MIAMI – A well-known civil rights attorney has been hired to represent the family of a man who was shot and killed by a Georgia sheriff's deputy this week after being released from a Florida prison on a wrongful conviction.
According to a press release, Attorney Ben Crump and other officials are scheduled to speak to reporters during a press conference in Camden County on Wednesday afternoon about the death of Leonard Allen Cure.
Cure, 53, was shot and killed by a deputy sheriff in Georgia during a traffic stop on Monday, authorities and officials said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. Officials did not immediately identify the Camden County police officer involved in the incident.
Seth Miller, CEO of the Innocence Project of Floridawho had worked with Cure in his wrongful conviction case, confirmed Cure's death.
“We are shocked to hear of his tragic death and have no further comment at this time,” Miller told the newspaper.
Traffic stop preceded fatal shooting
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a Camden County police officer stopped a driver on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida border and the driver got out of his car when asked to do so. He initially cooperated but became violent when told he was being arrested, a GBI news release said.
The agency said preliminary information showed the deputy shocked the driver with a stun gun when he did not comply with commands, and the driver then began to attack the deputy. The GBI said the deputy again tried to subdue him with the stun gun and a baton, then drew his gun and shot the driver when he continued to resist.
The agency did not disclose what prompted the deputy to stop Cure's vehicle.
It is common practice for law enforcement in Georgia to ask the GBI to investigate police-involved shootings. The agency said it will submit its findings to the district attorney for the coastal Brunswick Judicial Circuit, which includes Camden County.
Leonard Cure jailed after robbery of Broward store
Cure was convicted of the armed robbery of a drugstore in Dania Beach, Florida, in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison because he had previous convictions for robbery and other crimes.
Innocence Project of Florida via AP
But the case was problematic from the start, and his conviction only came after a deadlock in the first jury.
In 2020, the Broward District Attorney's Office's new Conviction Review Unit asked a judge to release Cure from prison. The Broward conviction review team said it found “troubling” revelations that Cure had solid alibis that had previously gone unnoticed and no physical evidence or solid witnesses that put him at the crime scene. An independent review panel of five local attorneys agreed with the findings.
Cure was released in April after his sentence was reduced, but in December of that year a judge overturned his conviction and sentence.
“I’m looking forward to putting this situation behind me and moving on with my life,” Cure told the Sun Sentinel at the time.
In June, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill awarding Cure $817,000 in compensation for his conviction and incarceration, as well as educational grants.
“The Leonard we knew was a smart, funny and kind person,” Broward District Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement to the newspaper Monday evening. “After he was released and exonerated by our office, he visited with prosecutors in our office and attended training sessions to help our staff do their jobs as fairly and thoroughly as possible. He called frequently to check in with Assistant District Attorney Arielle Demby Berger, head of the Conviction Review Unit, and to encourage our team to continue doing the important work of justice.”
Traffic control in Georgia is now under scrutiny
According to a press release, the Cure shooting is the 80th police-involved shooting the GBI has investigated this year.
It was not immediately clear whether Crump plans to take legal action in the case.
Cure planned to pursue a college degree and spoke on campus about the time he spent in Florida's prison system, the law firm's press release said.
