In $25M settlement, North Carolina city `deeply remorseful’ for man’s wrongful conviction, prison

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Lawyers for a man wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 44 years say he’s reached a $25 million combined settlement with a central North Carolina city and the state of North Carolina. The settlement was announced Tuesday by attorneys for Ronnie Long and the city of Concord. It will end a wrongful incarceration lawsuit filed in 2021. The city has agreed to pay $22 million and said in a statement that it was “deeply remorseful” for past wrongs that harmed Long and others. Long was convicted in 1976 of rape and burglary, and it wasn’t until 2020 that his convictions were vacated. Gov. Roy Cooper later granted him a full pardon of innocence.