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In 1976, Ronnie Long of Concord, North Carolina was convicted of raping a white woman and was sentenced to serve 80 years in prison at the age of 21. After forty-four years, Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic discovered that not only did Ronnie not commit the heinous crime, but also that the police department was actively tampering with evidence and the jury pool to ensure that he was found guilty.
Somehow, people still criticize us for saying, “F***k the police.”
Back in December 2020, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper officially pardoned Long and the state promptly sent him a $750,000 cash mea culpa. We did the quick math and that lump sum averages out to $17,045.45 per year. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department maintains that earning less than $30,000 per year qualifies a person as impoverished. That’s what Ronnie Long’s life was worth to the state of North Carolina and he was disgusted at the thought…
Now according to WCNC, Ronnie Long is no longer impoverished but he damn sure has not been made whole. Following the “Ok, take this lil’ money and STFU’ move that the state pulled, Ronnie and his lawyers filed a civil lawsuit against the city and all the officers involved with the campaign against him and he was recently “awarded” a $25 million settlement, the biggest in North Carolina history. The city of Concord will pay out $22 million while the State Bureau of Investigation will pay the other $3 million.
It’s still nowhere near enough to compensate this man for his loss of life. As far as we’re concerned, that $750,000 was spitting in his face and anything less than $100 million is a slap in his face.
Long’s lawyer, Jamie Lau, praised the city for their decision.
“Here, the city of Concord really owned up to the past misdeeds of city employees which is really remarkable,” Lau said. “I don’t know of any other case where a municipality has issued such an apology as part of a civil settlement.”
Making history for a settlement doesn’t impress us. The city and state stole FORTY-FOUR YEARS of this man’s life. Truthfully, no number can satisfy a wrong of that magnitude but they damn sure could have tried harder than $25 million.
