Innocent Oklahoma man Perry Lott is finally cleared of wrongful rape and burglary convictions after 30 YEARS in prison – as DNA testing from a rape kit shows he didn’t commit it
An innocent Oklahoma man who spent 30 years behind bars for crimes he didn’t commit has finally been acquitted of rape and burglary.
Perry Lott (61) was wrongly convicted of the crimes in 1988 – and he was released in 2018 after DNA tests from a rape kit showed he did not commit the crime.
But lawyers continued to argue over whether his convictions could be thrown out, with former District Attorney Paul Smith arguing that the tests did not completely clear him.
It wasn’t until Tuesday that a judge in Ada, Oklahoma, acquitted Lott and permanently dismissed the case.
Lott, who is now graying and uses a cane to walk, has spent half his life in prison – but he said he ‘never lost hope’ that ‘the truth would eventually prevail’.
Lott, 61, was wrongly convicted of the crimes in 1988 – and was freed in 2018 after DNA tests from a rape kit showed he did not commit the crime
Oklahoma man Perry Lott (pictured) spent 30 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit. He was eventually acquitted of rape and burglary after being released in 2018
It wasn’t until Tuesday that a judge in Ada, Oklahoma, acquitted Lott and permanently dismissed the case. (Pictured: Perry Lott, left, goes to hug Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck, who advocated for him, after the judge vacated his conviction)
He was pictured smiling as he walked out of the courthouse on Tuesday with his name finally cleared.
Lott walked out into the sunlight next to his daughter Candace Brown and his fiancee at the time of his arrest, Antoinette Brown.
“I have never lost hope that this day would come,” Lott, 61, said in a statement. ‘I had faith that the truth would prevail, even after 35 long years.
“I can finally close this door and move on with my life.”
The deal Lott was released in 2018 meant he could be released from prison while lawyers argued over whether the DNA evidence exonerated him of the rape.
DA Smith said at the time it had not, but his successor this year, Erik Johnson, reviewed the case and agreed that Lott’s conviction should be dismissed.
It also came after the legal organization the Innocence Project approached Johnson to advocate for Lott.
Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Adnan Sultan said ‘all the evidence pointed to his innocence’ but Lott was ‘denied justice’.
“We are grateful to District Attorney Erik Johnson for his commitment to righting this wrong,” Sultan said.
Perry Lott, with a moustache, in the photo series compared to the police composite sketch of the attacker, a man without a moustache
Lott inside a courtroom in Oklahoma City, July 9, 2018, with his brother Steve Lott, left; sister Tammy Lott, center; and brother Willie Lott, right; after being released from prison
Lott appears before Judge Steven Kessinger at the Pontotoc County Courthouse to vacate his 1988 rape conviction Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Oklahoma state law requires that a conviction be vacated so that a wrongfully convicted person can seek up to $175,000 in compensation from the state.
Lott’s case took place around the same time and in the same county as the convictions of Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot.
Their cases have been heavily scrutinized and have been the subject of numerous books, including John Grisham’s ‘The Innocent Man’, which he produced in a six-part documentary on Netflix.
A federal judge ordered Fontenot released, but Ward remains in prison.
The books and documentary also feature the high-profile acquittal of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, who were both convicted in the same county of murdering Ada waitress Debra Sue Carter in 1982.
That case had the same group of investigators and prosecutors, along with the same jailhouse informant who testified against Ward and Fontenot.
At one point, Williamson came within days of being executed. Both were later freed.