WEBVTT - #144 Jason Flom with Ronnie Long 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:05.040 At around nine forty five. On the night of April 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.239 twenty fifth, nineteen seventy six, the fifty four year old 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:10.680 widow of a Cannon Mills executive was at her home 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:14.400 and Conquered, North Carolina when a man grabbed her from behind. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.960 She fought him, scratching her attacker so hard that her 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:22.800 nails bent backwards, but ultimately he overpowered and raped her. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.520 She described her assailant as a light skinned black man 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.520 with no mention of facial hair, wearing a dark leather 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.880 coat and a beanie hat. A rape kit was done 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:38.760 and the police carefully collected a mountain of forensic evidence. Meanwhile, 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.360 across town, nineteen year old Ronnie Long was at home 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.800 with his mother, on the phone with the mother of 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.040 his own two year old son till ten PM. A 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.800 few days later, Ronnie received a court summons for trespassing 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.600 in a park after hours. He was wearing a dark 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.560 leather coat at the time. Police would ask the rape 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:58.960 victim to be present in court to see if her 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.200 attacker was pres and on the day Ronnie, the owner 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.920 of a dark leather coat, was scheduled to appear disguised. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.240 She sat in the gallery for two hours in Ronnie's presence, 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.480 only to identify him as her attacker when his name 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.280 was called. The state would present a case without any 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:22.119 of the collected forensic or biological evidence, solely resting their 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:27.440 case upon this extremely unorthodox and totally unreliable cross racial 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:33.560 identification and Ronnie's unscratched leather coat. For that, Ronnie has 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:38.759 been in prison for forty four years. This is wrongful 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:55.360 conviction with Jason Flamma. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. Today's 0:01:55.560 --> 0:02:01.600 case Will It's going to upset you. I'm going to 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.760 tell you right now this is a grotesque injustice that 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.280 was inflicted and is still being inflicted on an amazing 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.079 man named Ronnie Long. And we're hoping to hear from 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.640 Ronnie during the recording. He'll be calling in from prison 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:22.040 where he has been since nineteen seventy six for a 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.480 crime he didn't commit. In this time of COVID, there's 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.880 all sorts of complications, so we're going to try to 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.360 make it work with us now as well is Jamie Lao. 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:39.080 Jamie is an attorney at Duke University's Wrongful Convictions Clinic, 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.240 and Jamie, thank you for joining us on the show. 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:43.520 Thank you for having me. 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.320 I'm going to do something unusual here. I actually want 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.720 to start at the end. We almost never do that. 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.560 But there's a quote from a judge named James Wynn, 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.360 who's a circuit court judge in the fourth District Court. 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:04.040 So this is a serious guy and judge when said, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:09.160 and I quote, prosecutors clearly had evidence that any defense 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.520 council in the world, not only in nineteen seventy six, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.680 but in the history of this country would have wanted 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:22.000 or needed, and which should have been supplied, and yet 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.959 we did not provide it. He goes on to say, 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.959 what is it about us that we want to prosecute 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.919 and keep people in jail when we know evidence may 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.400 exist that might lead to a different conclusion. Why is 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.240 that so offensive to us now that we want to 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:46.480 protect illegal activity from forty four years ago? What's the 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:50.440 harm of looking at the new evidence? He said? When 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.640 did justice leave the process? So we let our rules 0:03:54.680 --> 0:04:00.000 blind us to what we all can see? Wow? 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.920 Oh, well, during the course of argument it made us 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.760 optimistic that after forty four years, an end may be 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.000 near to the injustice that occurred in Ronnie's case. It's 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.800 been an incredible difficult journey through the courts to get 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.960 his case to where it was. On May seventh of 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.480 this year, you said we'll start at the end, and 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.160 the end at this point in time was an argument 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.600 on May seventh in front of the full Fourth Circuit 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.640 Court of Appeals, which is fifteen active judges, all have 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:40.480 been appointed by a President. Judge Winn was making that 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.200 quote in response to arguments from the State of North 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.839 Carolina that more or less was asking the court to 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.599 disregard all the evidence that is now known about in 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:54.000 this case that was hid from Rani at the time 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.440 of his trial in nineteen seventy six. And Judge Winn 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.840 also discussed sort of the circumstances of nineteen seventy six 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.440 and the conditions of black mails, particularly in the South 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.720 in nineteen seventy six, and how they were wrongfully convicted 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:13.719 in great numbers. So at the moment Judge Wynn offered 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:18.320 his viewpoints during the course of the stakes argument, we 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.839 knew that we had succeeded in conveying to the court 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:27.120 the seriousness and the magnitude of the injustice that occurred 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.080 in Ronnie's case. 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.200 As promised, we got a phone call from Ronnie and 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.279 I must warn you that there was a poor connection 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.640 with the prison, so ry's a little hard to hear. 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.039 But what he has to say needs to be heard, 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:39.919 so please bear with us. 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.120 You have a prepaid call. You will not be charged 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:49.160 for this call. This call is from an inmate aunt 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.920 Albemarle Correctional Institution. This call will be monitored and recorded. 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.640 To accept this call, prins stive now to decline this call. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:58.080 Hang on. 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.520 Thank you for you think Globe Tail link. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.719 Hello, Hi Ronnie, thanks for calling me. I know we 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.279 have limited time, so let's get right into it. Now. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.200 You grew up and conquered North Carolina, right, seven brothers 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.280 and sisters. Can you tell me a little bit about 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.239 your life before all of this horrible stuff happened. 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.200 I paid sports when I was in high school, right 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.520 waiting to come forward. See, I learned how to link 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.080 with such song. That's kind of little work I was 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:26.960 doing with my dad. I would go to work with 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.400 him sometime, take money with him. I had a son. 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:36.480 I spent a lot of time with my son to 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:40.240 cool in the game the game when I got the 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.280 street with three. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.880 Now I read about this one time before you had 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.320 your son, way before the incident that landed you in prison. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.440 There was an encounter that you once had with some 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.479 police officers. They pulled up on you, harassed you a bit, Hey, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:55.920 you know what you're doing around here? Boy type of thing, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.400 and you responded, isn't this America all right? I have 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.840 free to walk on this sidewalk? That right. 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.320 I was coming from a girl hell, I was coming 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.039 from a girl out one night. The area that I 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:12.360 was in he was going to listen like area, So 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.200 I'm coming home one night? The two white couple up 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.080 behind me that the other were you coming from? What 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:23.200 are you doing in this area here? Pat? Did you 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.880 walk home here? They took me, trust me to be 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.480 downtown for me in a room, I stated, gave up 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.720 too loud, but also gave up, told me too, you 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.600 can leave. I just gotta walk up, went. 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:42.400 Home, And that's it seems to be how he got 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.160 to be on the radar of the local authorities. And 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.120 then on the Faithful Day of Sunday, April twenty fifth, 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.920 nineteen seventy six, at around nine forty five pm, a 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.120 wealthy white, fifty four year old widow of a Canon 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.679 Mills executive was burged and raped an awful, awful crime, 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.200 and Canon Mills was a major employer in the area, 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.080 and that name's going to come to play a big 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.240 role in this story. The victim said that while she 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.560 was preparing food for a beach trip the following day, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.360 a black man snuck into her home and grabbed her 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.400 from behind. She said the intruder told her that he 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.120 only had fifteen minutes as his friends were waiting for 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.440 him outside like a horror movie, and he proceeded to 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.960 rape her. She later described her attacker as quote yellow 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:35.120 looking and quote again not blue black, maybe wearing gloves, 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.680 a beanie hat, no mention of any facial hair, and 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.440 a dark leather coat. She also described the violent struggle 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.520 where she scratched her attacker so hard that her fingernails 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.640 bent backward, which would definitely have left the mark on 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.040 that leather coat. The victim said that whenever she tried 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.400 to move, he would slam her head against the ground. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.560 Then the phone rang, startling the attacker, who gathered his 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.800 things and left through the front door. Victim then rushed 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.840 over to her neighbors naked, where she was able to 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.480 call the police, and they arrived around ten pm. The 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:13.320 victim has since passed away. But that being said, she 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.480 was rushed to the hospital for a rape kit, and 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.800 the doctor performed all the tests and collected all the 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:23.600 biological evidence and everything else. What happened next is that 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:29.719 Detective Eisenhower of the Concord Police Department arrived at the 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.040 victim's home around ten thirty. He photographed the house and 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:38.360 began collecting evidence, including latent fingerprints, carpet samples, suspect hair 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.679 paint samples, as well as pieces of the victim's clothing 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.360 and partially burned matches, and he later brought them to 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.160 the State Bureau of Investigation office at Raleigh for examination. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.199 He also lifted a latent shoe print from a column 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.760 near the porch. Now this is important later as nothing 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.040 but the shoe print was ever the discussed at trial. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.960 And before we go any further, we need to state 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.160 clearly that Ronnie had a solid alibi, and remember the 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.680 crime took place at nine five. Ronnie, at around nine thirty, 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:14.560 you were at home with your mother, waiting on your 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.360 father to get back with the car so you could 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.160 head out to a party in Charlotte. You were on 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.920 the phone with the mother of your child. Your mom 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.080 hopped on the phone a few times to say hello 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:24.880 to her grandson. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.320 Right, yeah, he on the. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.839 Phone too, but you can't all we understand what he 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.600 say when he was trying to talk. He on the 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.080 phone to my mom was on the phone, on the phone. 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:39.959 I'm up on the phone and I'm waiting on my 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.080 dad to come back with the card. Hey, I got 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.640 that call o'clock one on to a party and shower. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.800 So Jamie, can you take us back to how Ronnie 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.200 came to be implicated in it and how he could 0:10:55.240 --> 0:11:00.000 have possibly been convicted in spite of no evidence of 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:01.160 none zero. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.920 Yeah, Ronnie, very much like other young black men in 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.800 nineteen seventy six and still today, was harassed by law 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:14.960 enforcement officers. That harassment directly led to what ultimately becomes 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.560 this forty four year old wrongful conviction. On April twenty fifth, 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.240 the victim is assaulted and raped in her home. A 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.280 few days after that, Ronnie receives a trespassing charge at 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.719 the local park that was adjacent to his home when 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.680 he shouldn't have been there, and during that time it 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.480 appears that he was observed wearing a black leather coat. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:41.520 The officer who stopped him. Recalled that the person who 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.440 was described by the victim had been wearing a dark 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:46.920 leather coat on the night of April twenty fifth when 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.040 she gave a description to law enforcement, and despite Ronnie 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:55.640 not matching other very prominent features that were included in 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.880 her description, the officer decided that perhaps he was the 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.120 individual who had assault at the victim. I mean it 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.480 was significant the disparities between her description of her assailant 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:10.880 and Ronnie. She described her assailant as a yellow black male. 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.480 In the South at the time, to describe somebody as 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.800 a yellow black male meant a light skinned black person 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:21.520 of mixed origin. She never mentioned her assailant having facial hair. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.080 Ronnie had facial hair, and disputed that he had facial 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.440 hair on April twenty fifth, nineteen seventy six, when she 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.520 was assaulted. So despite him having a different complexion having 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.120 facial hair, where she never described facial hair, he becomes 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.800 a suspect. Officers then go to her home and says, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.120 we have reason to believe that the individual who had 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:49.079 assaulted you will be in the courtroom on this date 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:53.320 fifteen days later, May tenth, nineteen seventy six, and we'd 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.800 like you to come down to the courtroom to see 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.320 if you can identify the person who attacked you there. 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.560 So immediately in her mind she thinks they've done some 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.400 investigation and have identified a likely suspect. But all they 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.920 had done is made the connect to the fact that 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.800 Ronnie had a black leather coat, similar to what she described. 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:18.200 The real curious thing with respect to law enforcement asking 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.880 the victim to go to the courthouse to try and 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.760 make an identification is they had a picture of long 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:25.920 that they could have shown her when they went to 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.680 her and asked her to come to the courthouse, and 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.240 they could have did it in a fair procedure, or 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.520 as fair as these identification procedures can be, with the 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.560 inclusion of fillers to ensure that she's selecting him from 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.000 memory and not because he looks most like the attacker 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.959 or because she's being presented a suspect in a very 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:49.320 suggestive way. They elected to forego that. So she's brought 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.920 to the courthouse dressed in a disguise because she's fearful 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.760 that if her attacker was there, he'd recognize her. She 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.760 describes during her testimony being terrify. She sits in the 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:07.440 courtroom for an hour and a half Inglong's presence and 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.560 fails to identify him. And only when his name is 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.760 called and he walks up to resolve the trespassing charge, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.720 which was dismissed that day, did she say he's the one. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.960 But it's telling because we later learned during her testimony 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.920 at trial that there were only twelve black males in 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.960 the courtroom. She quickly eliminated several of them because they 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.600 had afros where they were older. She described one as 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.440 being old and hunched over, and she says that he 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.760 was the only one that looked remotely similar to her attacker. 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:45.360 And identification evidence is already flawed and highly unreliable, but 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.600 here you can just take her words that she's just 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.800 picking the person that's most likely to be her attacker 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:53.920 that's present in the courtroom so she can end the 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:59.000 experience where she's traumatized and terrified, so that in essence 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.840 becomes the only in Singing so Long. And here we are, 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.000 forty four years later, trying to undo that identification. 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.240 And I'm glad you brought that up, Jamie, because we 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:13.600 know the most unreliable eyewitness identification is cross racial. This 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.840 fits exactly into that category, and then, of course there's 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:22.080 still room for it to get worse. So Ronnie, take 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.040 us back to the day that you were in court 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.920 for the misdemeanor trespassing charge, when you had no idea. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.200 You couldn't have had any idea that there was a 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:33.400 rape victim in the gallery who was being led to 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.880 believe that her attacker was in the courtroom that day. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.920 And the craziest thing is that you two were in 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.200 each other's presence for nearly two hours before she idd you. 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.520 Right, yeah, they had a misdemeanor, just passed the child. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:54.600 So I go downtown o'clock when you call my name, 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.960 I strewed up with walk in my day. This is 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.280 when the police say. This is when they say that 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.120 she ide me. The same two detectives that was on 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:04.800 this case, that been on this tape the whole time 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.360 they were sitting in the jury Fox, she testified that 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.920 it was it got me twelve black in the court room. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.040 He's none of these people in here looking like me. 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.640 She's supposed to be looking far a young black man 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.360 that assaulted her, But she distinctly stated that she's looked 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.880 around and looked around and looked around into the trans 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:32.040 trip and I didn't see nobody. I want you to 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.320 hold you can think about this. She said. She sitting 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:35.920 in the courtroom man for over an hour and a 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.960 half looking around, and she never didn't see anyone. The people. 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:40.960 Why she didn't see anyone else said because of the 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.200 description that she gave the police for the light skinned 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:50.320 black man with no hand on his face. I'm sitting 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.360 up in there and you understanding saying God's skin, it 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.600 would hang on my favor. So I didn't match another 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.600 the description your nouner said that she was looking for. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.360 That's why come she couldn't pick me out. You pick 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:02.560 me out here stairs when they called my name, Run 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.960 along to the front, run along if you court, I said, yeah, 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.359 we've come down front. That's what she says. She recognized. 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.760 She ain't recognized me. She's reping down my name. You go, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:14.520 number one, How are you gonna sit in the courtroom 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:16.520 stairs a whole hour and a half. They were eleven 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.280 ain't but twelve blacks in there. You gonna sit in 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:20.440 there for a whole hour and a half and you 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.800 don't see this young black man that you're looking for. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:24.560 The reason you don't see it because She's like, yeah, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.080 he got he got head on his face. The court 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.000 asked this woman, could the police department that I told 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:37.480 you to pick run alone? She said they could, Hell, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:44.720 I don't know. That's in the trench. They could, Hell, 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:45.639 I don't know. 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.320 So the victim makes this shaky identification, tells the detectives. 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.080 But you've got no idea that any of this is 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:08.199 going on. You're there for this misdemeanor charge, which gets dismissed, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.199 and then you go home. But that was not the 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.320 last you'd see of law enforcement that day. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:20.719 I walkeroom, went home with the sleep I'll wake up 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.680 two hours later, my mom jelly. Police back down in 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:24.080 the morning. 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.480 When Ronnie was picked up, he was not told that 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:34.520 he was suspected of this raid. Instead, he arrived at 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.200 the station at six forty five pm, was read his rights, 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.560 and the police claimed that they asked permission to search 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.159 his car, but they hadn't, and then they testified to 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:49.440 finding gloves, matchbooks, and a beanie in the car. Ronnie 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.119 maintains that the gloves were his, but the beanie was not. 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.880 Ill follow the police downtown. I used to drive with glos, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.120 so when I get out of Connie with all speak 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.480 of my phone, my sun Valley. I get out the car, 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.240 I locked the door. I got on the black of 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.080 the other jacket. Yeah, I'm going there. They killed me. 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:15.080 I'm on suspecting of raping VERTI I'll take my keys up. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:16.720 They picked my keys up the front out of the 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.119 door with me, the train two, the ticket that was 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.520 in the courtroom that morning. Yo, man, without going with 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.320 my keys, bring my keys back hill. They're just going 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:26.960 to look in your car. You ain't got nothing to 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.720 hat now, But yuh ain't gave you permission to look 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.399 at my car either. So they go down look at 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.280 my car. They come back to me and they got mama. 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:39.040 She took my other jacket off of me. Ys mack. 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.080 It's a mother or stuff. They had my glove, they 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.760 had lime green to bargain that I had never seen 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:47.760 a dead in my life. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:50.440 And for anyone who doesn't know it's a boggin, I 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.359 didn't know it's a boggan is a hat like the 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.760 one described by the victim in this case. So the 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.439 police come back with what they claim to have found 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.840 in your car. Go ahead, Ronnie, they said. 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.160 If you got just got your car, if you won't 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.800 beat hide them back when we take complete our investigations, 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.119 sign your name my hands. You gotta looks on the 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.439 people for me to sign. And they said, sign your 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.159 name my hand if you won't beat behind them. Okay, 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.960 I know. I want my jacket back. Want I don't 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.840 want my glove. I don't know who it is, but 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:20.840 I don't know. I want my jacket and glove. So 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:25.159 I signed the people come to find out as a 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.760 consent for the search for cor. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.240 So they tricked you in order to make it seem 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.920 like you consented, and that way it would have made 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:41.400 the search technically legal. They planted the lime green patter toboggan. 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.600 Now the police gotta line to eat the bog in 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.040 big court, saying that this is to happen, that the perpetrator. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:51.640 I'm telling my lug and then I don't go mad 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:53.240 that to you, man, I ain't ever heard of that. 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.200 That that ain't gonna head. My log is put the 0:20:56.200 --> 0:21:01.800 inside out. It's really is looking at it. Really you 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:08.520 got a line when I had it, I got black. 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:18.600 It's man an, Yeah, I don't know what's the state 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:23.160 would never let me be, I won't they did. 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.400 So we now come to the conclusion that the police 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.640 planted this beanie in the car so that they could 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:38.159 have another you know, well really another there is no 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:42.280 other evidence, so that they could have something that they 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.640 could use against him. And I say something they could 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:49.920 use against him, because remember all that evidence Detective Eisenhower 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.800 collected from the crime scene. Well, if the red hair 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.240 is that they found in the beanie, that are clearly 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:59.480 not Ronnie's hair. Bother you just wait because it's about 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.760 to get way worse again. The crime scene evidence comes 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.560 back from the statepue of Investigation in Raleigh, and none 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.520 of it matches Ronnie. But since the rich white widow 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.560 of an executive of one of the biggest employers in 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.399 town just idd him as her rapist rather than just 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:20.240 doing the right thing, the just thing, the evidence never 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:24.080 even made it to the prosecutor's office, let alone the defense. 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:29.360 So the police withheld the evidence from both the defense 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:34.360 and the prosecution. Let me just repeat that the police 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.480 withheld the evidence not just from the defense, but from 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:41.120 the prosecution, just in case the prosecution might have decided, hey, 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.359 wait a minute, we got the wrong guy. That the 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.240 police decided to play judge jury, and I mean they 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.639 might as well played executioner because poor Ronnie's been in 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:55.040 prison for forty four fucking years. I mean, this is yeah. 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:57.480 I mean, just when I think I've heard it all, 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.359 and Jamie, you're living this day in and day out. Now, 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:04.680 I mean, what can you add to that? Because it 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:05.720 gets worse from there? 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:09.520 Right, So, they not only tested this evidence and it 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:12.880 didn't match long. When it didn't match Long, they made 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:15.440 the decision that they wouldn't turn it over to the 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:20.040 defense or the prosecution, which we contending. We argued this 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.240 at the May seventh hearing that we had in this case, 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:28.320 that there's a possibility that the prosecutor could have decided 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.880 not to go forward with this case at all had 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:33.520 he known that all the forensic test results pointed away 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:36.800 from Ronnie and towards another suspect. There was suspect hair 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:41.440 collected brought to Raleigh, examined by the crime lab, determined 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:43.840 by the crime lab to be, in the parlance of 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:48.040 the lab report of Negroid or Mongolian origin, meaning that 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:52.760 it came from a person who was either Asian or black. 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:55.800 And we know that that hair that was collected that 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:59.920 was suspect hair didn't match Long. If it didn't match Long, 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:03.880 then the suspect, the person who should have been incarcerated 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:06.760 for forty four years. There's the evidence of who that 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:10.920