A man who spent more than 16 years imprisoned in Florida on a wrongful conviction was fatally shot Monday by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia during a traffic stop, authorities said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting, identified the man as Leonard Allen Cure, 53.
Cure, who was Black, was convicted of the 2003 armed robbery of a drug store in Dania Beach. His conviction came from a second jury after the first one deadlocked. Cure was sentenced to life in prison because he had previous convictions for robbery and other crimes.
Dashcam video of Monday’s shooting shows a Camden County deputy ordering Cure out of his truck after he was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida line.
“Get out! Get out!,” the deputy shouts several times.
Cure gets out and says, “I ain’t doin’ s***. Who are you?” he asks the deputy.
The deputy identifies himself and then tells Cure to step to the rear of the vehicle.
Cure says “In the name of who?”
Cure cooperated at first but became violent after he was told he was being arrested, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation news release said.
The agency said preliminary information shows that the deputy shocked Cure with a stun gun when he failed to obey commands, and Cure began assaulting the deputy.
Body cam video shows Cure with his hand on the deputy’s lower face and neck and forcing his head backward.
“Yeah, b****,” yeah, b****,” Cure said as he pushed his hand up underneath the deputy’s chin.
The deputy struck Cure in the side with a baton, but Cure maintained his grip. As he struggled struggling to gain control, the officer pulled out his gun and appeared to fire one shot.
“The video will show the traffic offenses of speeding over 100 mph and Reckless Driving which occurred prior to the body camera video of the Deputy’s encounter with Leonard Cure. Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor, along with District Attorney Keith Higgins of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, and GBI Agents investigating the case (decided) to make the videos available for public review in an effort to be completely transparent as to what happened, and how the incident escalated to the point of extreme Use of Force,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
Cure was stopped after being clocked on radar driving at 90 mph in a 70 mph zone and then accelerating to more than 100 mph.
Cure had been represented in his exoneration case by the Innocence Project of Florida. The group’s executive director, Seth Miller, said he was devastated by news of the death, which he heard from Cure’s family.
“I can only imagine what it’s like to know your son is innocent and watch him be sentenced to life in prison, to be exonerated and ... then be told that once he’s been freed, he’s been shot dead,” Miller said.
Miller couldn’t comment specifically on Cure but said he has represented dozens of people convicted of crimes who were later exonerated.
“Even when they’re free, they always struggled with the concern, the fear that they’ll be convicted and incarcerated again for something they didn’t do,” he said.
In 2020, the Broward State Attorney’s Office new Conviction Review Unit asked a judge to release Cure from prison. Broward’s conviction review team said it found “troubling” revelations that Cure had solid alibis that were previously disregarded and no physical evidence or solid witnesses to put him at the scene.
An independent review panel of five local lawyers concurred with the findings.
Cure was released that April after his sentence was modified. In December 2020, a judge vacated his conviction and sentence.
In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a claims bill granting Cure $817,000 in compensation for his conviction and imprisonment, along with educational benefits.
Miller said Cure, who lived in a suburb of Atlanta, received the money in August.
Benjamin Crump, who is now representing Cure’s family, says the video shows an aggressive deputy who could have done more to de-escalate the conflict.
The sheriff has placed the deputy on administrative leave while the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reviews the deadly traffic stop, which is customary in Georgia for shootings involving law enforcement officers.
The agency will send its findings to Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins, who will determine whether to seek charges.