John,

Today, Perry Lott was exonerated in Ada, Oklahoma, after 35 years of wrongful conviction and 30 years of incarceration for a 1987 rape and burglary.

“I have never lost hope that this day would come,” said Perry. “I had faith that the truth would prevail — even after 35 long years. I am grateful to everyone who supported me and helped in my fight for freedom. I can finally shut this door and move on with my life.”


Please take a moment right now to read more about Perry’s story and share the news of his exoneration with your friends and family online. Then, help support Perry as he continues to rebuild his life after wrongful conviction by donating to his personal fundraising page.
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Post-conviction DNA testing performed in 2014 from the victim’s rape kit excluded Perry, proving that he did not commit the crime. His Innocence Project attorney filed a motion to vacate his conviction in 2018, but the former District Attorney Paul Smith opposed the motion. Instead, District Attorney Smith offered only to modify his sentence, which Perry ultimately accepted in order to be freed in 2018. In 2023, the Innocence Project approached newly elected District Attorney Erik Johnson, and asked him to vacate Perry’s conviction based on the exonerating evidence. After a thorough review of the case, District Attorney Johnson agreed..

On Nov. 3, 1987, a woman arrived home from work at 1:15 a.m. and was attacked by a man with a gun who pushed her into her house, took $120 from her purse, and raped her. After the attack, she called police, and described her attacker as a Black male between 5’ 7” and 6' 2” with a front partial gold tooth. The survivor, who is white, couldn’t determine his hair length or body size because he was wearing a cap and a jacket, and, by her own admission, she was “not a good character judge” of physical build and was “a poor judge” of height.


Perry Lott, with a mustache, in the photo lineup compared to the police composite sketch of the assailant, a man without a mustache. (Image: Innocence Project)

Following the attack on Nov. 4, Detectives Mike Baskin and Jeff Crosby noticed “a Black guy parked on 15th Street” near the survivor’s home. They approached the car, spoke with the man — who was later identified as Perry — and noted he had a gold tooth.

The next day, Perry agreed to go into the police station for further questioning and was placed in a lineup. None of the other men in the lineup had gold teeth, but were given gold foil to cover their teeth as a means of simulating the partial gold tooth described by the survivor. But because of this, Perry was the only man who could fully open his mouth during the lineup, and after about thirty minutes, the woman identified him as her attacker, and he was arrested. Later in 2014, she told detectives that she “can't think of anything that overly stands out that made me select [Mr. Lott].”

The State’s case rested entirely on the survivor’s questionable identification of Perry, even though he had an alibi and did not meet the physical description of the attacker — she described the perpetrator as clean-shaven, but Perry had a mustache. Despite this, after just one day, the jury convicted him of first-degree rape, second-degree burglary, and other related charges. He was sentenced to a term of 100 years.

Eyewitness misidentification is the leading contributing factor of wrongful convictions and has contributed to 64% of the Innocence Project’s 245 exonerations and releases. And cross racial identification, as in this case, is particularly challenging. In 2022, the National Registry of Exonerations report on Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States found that 60% of sexual assault exonerees are Black, but less than a quarter of people in prison for sexual assault are Black. This suggests that Black people are almost eight times more likely than white people to be falsely identified and convicted of sexual assault.

Learn more about Perry’s case and help us share the good news about his exoneration on social media. Then, consider showing your support for Perry by making a donation to his personal fundraiser.
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Thank you so much for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team



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The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism.

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