North Carolina officials announced on Tuesday that the city of Concord will pay a man $22 million after he spent 44 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.
Ronnie Long, 68, was sentenced to 80 years after being convicted of rape in 1976. Duke Law School Wrongful Convictions Clinic, which represented Long, said in a statement that he previously reached a $3 million settlement with the State Bureau of Investigation for his wrongful imprisonment.
Long, who is Black, was in his 20s when an all-white jury found him guilty of raping a white woman in Concord. The Charlotte Observer reported that the 54-year-old victim, who was the widow of a former textile executive, had connections to some of the jurors who convicted Long.
The clinic said that Black potential jurors were removed from the jury pool prior to the issuance of summonses and that Long did not match the original description of the the suspect, who was described by the victim as a “yellow or really light-skinned Black male.”
Long has maintained his innocence as evidence mounted that police, prosecutors, and other officials withheld key evidence from Long’s attorneys. In 2020, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals granted him a hearing regarding his 1976 conviction.
The Charlotte Observer reported that the Fourth Circuit ordered a lower court to reopen the case after it heard testimony about cops lying on the stand, lost or withheld evidence, and jury tampering.
A U.S. district judge vacated Long’s conviction, and the Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office said it would not pursue a new trial. WSOC reported that Governor Roy Cooper pardoned Long in December 2020, three months after his case was overturned.
“Hopefully incidents like this can be avoided. If you see injustice being done against somebody, then speak out against it. Speak out, if you don’t, then hate it, hate it with all your heart,” Long told WBTV shortly following his release in 2020.
Long’s total $25 million settlement is the second-largest payout ever recorded for a wrongful conviction. Long’s settlement also included a public apology from state officials.
Long was released from from prison in August 2020.
In a statement issued to The Charlotte Observer, Concord city spokeswoman Lindsay Manson said, “While there are no measures to fully restore to Mr. Long and his family all that was taken from them, through this agreement we are doing everything in our power to right the past wrongs and take responsibility.”
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[Featured image: Ronnie Long/WSOC]
