Leonard Allan Cure, who was exonerated in Broward County in 2020 after serving more than 16 years of a wrongful conviction, was shot and killed Monday morning by a deputy in Camden County, Georgia.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Monday that a Camden County deputy stopped Cure on Interstate 95 about 7:30 a.m. He got out of the car at the deputy’s request.
The statement said Cure complied with the request until he was told he was under arrest. The deputy shocked Cure with a taser and “Cure assaulted the deputy,” the statement said.
“The deputy used the Taser for a second time and an ASP baton; however, Cure still did not comply,” the statement said. “The deputy pulled out his gun and shot Cure. EMT’s treated Cure, but he later died.”
Innocence Project of Florida Executive Director Seth Miller, who worked with Cure on the wrongful conviction case, confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel Monday evening that his client Cure was the man who was killed.
“We’re devastated by the news of his tragic death, and we don’t have any further comment at this time,” Miller said.
The GBI statement did not provide details about what charges for which Cure was being arrested.
Cure, 53, was convicted in 2004 of armed robbery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm in a Dania Beach incident. There were issues with his case from the very beginning, a review by the Broward State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit and an independent panel of local attorneys found.
Cure became the first man to be exonerated by the Broward Conviction Review Unit.
Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a claims bill earlier this year awarding Cure with $817,000 and educational benefits after his exoneration.
Rep. Michael Gottlieb, who sponsored the bill, said Monday in a statement to the Sun Sentinel: “I met Mr. Cure a few times. I always found him to be a nice, quiet, if not shy and humble, person. He truly felt blessed to be where he was in life and was looking forward to getting an education and putting the false accusations of criminality behind him.”
“It’s hard to imagine that the person that I met resisted arrest but I don’t know (what) the facts are and will wait until further investigation to make any comment about what happened.”
The GBI’s statement said the Camden County Sheriff’s Office asked its office to conduct an outside investigation. No deputies were injured.
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