Suit alleges police, SBI withheld vital evidence in 1976 rape trial 

A man who was released from prison last year after serving 44 years in prison for a rape he says he didn’t commit is now suing the city of Concord, its police department, and the State Bureau of Investigation, alleging that law enforcement concealed an investigation file from prosecutors and his defense attorneys during his 1976 trial.

Ronnie Long, 65, accuses investigators of lying at his trial and ignoring his “airtight alibi.” The recently discovered file contains forensic evidence pointing to Long’s innocence, he claims, and his conviction wasn’t the result of a mistake, negligence, or incompetence, but “the intentional and/or reckless misconduct of members of the Concord Police Department.”

In December, Gov. Roy Cooper issued Long a pardon of innocence.

One of Long’s current lawyers, Chris Olson of Raleigh, said that Long’s team learned that the SBI had been involved in Long’s investigation only after requesting production of undisclosed files for his civil suit.

“We have reason to believe there is additional probative information within the files of the Cabarrus DA and the NC Innocence Inquiry Commission,” Olson said. “It shouldn’t be this difficult for those performing post-conviction work to obtain information and materials from law enforcement and prosecutors.”

Jamie Lau, supervising attorney for Duke University’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic, said that “repeated and shameful” efforts were made to uphold Long’s conviction.

“It is appalling to me that this file remained concealed when Ronnie’s liberty was at stake,” Lau wrote in an email.

The SBI could not immediately be reached for comment.