Ronnie Long has served nearly 44 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was arrested in 1976 on trespass charges, charged and later convicted of rape, sentenced to 80 years and has been in prison for more than 40 years despite evidence of an unfair trial and that he was wrongly convicted.
We talked with Jamie Lau with the Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic.
Ronnie Long had his case reviewed this year by a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected his request for a new trial. However, following a dissent by Judge Thacker, the entire court will hear his claims at some point.
Mr. Lau discusses the case—the poor identification technique, the racially charged atmosphere of North Carolina in 1976, the all-white jury, the evidence that the prosecution withheld until 2015, and much more.
Last fall the Vanguard interviewed his wife Ashleigh Long for a podcast—here.
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