After serving 44 years, three months, and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit, Mr. Ronnie Long recently settled a civil lawsuit with the city of Concord and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations for a staggering $25 million. This settlement stands as the second largest wrongful conviction settlement ever, highlighting the magnitude of the injustice that Mr. Long endured.
In 1976, Long was convicted of raping a 54-year-old white woman by an all-white jury. However, in 2020, Long's conviction was ultimately vacated, exposing a shocking reality: crucial evidence, including semen samples and fingerprints from the actual crime scene, had been suppressed. These samples did not match Long's DNA profile, and the intentional withholding of this exculpatory evidence by law enforcement came to light.
