Gov. Cooper issues pardons of innocence to 5 inmates
By BRYAN ANDERSONDecember 17, 2020 GMT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Thursday the pardons of five men convicted of crimes he believes they did not commit.
Among the prisoners is Ronnie Long, who spent 44 years in prison for a rape he says he did not commit. Long was freed in August. Cooper’s actions allow him and four other ex-convicts to apply for compensation of $50,000 a year up to $750,000 for their wrongful felony convictions.
“We must continue to work to reform our justice system and acknowledge when people have been wrongly convicted,” Cooper said in a statement. “I have carefully reviewed the facts in each of these cases and, while I cannot give these men back the time they served, I am granting them Pardons of Innocence in the hope that they might be better able to move forward in their lives.”