It was victory at last for 68-year-old Ronnie Long who, who got a $25 million settlement more than three years after a court exonerated him. The North Carolina man spent 44 years in prison after a court wrongfully convicted him of rape.
As a black man, all odds were against him from the start. An all-white jury convicted him on October 1st, 1976, after they accused him of raping a white woman. He was only 21 years old when they sentenced him to life in prison.
However, Long did not commit this crime, and there were a lot of things wrong with his case. First, his jury selection was flawed. The chief of police and the sheriff removed the black potential jurors from his case.
Second, there was no physical evidence typing along to the rape and burglary. Also, he did not match the initial description of the suspect, who was a “yellow or really light-skinned Black male.” Furthermore, the victim did a rape kit which they ‘lost,’ and never found it again.
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The only piece of evidence the prosecution has against Long was the victim identifying him many weeks after the attack. According to his lawyers, this was “the product of a suggestive identification procedure arranged by the police to target Long.”
There were also many pieces of evidence from the scene, including the suspect’s hair and 43 fingerprints, but none of them belonged to Long. His attorneys also accused Concord police officers of giving false testimony about the evidence at Long’s trial.
Thanks to their persistence, they got Long’s case back in court and fought for his exoneration. According to Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation previously settled for $3 million. After that, he settled his civil lawsuit with Concord City for a historic $22 million.
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That makes a total of $25 million for Long and a great step in the direction of justice. According to his criminal attorney, Jamie Lau, this is a “big step forward” for Long. “It’s, obviously, a celebratory day today, knowing that Ronnie’s going to have his means met for the rest of his life with this settlement.
It’s been a long road to get to this point, so that’s a great outcome,” he said. The city also issued a very rare apology to Long. “We are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community.
Mr. Long suffered the extraordinary loss of his freedom and a substantial portion of his life because of this conviction. He wrongly served 44 years, three months, and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit,” the apology read.
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“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.
We are hopeful this can begin the healing process for Mr. Long and our community and that together we can move forward while learning valuable lessons and ensuring nothing like this ever happens again,” it concluded. Long’s win is a significant one for people who faced wrongful convictions and a sign of hope that they can also get justice one day.
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