Perrot was faulty.
The U.S. Department of Justice flagged Perrot's case in 2014 as one of hundreds that involved erroneous statements from FBI agents about hair analysis. Microscopic hair analysis has since been found to be far from exact.
Perrot was arrested at 17. He has always denied raping the woman.
Perrot's mother thanked the judge and Perrot's legal team for giving him a "second chance" at life.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-who-has-spent-30-years-in-prison-for-rape-gets-new-trial