A black man who spent 44 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in North Carolina received a $25 million settlement for his incarceration.
Ronnie Long, 68, was released in 2020 after his convictions for rape and first-degree burglary were overturned in U.S. District Court.
Long settled his civil lawsuit Tuesday with the city of Concord, about 25 miles from Charlotte, for $22 million, after the State Bureau of Investigation previously settled for $3 million.
Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic, which represented Long, said the deal is the second-largest wrongful conviction settlement to date.
‘Have we found justice in this case? Absolutely not. No amount of money will ever compensate Ronnie for all he has lost, but this is a big step forward for him,” Jamie Lau, Long’s criminal defense attorney, said in a statement.
Ronnie Long, 64, received a $25 million settlement from the state of North Carolina on Tuesday after he was wrongly convicted of raping a white woman at knifepoint in 1976
Long was officially released from prison on August 27, 2020 after his defense team appealed false evidence and false testimony from Concord police officers.
The city subsequently issued a rare public apology to Long, which Sonya Pfeiffer, one of Long’s civil attorneys, said was part of his settlement demand.
“He also received a personal apology, a direct apology, which was also meaningful,” Pfeiffer said.
Lindsay Manson, a city spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday: “The City of Concord acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the significant errors in judgment and intentional misconduct by former city employees that led to Long’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment.”
Long, then 20, had been in prison after being convicted by an all-white jury of raping a white woman, Sarah Judson Bost, then 54, at knifepoint in her home on the evening of April 25, 1976.
At the time, Long lived in Concord and Bost was allegedly told by detectives that they believed her suspected rapist was in court in an unrelated case and that they should see if she recognized him.
Later that day, she picked up Long, who had appeared in court in a minor trespass case, and said she recognized his voice, NBC News reported.
Long was photographed as the only man wearing a leather jacket, which was reportedly worn the night of the attack, according to court records.
Long had an alibi for the time of the attack. His mother, with whom he lived at the time, and the mother of his child said he was in a group conversation with them.
He was getting ready to attend a party in Charlotte at the time of the attack, they said.
Long subsequently served an 80-year prison sentence for both rape and first-degree burglary.
Despite decades of calls to overturn the conviction, and even though DNA evidence obtained over the years pointed to his innocence, he remained in prison.
The DNA evidence in question was that hair samples and clothing fibers did not match Long. According to news reports, the evidence was not shared with the defense at the time of the trial.
Long stands in a hallway at the Albemarle Correctional Institution in Albemarle, east of Charlotte, NC in 2007
Long (left) is pictured with attorney Jamie Lau (right) on August 27 as he leaves jail after his charges were dropped in U.S. District Court
In 2015, it was revealed that 43 fingerprints taken at the scene ‘ruled out’ the inmate as the source of the prints. A request for a new trial was still denied by the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals that same year.
“I feel like the criminal justice system here in this state has failed me,” Long told 48 Hours.
Lau had previously told 48 Hours that Long’s defense team was unaware that 43 fingerprints had been found at the crime scene, but that none matched Long’s prints.
Long’s attorney also said his original defense team was unaware that a rape kit and other evidence had been taken from the victim or that a hair that did not match Long had been found at the scene.
North Carolina state attorneys argued that despite this apparent suppression of evidence, the jurors’ verdict would not have changed, so Long remained in prison.
His attorneys also accused Concord police officers of giving false testimony about the evidence at Long’s trial.
In a previous interview, Long told 48 Hours: “I’m 64, going towards 65. They took my life away when I was 20 years old. I have nothing but memories. Yet, and still, you say the evidence collected in the case was immaterial?’
Years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that Long’s rights had been violated by what it called “a disturbing and striking pattern of deliberate suppression of material evidence by police.”
The North Carolina Attorney General’s office then decided to drop Long’s case, leading to his release from Albemarle Correctional Institution.
After his convictions were vacated, Long also received a dismissal from the district attorney in North Carolina’s Cabarrus County, meaning he is completely cleared of all charges against him.
Long was officially released from prison on August 27, 2020 and was pardoned by Governor Roy Cooper four months later, with the state receiving $75,000 the following year.
Lau said his client has fought for criminal justice reform since his release, devoting some of his earnings to the case.
While Long was in prison, his parents died and once he got out, he said he planned to visit their grave and tell them “your son is free.”
Lau said his client has fought for criminal justice reform since his release, devoting some of his earnings to the case
“We are hopeful that this can begin the healing process for Mr. Long and our community, and that we can move forward together as we learn valuable lessons and ensure something like this never happens again,” Lau said.
“One thing he recognizes is that he is now in a position of power where he has achieved a record financial settlement, raising the bar for others,” said his other attorney, Pfeiffer.
While in prison, Long lost both of his parents and missed precious vacations and moments with his family.
Once he was released, Long said he planned to visit his parents’ grave and tell them that “your son is free.”
Manson said the city of Concord is “deeply remorseful for the past mistakes that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends and our community.”
“He has wrongfully spent 44 years, 3 months and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit,” the city statement said.