{"id":2145652,"date":"2024-01-10T16:25:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T21:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-wrongfully-convicted-for-rape-who-spent-44-years-in-prison-receives-25m-settlement\/"},"modified":"2024-01-10T16:30:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T21:30:48","slug":"man-wrongfully-convicted-for-rape-who-spent-44-years-in-prison-receives-25m-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-wrongfully-convicted-for-rape-who-spent-44-years-in-prison-receives-25m-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Man wrongly convicted of rape, spent 44 years in prison, gets $25M settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fman-wrongfully-convicted-for-rape-who-spent-44-years-in-prison-receives-25m-settlement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2145652&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">1976- Ronnie Long.\u00a0(Photo via: Concord Police Department\/the Charlotte\u2062 Observer via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>OAN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/tag\/brooke-mallory\">Brooke \u200bMallory<\/a><br \/>1:10 PM \u2013 Wednesday, January 10, 2024<\/h2>\n<p>A $25 million\u2064 settlement has been reached between a North \u2063Carolina city and the state of North\u2063 Carolina in response to a complaint accusing authorities of \u2064misconduct,\u200b according to the victim\u2019s\u200b attorneys on \u2063Tuesday. The man \u200chad been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned \u200cfor 44 years.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-3\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px; text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-3'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The settlement includes a public written apology \u200cfrom the city \u2064of Concord \u200dfor its role in Ronnie Wallace Long\u2019s wrongful incarceration. This settlement brings \u200ban\u200b end to the wrongful incarceration case brought by his attorneys\u200b in 2021. As part of the \u2062settlement, the city has agreed to pay $22 million of the $25 million settlement.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-jersey-teacher-accused-of-forcibly-removing-students-hijab-her-lawyer-says-it-didnt-happen\/\" title=\"New Jersey Teacher Accused Of Forcibly Removing Student\u2019s Hijab. Her Lawyer Says It Didn\u2019t Happen.\">caused tremendous harm<\/a> \u2063to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and\u2062 our community,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWhile there are no measures\u2062 to fully restore to \u200dMr. Long and \u200dhis family all that was taken from them, through this agreement we are doing everything in our\u2064 power \u2064to right the\u2062 past wrongs and take\u2063 responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Long, \u2063now 68-years-old,\u2064 was wrongly \u200ccharged with raping a White woman when he was a young \u200dman living in Concord, North Carolina. In 1976, an all-White jury in Cabarrus County found him guilty of\u2062 burglary and rape. At the age\u2064 of 21, Long was\u200d sentenced to\u200d two life \u2063terms.<\/p>\n<p>Long\u2063 received support from a wrongful convictions clinic at \u2063Duke\u2064 University\u2019s law\u2064 school throughout his criminal case\u200d appeal. <\/p>\n<p>According to Long\u2019s attorneys,\u200d over forty fingerprints collected from \u2063the crime scene were never compared to Long&#8217;s. Additionally, his defense team was denied access to the semen \u2064samples.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2020, a federal appeals court granted Long\u200b a \u200csecond\u200c hearing as part of his request for relief. His conviction was\u2062 quickly overturned, and\u2063 he\u2062 was released from prison. Later that year, Governor Roy Cooper fully pardoned him based on his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, Long received $750,000 from a state \u200dpanel, the maximum \u2062amount provided to victims of wrongful incarceration. <\/p>\n<p>Following that,\u2062 he filed a lawsuit in federal court in\u2062 Raleigh, \u200calleging\u2062 that Concord\u200d police officers had engaged in &#8220;extraordinary misconduct&#8221; that led to his unjust conviction and imprisonment, violating his constitutional\u200b rights.<\/p>\n<p>According to a press release from his attorneys, Long\u2064 also\u2064 received\u2063 an \u200cadditional $3 million from the State\u2062 Bureau of Investigation as part\u200c of the settlement &#8220;due to the SBI&#8217;s role \u200din concealing evidence from \u2062Mr. Long and his legal team that proved his \u2063innocence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Concord \u200cofficials\u2064 also \u200dstated on \u2062Tuesday that\u200b they \u2063&#8221;acknowledge and accept responsibility for the significant errors in\u200b judgment and willful misconduct by\u200c previous city employees that \u200bled to\u2062 Long\u2019s wrongful conviction \u200cand\u200b imprisonment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Long\u2019s lawyers emphasized the \u200dimportance of the city&#8217;s apology\u2062 to their client, despite calling the financial payouts &#8220;one of the largest\u200d wrongful \u200bconviction settlements&#8221; in the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThis result speaks to the \u2062magnitude of injustice that occurred in Mr. Long\u2019s case,\u201d said Chris Olson, one of Long\u2019s lawyers. \u2064He also added that the \u201capology goes a \u200dlong way in helping Mr. \u200dLong heal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" data-placeholder-image=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/complianz-gdpr\/assets\/images\/placeholders\/twitter-minimal.jpg\" class=\"cmplz-placeholder-element twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ronnie Long was \u2062convicted by \u2064an all-white \u200djury in North Carolina\u2064 in 1976 after a \u2064white woman was raped. \u200dHe spent 44 \u200dyears in prison. Turns out \u2062he \u200bdidn&#8217;t do it. Mr. Long was freed in 2020. Now he&#8217;s received \u200ba $25 \u200cmillion settlement for wrongful imprisonment. Not nearly enough\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EplSDwQ7Ou\">pic.twitter.com\/EplSDwQ7Ou<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Don Lewis (@DonLew87) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DonLew87\/status\/1744869322650980393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 9, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" async data-cmplz-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts\">https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"rc-widget-10bad2\" data-rc-widget data-widget-host=\"habitat\" data-endpoint=\"\/\/trends.revcontent.com\" data-widget-id=\"278641\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"dpsp-share-text\" style=\"margin-bottom:10px\"> \t\t \t\tShare this \u2063post!\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>Several NFL teams begin\u200c their \u200dsearch\u2064 for\u200b new head coaches.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>The prosecution of January\u200c 6th attendees continues.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>Ecuador\u2019s president declares a state of\u200d \u201cinternal armed conflict\u201d and identifies \u200dmore than 20 gangs as terrorist groups, making them military targets.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>The SEC gets \u201chacked\u201d into\u2063 approving\u200b BTC ETF, part five of the Epstein files gets dropped, and Ecuador erupts into chaos.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>Google\u2064 is set to go before a federal \u200djury in Boston on Tuesday \u200cover accusations that its processors \u200cinfringe a computer \u200bscientist\u2019s \u2064patents.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>OpenAI and its financial backer Microsoft are sued in Manhattan federal court by \u2063a pair of nonfiction authors who \u200dclaim the companies misused their work to train the AI \u200bmodels behind AI-based services.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>SpaceX\u2063 sues a U.S. labor \u200cboard to block its case accusing the\u2062 company \u2063of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/isis-takes-responsibility-for-iran-bombings-at-least-84-people-killed\/\" title=\"ISIS claims responsibility for deadly bombings in Iran, leaving 84 dead\">illegally firing \u2064employees<\/a>, calling CEO Elon Musk \u201ca distraction and\u2063 embarrassment.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3>ChatGPT was well on its way to becoming a household\u200b name\u200b even before 2023 kicked off.<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> rnrn  <\/p>\n<h2> What \u200bwas the amount of the settlement reached in the wrongful\u200c incarceration case in North\u200c Carolina?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  A $25 Million Settlement\u2063 Reached in Wrongful Incarceration Case in North Carolina<\/p>\n<p>A $25 million settlement has been reached between a North Carolina city and the \u200bstate of North Carolina in response to a complaint accusing authorities of\u200c misconduct,\u200d according \u200cto the victim&#8217;s attorneys on Tuesday. \u200dThe man in\u2064 question \u2064had been wrongfully convicted and\u2063 imprisoned for 44 years.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2063settlement includes a public written\u200b apology\u200b from the city of Concord for its role in Ronnie Wallace\u2063 Long&#8217;s wrongful \u200bincarceration. This settlement brings an end to the wrongful incarceration case brought by\u2063 his attorneys in 2021.\u2063 As part of the settlement, the city\u2062 has\u2064 agreed to pay $22 \u2064million of the $25 \u200cmillion\u200b settlement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs \u200dthat caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community,&#8221; the statement read.\u2063 &#8220;While there are no measures to\u200d fully restore to \u200cMr. Long \u2063and his \u200cfamily all that\u2063 was taken from them, through this agreement we are doing everything\u200c in our\u200d power to right the\u200d past wrongs and take responsibility.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Long, now 68-years-old, was wrongly charged with \u200braping a White woman\u2062 when he was a young man living in Concord, North Carolina. In 1976, an all-White jury in Cabarrus County found him \u200cguilty \u200cof burglary\u2062 and rape. At the age of 21, Long was sentenced to two life terms.<\/p>\n<p>Long received support from a wrongful convictions clinic at Duke University&#8217;s law school throughout his criminal case appeal.\u2063 According to Long&#8217;s attorneys, over\u200c forty fingerprints collected from the crime scene were never compared to Long&#8217;s. Additionally, his defense team\u200d was denied access\u200b to the semen samples.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2020, a federal appeals court granted Long a second\u2064 hearing as part of \u2064his request for relief. His\u2062 conviction was quickly overturned, and he was released from prison. Later that year, Governor\u2064 Roy Cooper fully pardoned him\u2062 based on his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, Long\u200b received \u2063$750,000 \u200bfrom \u200ca state panel, the maximum amount provided to victims of wrongful \u2064incarceration. Following \u200dthat, he filed \u2062a lawsuit in federal court in \u200cRaleigh, alleging that Concord police officers had \u2063engaged in \u2063&#8221;extraordinary misconduct&#8221; that led to his unjust conviction and imprisonment, violating his constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<p>According to a press \u200crelease from his attorneys, Long also received an additional $3 million from the State Bureau of Investigation as part of \u2063the settlement &#8220;due to the SBI&#8217;s role\u2064 in concealing evidence from Mr. Long and his legal team that proved his innocence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Concord officials also stated on Tuesday that they \u2063&#8221;acknowledge and accept responsibility \u200cfor the significant errors \u2064in judgment\u200d and willful misconduct\u200c by previous city employees that led \u200cto Long&#8217;s \u2064wrongful \u200cconviction and imprisonment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Long&#8217;s lawyers emphasized the\u2062 importance of the city&#8217;s\u2062 apology to their client, despite calling the financial payouts &#8220;one of the largest wrongful conviction settlements&#8221; in the country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This result speaks \u200dto the magnitude\u200b of injustice that occurred in Mr. Long&#8217;s case,&#8221; said\u200d Chris Olson, one of Long&#8217;s lawyers. \u2062He also added that the &#8220;apology goes a long\u200c way\u2062 in helping Mr. Long heal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The case \u200cof Ronnie Long\u2062 highlights\u200b the flaws present in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">criminal justice system<\/a>, where \u200dinnocent individuals can spend\u200c decades behind \u2063bars for crimes they did not commit. While\u2063 the financial settlement \u2062brings some form of compensation, it can never truly make up for the lost years and the trauma\u200c endured \u2064by \u200dLong and his \u2063loved ones. It is crucial to continue working towards reforms \u2062that prevent such injustices from happening in the future \u2063and ensure\u200d that all individuals are\u2063 treated fairly and\u200c justly within the legal system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ronnie Long, in 1976, reached a $25 million settlement with a North Carolina city and the state over a misconduct complaint. The victim&#8217;s attorneys confirmed the agreement, which resolves the accusation of authorities&#8217; wrongdoing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1866,"featured_media":2145653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2145652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2145652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2145653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2145652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2145652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2145652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}