‘Ronnie wants a steak’: After 44 years in prison, a Concord man will be set free

“You talk about purple elephants, I’ll make it relevant to Ronnie. ‘Well he’s never seen a purple elephant,'” she told me yesterday.

Ashleigh’s car is covered in “Free Ronnie Long” stickers. She has “Free Ronnie Long” shirts, hats, even tattoos. They’re all meant to be conversation starters to ensure her husband and what she calls his wrongful conviction are never forgotten.

On Wednesday afternoon, finally, the conversation surrounding Ronnie Long changed.

Jamie Lau, Long’s lawyer, broke the news in a tweet. He announced that his client would soon have his 1976 conviction of rape and robbery vacated, then wrote the words many people have been waiting to hear for 44 years: “In short, Ronnie Long is coming home!”

“I just started crying happy tears. It seemed unreal,” Ashleigh Long said of her reaction when Ronnie called to tell her the good news. “For seven years I’ve been like, this could be the day, this could be the day. But this is actually the day.”

Long, a 64-year-old Black man, has spent most of his life in prison after being found guilty of raping a prominent white woman in Concord back in 1976. It’s a crime he, his wife, his attorneys, other people’s attorneys, activists, and countless other people still living or now deceased, say he didn’t commit.

For decades, lawyers and activists argued that the flimsy evidence presented to an all-white jury 44 years ago wasn’t enough to keep Long in prison. Further, mounting evidence shows police investigating the case tampered with and withheld evidence.

On Monday the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sent Long’s case back to North Carolina’s federal courts. That means his conviction would be reviewed again and potentially overturned.

But even better news came on Wednesday.

The state filed a motion with the appellate court asking that it vacate Long’s conviction. Soon Long will be released, a free man.

Michelle Boudin, a WCNC reporter who’s covered Ronnie Long’s story for more than a decade, said her hands were shaking as she tweeted out the news.

“This is one of those stories that’s probably one of the most impactful that I’ve been a part of in my career,” Boudin said. After tweeting, she also called to alert her mom, who follows Long’s case from Florida.

Long’s case is just one of many examples of how the American judicial and law enforcement systems have worked against Black men. But based on reactions from Long’s family and reports from those who have spoken directly with him, this long delayed justice is still sweet.

The crime: On April 25, 1976, the 54-year-old widow of a Cannon Mills executive said she was raped at knifepoint. Cannon Mills, a textile manufacturing company, was the town’s biggest employer at the time. The victim said a man broke into her home, stole $15, and assaulted her.

Long was arrested two weeks later, on May 10, and charged with first-degree rape and first-degree burglary. He was just 20 years old.

Convicted by an all-white jury: In late September 1976, the attorneys agreed on an all-white jury: eight men and four women with two male alternates. Of the 43 prospective jurors considered, four were Black. The Cabarrus County District Attorney dismissed two of them with his “no-cause” challenges, and the other two were disqualified after they said they weren’t sure they could be impartial.

“Obviously we would have liked a better cross-section of the community, including the people that are Black,” Jim Fuller, one of Long’s defense attorneys, said at the time, according to the Charlotte Observer archives. “But we’ll do the best we can with the group we have.”

The all-white jury convicted him on October 1. He was sentenced to two life terms and taken to Central Prison in Raleigh.

Decades of protests: After the jury announced the convictions, some of the 200 courtroom spectators began scuffling with policemen, leaving two courthouse windows broken and three officers treated for minor injuries, according to an October 3, 1976 Observer story. That night, the Observer reported that a police car was hit by rocks and a vacant home was burned. The next day, more than 300 people marched through the streets of Concord, chanting, “Cannon Mills, Cannon Mills, better start shaking.”

Over the years protests continued. Earlier this month ahead of the appellate court ruling, demonstrators gathered in Concord and demanded Long’s release.

Recently, Long’s lawyers fought to get him released due to coronavirus spreading through the state’s prison system. Long’s mom passed away last month. He told Michelle Boudin the last thing she said was: “Is Ronnie home?”

“I just think it’s important any chance we have, any platform we have, to bring things like this to light. Because when they happen in the dark change doesn’t happen,” Boudin said.

Free Ronnie Long: Long’s supporters never stopped fighting for that change. His wife, Ashleigh, lived in Concord and learned about the case seven years ago. She wanted to raise awareness for it and says the two fell in love in the process.

“I fight for him because he’s innocent, not because he’s my husband,” she said. “I began fighting for him as a complete stranger.”

The fight only intensified when evidence surfaced showing police misconduct that should’ve forced Long’s case to be thrown out. Other evidence showed 43 fingerprints were collected from the crime scene and were never presented. None of those fingerprints matched Long’s.

“When you see the level of police misconduct in this case, it was so outrageous and egregious. They literally hid evidence, they lied on the stand,” Boudin said. “Evidence that would’ve completely exonerated him, they hid it for years and years and years.”

Over four decades later, that evidence will make Long a free man. Ashleigh says he should be released no later than September 10.

“Ronnie wants a steak,” she said of the first thing they’ll do after he’s released. “He wants a good, well-done steak. We both eat ours well done. Everyone’s going to hate it, but that’s how we like it.”

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