Black man wrongly jailed for 16 years killed by cop in traffic stop: report

A Georgia sheriff's deputy shot and killed a Black man who spent more than 16 years in prison on a wrongful conviction, according to a report Tuesday.

The Camden County deputy stopped Leonard Allen Cure as he drove Monday on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida state line. Though he got out of his vehicle and cooperated at first, investigators said he became violent after he was told he was being arrested, reported WSB-TV.

“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,” said Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida.

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A preliminary investigation showed the deputy shocked Cure with a stun gun when he failed to obey commands, and the 53-year-old allegedly assaulted the deputy, who drew his firearm and fatally shot him when the stun gun and a baton failed to subdue him.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not say why the deputy had stopped Cure, who had been convicted in the armed robbery of a drug store in Dania Beach, Florida, and sentenced to life in prison because he had previous convictions for robbery and other crimes.

However, Broward County prosecutors asked a judge to release him in 2020 after a review team found "troubling" revelations that Cure had solid alibis that were disregarded and no physical evidence or strong witnesses to place him at the scene.

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“After he was freed and exonerated by our office, he visited prosecutors at our office and participated in training to help our staff do their jobs in the fairest and most thorough way possible,” said Broward state attorney Harold Pryor, who described Cure as smart, funny and kind.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a claims bill in June granting Cure $817,000 in compensation for his conviction and imprisonment, along with educational benefits, and he received those funds in August.