Georgia deputy kills Black man freed from prison after exoneration
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[October 18, 2023]
By Brendan O'Brien
(Reuters) -A Black man who had been exonerated after serving 16 years
for an armed robbery conviction was fatally shot by a Georgia sheriff's
deputy during a traffic stop as he was driving to visit his mother in
Florida.
The officer pulled over Leonard Allan Cure, 53, on Monday morning along
Interstate 95 in Camden County near the Florida border. An altercation
ensued, and the deputy killed Cure, according to the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation (GBI).
The deadly encounter took place about 20 years to the day after Cure was
arrested on charges of armed robbery and assault at a Walgreens store in
Dania Beach, Florida.
A year later, a jury found Cure guilty, and he was sentenced to life in
prison, but a judge vacated the convictions in 2020 after a review panel
exonerated him.
In Monday's incident, the GBI said the deputy had told Cure that he was
under arrest but Cure failed to comply with the officer's requests and
assaulted him. Before shooting, the deputy used a Taser and a baton in
an effort to subdue Cure, the agency said. Paramedics treated Cure but
he later died.
Cure was stopped because he was driving at least 90 miles per hour in an
area where the speed limit was 70, the New York Times reported, citing a
sheriff's department spokesperson.
The sheriff's department was not immediately available for comment.
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The deputy was not identified by the GBI, which has opened an
independent investigation.
It was unclear whether body camera footage of the incident existed or if
it would be released.
Several high-profile killings of Black men during traffic stops in
recent years have called attention to the potential for violence when
police pull over drivers.
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![](../images/101823PIX/news_a26.jpg)
Leonard Allan Cure, 53, who, according to the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation (GBI), was killed by a Georgia sheriff's deputy during
a traffic stop, poses at the Florida Senate Chamber in Tallahassee,
Florida, U.S., April 26, 2023, in this picture obtained by Reuters
on October 17, 2023. Innocence Project of Florida/Handout via
REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/18/images/ads/current/debbiesflora_lda_081123.png)
Black motorists in the United States are 20% more likely to be
stopped by police, a study by researchers at New York University and
the Stanford Open Policing Project found in 2020. The study also
found that they were searched about 1.5 to 2 times as often as white
drivers, but were less likely to be carrying drugs, guns or other
illegal contraband.
EXONERATION IN FLORIDA CASE
In December 2019, Cure asked a newly created Broward State
Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit to re-investigate his case,
based on evidence and questions about how he was identified as a
suspect.
In 2020, an independent review panel ruled 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 all charges were dropped
against him three days later, making him the first to be exonerated
by Broward's review unit.
The Innocence Project of Florida represented Cure during his appeal.
It said in a statement on Monday that Cure was traveling to see his
mother in south Florida when the incident occurred.
"We are devastated by the news that our client, Leonard Cure, was
tragically shot to death this morning," it said, noting that he had
a job, was in the process of buying a home and aspired to attend
college for music production.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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