Cabarrus Today

The City of Concord reached a $22 million settlement with Ronnie Long, following his wrongful conviction in 1976. In the settlement, the City of Concord acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the significant errors in judgment and willful misconduct by previous city employees that led to Long’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

After reaching this agreement with Long and his attorneys, the Concord City Council made the following statement:

We are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community. Mr. Long suffered the extraordinary loss of his freedom and a substantial portion of his life because of this conviction. He wrongly served 44 years, 3 months and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit. While there are no measures to fully restore to Mr. Long and his family all that was taken from them, through this agreement we are doing everything in our power to right the past wrongs and take responsibility. We are hopeful this can begin the healing process for Mr. Long and our community, and that together we can move forward while learning valuable lessons and ensuring nothing like this ever happens again.

Original source can be found here.