After 16 Years In Prison For A Crime He Didn’t Commit, Leonard Cure Is Killed By A Georgia Deputy In A Traffic Stop

Leonard Allan Cure, an African American male wrongly convicted for the armed robbery of a Walgreens and sentenced to life in prison before his release in December 2020, was shot by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia last week.

Cure’s body was identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The bureau is now overseeing an independent investigation of the shooting in Camden County.

According to a news release from the bureau, an unnamed Camden County deputy initiated a traffic stop yesterday on Interstate 95.

A spokesman for the County sheriff’s office stated that Cure was pulled over for speeding. Cure had been driving 90 mph in an area where the speed limit is 70 mph.

Although Cure did as the deputy asked and got out of the car, he was placed under arrest.

The bureau claimed that “after not complying with the deputy’s request, the deputy tased Cure” before “Cure assaulted” him.

Once more, the deputy used his Taser and a baton to overpower Cure.

The Bureau said that “the deputy pulled out his gun and shot Cure.”

EMTs later treated Cure, but he later died.

The sheriff’s office stated that the deputy has been placed on administrative leave.

The findings from the bureau’s investigation are going to be handed over to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office for review.

Cure was the first person to be exonerated by the Broward State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit.

This unit told a judge to release Cure after finding out that another suspect was identified and that Cure had an alibi that was never presented in court.

The Innocence Project of Florida, which represented Cure in his previous case, stated that he was on his way home after visiting his mother in South Florida when he had been pulled over.

In the previous case, the Project had found an automated teller machine receipt which proved that Cure was far away from Walgreens at the time of the robbery.

A collection of photographs was shown to one of the victims containing many pictures of Cure.

On Monday evening, Broward State Attorney, Harold F. Pryor, posted on Facebook: “The Leonard we knew was a smart, funny and kind person.”

“After he was freed and exonerated by our office, he visited prosecutors at our office and participated in training to help our staff do their jobs in the fairest and most thorough way possible,” he said.

Four months ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) approved a claims bill granting Cure $817,000 and educational benefits for his false conviction and imprisonment. Cure had received this compensation in August.

Cure, according to Pryor, “had been working a job in security” and “he was hoping to go to college and wanted to work in broadcast radio production” while also still trying to purchase “his first home.”