Man wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years is shot, killed by deputy after traffic stop

A man who spent 16 years in a Florida prison after being wrongfully convicted of a crime was shot and killed by police in Georgia on Monday, The Associated Press reported.

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Leonard Cure, 53, was killed after a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over in Camden County early on Monday morning. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is examining the shooting.

According to the GBI, Cure at first cooperated with the deputy but then assaulted the deputy when he learned he was about to be arrested, WSB-TV reported.

The deputy first tased Cure then shot and killed him.

Cure served 16 years of a life sentence in prison until a conviction review by The Innocence Project in 2020 led to his exoneration in the case of a 2003 drug store robbery.

Cure was sentenced to life in prison because he had previous convictions for robbery and other crimes, The Guardian reported.

The Innocence Project of Florida’s executive director, Seth Miller, told the AP that he was devastated by news of Cure’s death.

“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 told the Associated Press.

The GBI said in a statement that the deputy stopped Cure’s vehicle at about 7:30 a.m., but did not say why the car was stopped.

Cure got out of the car “at the deputy’s request”, the GBI statement read.

“Cure complied with the officer’s commands until learning that he was under arrest,” the statement said.

It was then that the deputy shocked Cure with a stun gun “after not complying with the deputy’s requests,” the GBI statement read.

The GBI said Cure assaulted the deputy, who shocked Cure with a stun gun a second time and struck him with a collapsible baton.

“However, Cure still did not comply,” the GBI’s statement alleged. “The deputy pulled out his gun and shot Cure.”

The GBI said emergency medical technicians treated Cure, but he later died.

Cure’s killing was the 80th “officer-involved” shooting in Georgia so far this year, according to the GBI.

In June, Cure was granted $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.