“I Need That Pardon”: Ronnie Long, Free After 44 Years, Demands Justice for His Wrongful Conviction
“It’s a blessing within itself for me to even be sitting here right now,” says Ronnie Long, free after 44 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Long, who is African American, was convicted in 1976 of raping a white woman by an all-white jury and sentenced to 80 years in prison.