Wrongfully convicted man fatally shot by a deputy 'deserved better'

Two months after the state of Florida formally apologized to Leonard Cure for the 16 years he lost following a wrongful conviction for armed robbery, authorities say he was fatally shot Monday by a sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop just across the state line in Georgia.

"He and his family deserved better," the Innocence Project of Florida said in a statement. "Lenny's life mattered."

Cure's quest to rebuild his life after being wrongfully convicted in 2003 ended tragically on the shoulder of Interstate 95 in South Georgia.

"He came home and I was over the moon because I thought that he was finally free," Cure's mother, Mary, told reporters Wednesday at a news conference. "My baby was free. But the truth of the matter is that he never came home."

Cure had been exonerated and released from prison in April 2020, after serving part of a life sentence for armed robbery in Broward County, Florida, court documents said.

At 53, Cure had reconnected with his family, gotten a steady security job and was quietly starting a new life in an Atlanta suburb, where he was using the compensation from his wrongful conviction and imprisonment to buy his first home, according to the Innocence Project.

"The Leonard we knew was a smart, funny and kind person," Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said of the man who was the first person exonerated by the office's conviction review unit.