A man who spent over 16 years in prison in Florida for a wrongful conviction was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia during a traffic stop, authorities and representatives confirmed. Leonard Allen Cure, 53, was identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is currently reviewing the shooting incident. Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida, who supported Cure in his case of wrongful conviction, expressed deep sorrow at the tragic news and declined further comment at this time, as reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported that a deputy from Camden County pulled over a driver on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida line. When asked to step out of the car, the driver initially cooperated but turned violent upon being informed of his arrest, according to a news release by the GBI. The agency revealed that preliminary information indicates the deputy used a stun gun when the driver failed to comply with commands, but when the driver continued to resist, the deputy resorted to additional measures, including a baton and ultimately a firearm, resulting in the shooting. The specific reason for the deputy’s initial pull-over of Cure’s vehicle was not disclosed by the agency.
Cure was wrongfully convicted of the armed robbery of a drug store in Dania Beach, Florida in 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment due to his prior convictions for robbery and other crimes. However, concerns surrounding his case persisted from the beginning, and his conviction came from a second jury after the first one could not reach a verdict. In 2020, the Broward State Attorney’s Office’s new Conviction Review Unit requested Cure’s release from prison. Broward’s conviction review team uncovered “troubling” revelations, including solid alibis for Cure that had been previously disregarded, as well as the absence of physical evidence or reliable witnesses connecting him to the crime scene. A panel of five local lawyers independently agreed with these findings. Cure was released in April of that year after his sentence was modified, and in December, a judge officially vacated his conviction and sentence.
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