Chris Olson of Olson Law, PLLC received the 2025 North Carolina Lawyers Weekly “Leaders in the Law” Award in the Newsmaker category. The recognition was based upon Olson’s successful handling of Mr. Ronnie Long’s wrongful incarceration lawsuit.
Ronnie Long’s convictions were vacated in August 2020, following an en banc ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, holding that law enforcement officers unlawfully concealed exculpatory evidence from Mr. Long’s trial attorneys and denied him a fair trial. After assisting with the exoneration effort on a pro bono basis, Olson filed suit on Mr. Long’s behalf against the City of Concord, several Concord police officers, and personnel of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). The civil rights lawsuit sought compensation for Mr. Long’s wrongful incarceration, which spanned 44 years, 3 months, and 17 days.
The wrongful incarceration lawsuit, spearheaded by Olson, resulted in the largest settlement in North Carolina history for a wrongful incarceration suit. Claims against the SBI defendants were settled for $3 million. The remaining claims against the City of Concord defendants were resolved for an additional $22 million. The City of Concord also issued a formal, public letter of apology to Mr. Long and his family for the actions of City personnel that caused Mr. Long’s wrongful conviction, and which delayed his exoneration and release from prison. The settlement total of $25 million represents one of the largest settlements in the nation in a wrongful incarceration case.
The settlement made national news with stories carried across local and national television broadcasts, as well as multiple print media outlets. The final resolution of Mr. Long’s wrongful incarceration lawsuit was noteworthy due to both the substantial size of the settlement figure, as well as the public apology issued to Mr. Long and his family for the grievous harms they suffered during a four-decade ordeal.
