Ronnie Long, the man who spent over 44 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, speaks with WCNC Charlotte Reporter Michelle Boudin.
It was a record payout: The state of North Carolina, the city of Concord and the State Bureau of Investigation paid Ronnie Long $25 million after he spent 44 years in prison for a crime he never did.
In an exclusive interview with WCNC Charlott
Just 21 years old when he was sent to prison for a rape he didn't commit, Long lost his mother, father and two sisters during the 44 years before he was freed.
"I ain't been compensated for nothing," Long said. "Bring my mother and father back. Bring me my 44 years back. Bring back my two sisters, [and] now I'm compensated."
Long's attorneys filed a suit against the city of Concord, the state and SBI shortly after his release. The case was settled, and Long was awarded $25 million, a record amount for North Carolina. Part of the settlement included an apology from the city of Concord, something also rare in these kinds of cases.
"If you have a chief of police, and he's tampering with the jury list, if you've got detectives that plant evidence, you commit perjury, you destroy evidence, and you knew with all the things you were doing intentionally, you were seeing me to death row," Long declared. "You were trying to kill me."
The city's apology included accepting responsibility for "significant errors in judgment and willful misconduct by previous city employees that led to Long's wrongful conviction and imprisonment."
Among the detectives named in the civil suit was Van Isenhour, who had a criminal record for theft and forgery by the 1980s. WCNC Charlotte reached out to attorneys for Isenhour and detective John Taylor, also named in the case. They didn't respond but told Long's attorneys both men were not in good health and couldn't even be deposed for the lawsuit.
"You didn’t put me in the penitentiary wrongfully; you put me in there intentionally," Long said. "There's a difference between wrongful and intentional."e, Long said there's still no justice because his case is about the people who knowingly helped convict him and those who withheld evidence that could have freed him sooner, including the former Cabarrus County district attorney who recently stepped down. #RonnieLong #News
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7 май 2024
