He spent 44 years in US prison unjustly and was compensated with several million

In the last hours, Ronnie Long received compensation of US$25,000,000 for the forty-four years he spent in prison for a crime he did not commit. The black man had been convicted of robbery and rape in 1976, in a trial where it was found that evidence was hidden. Along with the payment, the now ex-convict received a formal apology from the US city where he was tried.

Although the release occurred in 2020, the fact became relevant again last Tuesday, when the city of Concord, North Carolina made a publication on its official website about the case. “He mistakenly served a sentence of forty-four years, three months and seventeen days in prison for a crime he did not commit.“says a fragment of the statement that he issued as a public apology.

He served 44 years in prison in the US for a crime he did not commit and was compensated

Long regained freedom in 2020, aged sixty-five., after being convicted in 1976, when he was twenty-one. At the time, He was tried for robbery and rape of a white woman and convictedas reviewed CBS News. As the man claimed over the years, the jury was composed entirely of white people and was hand-picked by police officers of Cabarrus County.

Thanks to the legal assistance he received in prison, Long was able to prove that More than forty fingerprints from the crime scene that did not match his were never shown at trial. In that same line, Semen samples were also claimed that were never shared with the defense and that later disappeared.. As a result of the irregularities and after a review of the case, Long was summoned to a hearing and released in 2020., after forty-four years in prison. Along with freedom, he was first awarded compensation of US$750,000, the maximum allowed by law for wrongful convictions, and then a payment of US$3,000,000 from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Beyond this, in 2021 The man filed a lawsuit against the city of Concord and the state of North Carolina. After a long dispute, Justice determined that the sum of US$25,000,000 be paid as compensation, an amount that will be mainly faced by the city. Despite the economic difference, Long's lawyers stressed to the aforementioned media that The man was especially comforted by Concord's public apology.since he felt it was a way to clear his name.