Concord man receives $25M settlement following wrongful imprisonment for 44 years

CONCORD, N.C. — A Concord man will receive a $25 million settlement after serving nearly 44 years in prison for a crime he said he didn’t commit.

Ronnie Long, 68, was convicted of raping the widow of a Cannon Mills executive in 1976 by an all-white jury in Concord. Potentially exculpatory evidence was either intentionally withheld from his defense team or disappeared, and there was a tampered pool of potential jurors, according to Pfeiffer Rudolf Attorneys at Law.

In August 2020, Long’s conviction was overturned. In December of that year, he received a Pardon of Innocence from Gov. Roy Cooper.

[CLICK HERE to read Ronnie Long’s pardon]

On Jan. 8, 2024, the city of Concord agreed to pay Long $22 million and issued a public apology acknowledging the grave pain endured by Long and his family because of wrongdoing by the Concord Police Department and the city of Concord.

While reaching this agreement, the Concord City Council sent the following statement to Long and his attorneys:

“We are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community. 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 all that was taken from him, 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.”

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He also received $3 million from the State Bureau of Investigation due to the SBI’s role in hiding evidence from Long and his legal team that proved his innocence.

His total financial compensation will total $25 million, which is the largest wrongful conviction settlement in North Carolina history, as well as one of the largest wrongful conviction settlements nationwide, according to Pfeiffer Rudolf Attorneys at Law.

Channel 9 was there in 2020 as he walked free after the charges were dismissed.

“I’m disappointed, really, in a system that’s supposed to be about right and wrong,” he said in 2020.

His attorney, Sonya Pfeiffer, said the real question is what went right versus what went wrong.

“What went wrong at the beginning is we had corrupt police officers who were willing to not only cut corners but to hide evidence, to lose evidence,” Pfeiffer told Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz on Tuesday.

Pfeiffer said it was a fight to get the settlement, but what mattered more to Long was the city’s public apology acknowledging “errors in judgement and willful misconduct by previous city employees.”

Long received that apology in person from the mayor, city attorney, and city manager.

“To look somebody in the eye, sit across a table and say I’m sorry for what happened -- I think for Ronnie, it was such a long time coming that it’s impossible to describe the sense of relief that he felt and feels from that,” Pfeiffer said.

Jamie Lau, an advocate for those wrongfully convicted and supervising attorney with the Duke Law School, has been working with Long since 2015, and he says apologies like this are extremely rare.

“[I] don’t know of any case that has a municipality coming out with such a strong, accepting some responsibility, apologize for the harms caused, not just to Ronnie but his family, the community at large,” said Lau.

Lau did point out that there’s been no apology from the prosecutor’s office. Goetz reached out to the district attorney on Tuesday but didn’t receive a response.

Pfeiffer said she applauds the city’s effort but she isn’t sure when Long will feel justice.

“I think it’s hard to say that justice has been done when so much was taken from Ronnie and Ronnie’s family,” Pfeiffer said. “I think he can continue to seek peace. And I hope that in the rest of his days, he feels as though justice has been done.”

Long’s legal team also issued a statement following the settlement, saying:

“This result speaks to the magnitude of injustice that occurred in Mr. Long’s case,” said Chris Olson, one of Long’s attorneys. “Ronnie Long not only has his and his family’s name restored, but he has also exposed the unconscionable conduct that led to his wrongful conviction and received a full acknowledgment and apology from the city for the misconduct of its own. That apology goes a long way in helping Mr. Long heal.”

VIDEO: Ronnie Long’s first meal after spending 44 years in prison