F12: Exonerated Black Man Shot Dead By Georgia Deputy After Wrongfully Serving 16 Years In Prison For Armed Robbery

Source: NurPhoto / Getty

This is so damn sad.

Leonard Cure, 53, spent 16 years of his life incarcerated in a Florida prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. In 2004, Cure was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery but was exonerated and released three years ago. According to a report from the Associated Press, Cure was gunned down by a Georgia sheriff’s deputy on Oct. 16, during a traffic stop. The report states that Cure was pulled over for doing over 90 mph. Let the cops tell it, Cure was compliant with the officer until he was told he was being arrested for reckless driving.

Leonard Allan Cure was wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Years after his release, he was killed by a deputy during a traffic stop. https://t.co/ulYYAz6TNb

— CNN (@CNN) October 18, 2023

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says that Cure disobeyed the officer’s commands, struck the officer and was unresponsive to two uses of the officers’ taser before he was finally shot.

Until we see the body camera footage, we will not believe a single word of that story because police have a robust and sordid history of telling bald-faced lies.

That footage is being reviewed by the GBI and Agent Stacy Carson declined to release it to the public while the investigation is ongoing, adds AP.

Hopefully, the pressure to release the video publicly will persist through that process.

Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Florida, Seth Miller, spoke to the Associated Press about the man whom he helped attain his rightful freedom;

“Lenny was a good soul, cared about people,” Miller said. “He was getting his life back together.”

We are so terribly sad to share the news that our exonerated client, Leonard Cure, was shot and killed by a Camden County Georgia Sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop this morning while driving back from Florida to his residence in Georgia. pic.twitter.com/jvgZrblBD3

— Innocence Project of FL (@FLA_Innocence) October 17, 2023

If the GBI knows what’s good for them, they will release that video ASAP before the public loses patience with the lack of transparency. We’ll be following this case and will update you with any advancements.