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A black man who served more than 16 years in prison on a wrongful armed robbery conviction was shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop in Georgia as he was driving to visit his mother, authorities said.
Leonard Cure, 53, had been out of prison for three and a half years following his exoneration when he was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 95 in Camden County early Monday, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Cure was allegedly doing at least 90 mph in a 70-mph zone, the New York Times reported, citing a sheriff’s department spokesperson.
Cure got out of his car at the deputy’s request and initially cooperated, but became violent after he was told he was being arrested, according to the GBI statement.
The deputy used a Taser and a baton on Cure in a bid to subdue him after the man began assaulting him, according to the agency.
After Cure refused to comply with his commands and continued resisting, the deputy drew his gun and opened fire.
Paramedics were called to the scene and tried to save Cure’s life, but he later died.
The deputy who shot and killed Cure has not been identified, and it was not immediately known whether race played any role in the incident, which is being investigated by the GBI.
It was unclear whether body camera footage of the traffic stop existed or if it would be released.
Cure had been represented in his exoneration case by the Innocence Project of Florida, which put out a statement Monday mourning his loss.
“We are devastated by the news that our client, Leonard Cure, was tragically shot to death this morning,” it said, adding that he had a job, was in the process of buying a home and dreamed of attending college to study music production.
Cure was convicted of a 2003 armed robbery of a Walgreens pharmacy in Dania Beach, Florida.
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.
In December 2019, Cure asked a newly created Broward State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit to reinvestigate his case, based on evidence and questions about how he was identified as a suspect in the robbery.
A few months later, the Review Unit petitioned a judge to release Cure from prison, saying it unearthed “troubling” revelations that the man had solid alibis that were previously ignored and no physical evidence or credible witnesses to put him at the scene.
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An independent review panel made up of five lawyers agreed, ruling that the case against Cure gave “rise to a reasonable doubt as to his culpability and that he is most likely innocent,” according to court records.
A judge vacated Cure’s convictions and sentence, and all charges were dropped against him three days later, making him the first inmate to be exonerated by Broward’s review unit.
“I’m looking forward to putting this situation behind me and moving on with my life,” Cure told the South Florida Sun Sentinel at the time.
In August of this year, Cure, who lived in suburban Atlanta, received $817,000 in compensation for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had green-lit in June.
The Innocence Project of Florida’s executive director, Seth Miller, said he learned of Cure’s death from his 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.
Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor praised Cure as “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,” Pryor said in a statement to the Sun Sentinel.
With Post wires
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