American man awarded $25 million for wrongfully serving 44 years in prison

Ronnie Long was wrongly convicted and served 44 years in prison for a crime he did not commit (Photo: Charlotte Observer).

A man wrongly convicted and imprisoned for 44 years has reached a $25 million settlement with the city of Concord and the state of North Carolina in a lawsuit alleging government misconduct.

The settlement will end a lawsuit Ronnie Wallace Long initiated in 2021 to seek justice for himself.

Long, a black man now 68, was accused of raping a white woman in 1976. An all-white jury convicted him of rape and burglary and sentenced him to life in prison.

After a relentless, relentless fight since then to appeal, Long was released on a gubernatorial pardon in December 2020 after a court found Long was wrongfully convicted.

The settlement also includes a written public apology from the city of Concord for its role in Long's imprisonment.

“We deeply regret past wrongdoings that have caused great harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends and our community,” the city said in a statement.

“While there is no way to fully restore to Mr. Long and his family all that was taken from them, through this settlement we are doing everything in our power to right the wrongs of the past and take responsibility,” the statement said.

Under North Carolina law, a wrongfully imprisoned person is entitled to $50,000 a year in compensation, but the maximum amount a person can receive is $750,000. This means that in 2021, a few months after his release, Long would only be compensated for 15 years of wrongful imprisonment.

Long objected to this, stressing that the $750,000 was completely insufficient to compensate him for the 44 years of his loss of freedom. Long decided to take legal action against the government to claim his rights.

After three years, he agreed on the amount of compensation. In total, Long received $22 million in compensation from the Concord government and $3 million from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/nguoi-dan-ong-my-duoc-boi-thuong-25-trieu-usd-vi-ngoi-tu-oan-44-nam-20240110220937608.htm