Gov. Cooper pardons Ronnie Long, four others who were wrongfully convicted
RALEIGH -- Nearly 20 years ago, as a new father and under pressure from Asheville law enforcement who withheld evidence that might have proven his innocence, Kenneth Kagonyera pleaded guilty to a murder he didn’t commit.
And 44 years ago, following a trial with jury tampering, missing evidence and Concord police lying on the stand, Ronnie Long was sent to prison for a rape he didn’t commit.
On Thursday Gov. Roy Cooper pardoned them both, along with three other men — Teddy Lamont Isbell, Sr., Damian Miguel Mills and Larry Jerome Williams, Jr. — who were also wrongfully convicted of the same murder as Kagonyera.
“We must continue to work to reform our justice system and acknowledge when people have been wrongly convicted,” Cooper said in a statement announcing the pardons. “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.”
Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article247918730.html
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