US: Black man freed after 44 years in jail for a crime he says he didn't commit

A Black man was freed from North Carolina prison on August 28 after serving 44 years in jail for a rape he maintains he never committed. US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Ronnie Long’s sentence, ruling that his due process rights were violated through deliberate police suppression of material evidence.

An all-White jury had found Long guilty of raping a white woman and committing burglary in 1972 and sentence him for life. US state of North Carolina filed a motion in the appeals court and asked it to send the case back to the district court, which entered to writ to vacate the conviction.

US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote that a trickle of post-trial disclosures has unearthed a “troubling and striking pattern of deliberate police suppression of material evidence.” She noted the evidence from the crime scene that did not match Long was deliberately withheld by law enforcement.

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'It's over'

Long was a client of Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic and his lead attorney, Clinical Professor Jamie Lau, helped him get the sentence vacated. Speaking to the reporters outside Albemarle Correctional Institution, Long said, “It's been a long road but it's over with now,” adding that he’s going to enjoy every minute he has been left with. 

"You keep that hope because I felt like one day [God] is going to send me somebody that's going to make it happen. And that's him," said Long, pointing toward his attorney, Jamie Lau.

Long’s release comes at a time when the United States is witnessing protests against racial injustice and police brutality against people of colour. The death of George Floyd in police custody sparked outrage and rejuvenated Black Lives Matter movement. Another wave of protests have started in the US after Jacob Blake, an African-American, was shot seven times in the back point-blank by a white police officer, leaving his lower body paralysed.

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