Ronnie Long, a black man who was wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in the 1970s and served 44 years in prison, has reached a settlement with a central North Carolina city and the state of North Carolina, his attorney announced Tuesday.
Long, now 68, was found guilty by an all-white jury in Cabarrus County, Concord, of raping Sarah Judson Bost, then 54, at knifepoint on the night of April 25. Following his trial, he was sentenced to two life sentences. 1976. Long was 21 years old at the time.
However, Long never committed a crime, and in August 2020, a federal appeals court ordered a new hearing to seek relief for Long. Almost immediately his conviction was reversed and Long was released from prison. Later that year, Governor Roy Cooper granted him a full pardon for his innocence.
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Ronnie Long is seen in an undated photo provided by the Concord Police Department. (Concord Police Department/Charlotte Warden, via AP)
Mr. Long's lawyers at Duke University Law School's Wrongful Conviction Clinic said there was no physical evidence linking Mr. Long to the rape and robbery, that the more than 40 fingerprints taken from the scene were never shared, and that Mr. Long He said it didn't match his fingerprints. Semen samples were also never disclosed to the defense.
His lawyers also claim that the police chief and county sheriff inexplicably removed nearly all black prospective jurors from jury rolls before subpoenas were issued, according to Duke Law. did.
A few months later, the state commission awarded Mr. Long $750,000. By law, this is the state's maximum compensation for victims of wrongful imprisonment. He then filed a lawsuit in federal court in Raleigh, in part accusing Concord police officers of “extraordinary misconduct” that violated his civil rights and led to his wrongful conviction and incarceration.
Concord is located approximately 40 miles northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina. (Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Now, the city of Concord, located about 40 miles northeast of Charlotte, has agreed to pay a $22 million settlement. As part of the settlement, Mr. Long will also receive $3 million from the National Bureau of Investigation for “the SBI's role in concealing from Mr. Long and his legal team the evidence that established his innocence,” according to his the attorney's news release said. According to the Associated Press, the complaint states:
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“We deeply regret the past mistakes that caused great harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community,” the city said in a statement. “While there is no way to fully recover all that was taken from Mr. Long and his family, through this agreement we are doing everything in our power to right the wrongs of the past and take responsibility.”
The combined $25 million settlement is the largest wrongful judgment settlement in North Carolina history.
Long's attorneys said the city's statement is very important to their client.
The map pinpoints Concord, North Carolina. (Google Maps)
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“This outcome speaks to the magnitude of the injustice that occurred in Mr. Long's case,” said Chris Olson, one of the attorneys in the case, adding that “an apology will go a long way toward Mr. Long's recovery.” .
“Did we find justice in this case? Absolutely not,” Long's criminal lawyer Jamie Lau said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail.
“No amount of money can compensate for everything Ronnie has lost, but this is a big step forward for him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
