Ronnie Long settles with Concord for millions after his wrongful rape conviction

The city of Concord has reached a $22 million settlement with Ronnie Long, who served 44 years of an 80-year sentence after being wrongfully convicted of rape in 1976.

“The city of Concord acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the significant errors in judgment and willful misconduct by previous city employees that led to Long’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment,” according to a statement Tuesday morning by city spokeswoman Lindsay Manson.

Long, 68, previously reached a $3 million settlement with the FBI, according to the Duke Law School Wrongful Convictions Clinic, which represented him in the case starting in 2015.

The combined settlements of $25 million represent the second largest wrongful conviction settlement ever recorded, according to the clinic.

In a statement, clinic lawyer Jamie Lau said he applauded the city for “taking responsibility and making it possible for Mr. Long to move on from the nightmare he lived for more than half his life.

“No amount of money will ever compensate Ronnie Long for the 44 years he spent incarcerated and the indifference of numerous elected officials who fought to keep him incarcerated despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence,” Lau said.

“While he was in prison his parents passed away; he missed birthdays, graduations, funerals, and other important events that mark a person’s life,” Lau said. “He can never get this time back.”

The settlement “speaks to the magnitude of injustice that occurred,” said Chris Olson, one of three lawyers who represented Long in the settlement.

The apology by the city “goes a long way in helping Mr. Long heal,” said Olson, who represented Long with Charlotte lawyers Sonya Pfeiffer and David Rudolf.

Government corruption, jury tampering

In the mid-1970s, Long was a 20-year-old Black man living in Concord when he was accused of raping a white woman.

He was convicted in 1976 by an all-white jury that included members who had connections to the victim — the 54-year-old widow of a former textile executive at Cannon Mills, the town’s biggest employer.

Long was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Long steadfastly maintained his innocence over the years. Decades of appeals were supported by a growing body of proof that police, state officials and the prosecutor withheld key evidence from Long’s lawyers at his trial.

In 2020, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to give Long a new hearing in his appeal of his conviction.

“The interests of justice call for immediately remanding the case to the district court,” N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein and N.C. Special Deputy Attorney General Phillip Rubin said in a motion at the time.

Freed after 44 years, Ronnie Long copes with an alien world

What led to Long’s exoneration

Citing a record of government corruption, from jury tampering to lost or withheld evidence to Concord police detectives lying on the witness stand, the Fourth Circuit ordered a lower court to reopen Long’s case. Long’s conviction was quickly vacated by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles.

The Cabarrus County District Attorney’s Office had already said it wouldn’t seek a new trial.

“You ever seen a dog,” Long told the Observer after his release from prison in 2020. “And you tie him up in your backyard and keep him on that chain for about a week or two?

“And then once you turn him loose, he take off, I mean, he gone. The dog is rippin’ and running everywhere. That’s the elation I felt to be out of bondage.”

What’s the price for decades of wrongful imprisonment? Ronnie Long sues NC city, cops

’He wrongly served 44 years, 3 months and 17 days’

In Tuesday’s statement, Manson said the city is “deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community,” according to the city statement.

“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, 3 months and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit.

“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.”

North Carolina just paid Ronnie Long $750,000. ‘Hell no, I ain’t satisfied,’ he says.