Paris Lapriest Powell was freed in 2009. Police say he was identified by DNA evidence as a suspect in the October assault of 2 women at an Oklahoma City apartment.
A former death row inmate was arrested Friday, accused of involvement in a gang rape at an Oklahoma City apartment in October.
Paris Lapriest Powell, 37, of Oklahoma City, was identified by DNA evidence as a suspect in the assault of 2 women, police reported.
The victims said 3 "males pushed their way into their apartment" sometime after 2 a.m. Oct. 6 "and raped ... and assaulted both of them throughout the night," police reported.
1 woman described being tied to her bed and blindfolded during the attack.
3 young children were in the apartment at the time.
The victims said they obeyed the men's commands "because they were afraid for their lives and the children," police reported. The victims said they eventually escaped through a window and the men fled.
Powell pleaded no contest Oct. 5 to marijuana and cocaine possession. He was put on probation for 3 years.
Powell and another former death row inmate, Yancy L. Douglas, 37, were freed on Oct. 2, 2009. Both had won appeals of their murder convictions and prosecutors decided not to retry them because of witness problems.
Powell and Douglas had been convicted at separate murder trials in the 1993 fatal drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old girl.
Prosecutors alleged they intended to kill Derrick Smith, who was then a 17-year-old drug dealer. Smith was wounded but survived.
The girl, Shauna Farrow, was walking home with Smith at night when she was killed.
The 2 had met only once before, prosecutors said.
Death penalty opponents put Powell and Douglas on "The Innocence List."
They were identified as the 136th and 135th death row inmates exonerated since 1973.
Prosecutors dispute that characterization, saying Powell and Douglas were not exonerated.
Prosecutors contend both still are suspects in the 1993 shooting but that the evidence is too contradictory to go forward again.
Powell in December filed a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the state, Oklahoma County and former prosecutor Brad Miller.
Powell asked for $32 million in damages.
Powell's attorney in the civil case could not be reached for comment Friday.
Source: The Oklahoman, February 5, 2011
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