Concord man wrongly convicted, released from prison seeks pardon from Cooper
BY SUSANNA BLACK | DECEMBER 04, 2020 7:50 PM
CONCORD, N.C. — Ronnie Long thought his battles were behind him when he was released from prison in August, after 44 years behind bars. But now, he said he’s fighting for a pardon from Gov. Roy Cooper.
“I feel as though I’ve been cheated,” Long said. “I feel as though I’ve been cheated out of life, itself.”
Long, of Concord, went to prison in 1976 convicted of a rape he said he did not commit. He spent the following decades fighting for his release, which ended in August when the state vacated his conviction and dropped all the charges.
