"Ronnie Long Receives $25M Settlement After 44 Years Wrongful Imprisonment"

Ronnie Long, a Black man wrongfully convicted of raping a White woman in the 1970s, has settled with a North Carolina city and the state for $25 million after serving 44 years in prison. Long, now 68, was released in 2020 after a federal appeals court ordered a new hearing and his conviction was vacated. The settlement, the largest in North Carolina history for a wrongful conviction, includes $22 million from the city of Concord and $3 million from the State Bureau of Investigation for hiding evidence that proved Long's innocence. Long's attorneys emphasized the importance of the city's apology and stated that while the settlement is a step forward, it can never fully compensate Long for all that he lost.