SUB-HEADING: "A federal appeals court says a Concord man's rights were violated, and after 44 years in prison, it looks like Ronnie Long may finally be getting out.
GIST: "A Concord man is one step closer to freedom after an appeals court ruled in his favor. Many people believe Ronnie Long was wrongfully convicted and Monday, several judges said just that."
His attorney said it was a step in the right direction.
"This is a huge step towards justice for Mr. Long," attorney Jamie Lau said.
A federal appeals court ruled 9-6 in Long’s favor saying the lower court was wrong by not closely examining the Concord man’s potential innocence.
In 1976, an all-white jury found Long guilty of rape. Long has maintained his innocence for the 44 years he’s been behind bars.
“Ronnie should be free the decision today made it clear," Lau said.
In fact, three of the judges said they believed Long is innocent and it should be case closed based on what they called “extreme and continuous police misconduct” — that included lab tests that show Long was “not linked to the crime scene in any way.”
“Ronnie’s constitutional rights were violated at trial by officers who lied and withholding of evidence that would have helped establish his innocence," Lau said.
The judges heard the case in a virtual hearing back in May.
In their 125 page decision, the judges admonished the lower courts, saying their previous decision was wrong and telling them to take another look at the case immediately — especially in light of the fact that Long is 64 years old and has served 44 years.
The ruling means that the lower court now has a second chance to rule on Long's innocence – but the federal appeals court judges made it clear they want this done quickly.
"We urge the district court to act with dispatch, considering the age of Petitioner and number of years he has already been incarcerated," the published ruling, attached above, says.
Long's lawyers have been petitioning Governor Roy Cooper to pardon Long because he is in Albermarle Correctional Insitute where dozens of prisoners and workers have tested positive for the virus.
“If the state of North Carolina is interested in accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system it should want to act with as much speed as we want to act to correct the injustice and free Ronnie long," Lau said.
Earlier Monday, Lau filed a petition asking for an immediate hearing to have him released because the coronavirus is rampant at Albemarle Correctional Institute — that hearing could happen in a matter of days."
The entire story (and PDF of the decision)can be read at:
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See previous post of this Blog: July 19, 2020 at the link below:
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "They got the wrong man," said Jamie Lau, a supervising attorney with the Duke Law School Wrongful Convictions Clinic. "Ronnie Long is absolutely innocent of this crime." Lau said Long, who had been a talented high school athlete, was facing a minor trespassing charge when cops asked the victim to come to court that day. "They dressed her in a disguise, brought her to the courtroom. She sat there for an hour and a half in the presence of Mr. Long without identifying him," Lau said. "When Long's name was called, she identified him as the person who assaulted her ... and she later testified that she selected him because he looked most similar to her attacker of all the people who were present in the courtroom that day." But the victim had originally described her attacker as a "light-colored" Black man, which Long is not. And while a shoe print found outside the victim's home had a similar tread, it could not be matched to shoes owned by Long. There was also clothing — including a black leather coat — found in Long's car that looked like what the rapist wore. "It was a ubiquitous piece of clothing for Black males at the time, in part because the movie 'Shaft' had come out a few years prior," Lau said. At trial, Long didn't take the stand, but several alibi witnesses testified to seeing him at the time of the rape. "Every moment of his day had been accounted for," Lau said. The all-White jury convicted Long of rape and burglary. He was given two life sentences."------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "About 30 years after Long's conviction, his attorneys learned that investigators had tested more than a dozen pieces of evidence and had hidden the results. "Not only did they hide evidence, but then they took the stand while under oath and lied about the evidence," Lau said. The defense did not know there were 43 fingerprints found at the crime scene that didn't match Long, as well as a hair at the crime scene that did not match Long, Lau said. They also didn't know there was a rape kit with evidence taken from the victim."
]https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2020/07/ronny-long-north-carolina-flawed.html
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