Ronnie Long’s story is a tragic tale of injustice and prosecutorial misconduct. In 1976, he was convicted of a crime he did not commit in Concord, North Carolina, and spent 44 years in prison.
Fortunately, Long was recently released after a review of his case. While the city will be paying a hefty settlement, it will not bring back the years in which he was wrongfully deprived of his freedom. This story is a frightening example of prosecutorial misconduct that often goes unnoticed.
Long, a black man, was falsely convicted of raping a white woman.
Long, now 68, received two life sentences following a trial where an all-White jury in Cabarrus County, Concord, found him guilty of burglary and raping Sarah Judson Bost, then 54, at knifepoint in her home on the evening of April 25, 1976. Long was 21 at the time.
However, Long never committed the crimes, and in August 2020, a federal…
