Black Man Wrongfully Imprisoned For 16 Years Shot, Killed By Georgia Police

From Associated Press, Huffington Post

Authorities say Leonard Allen Cure didn’t comply after being told he was under arrest, but won’t say why he was pulled over in the first place.

KINGSLAND, Ga. (AP) — A Black man who spent more than 16 years imprisoned in Florida on a wrongful conviction was fatally shot Monday by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia during a traffic stop, authorities said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting, identified the man as Leonard Allen Cure, 53.

Cure had been represented in his exoneration case by the Innocence Project of Florida. The group’s executive director, Seth Miller, said he was devastated by news of the death, which he heard from Cure’s family.

“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 said.

Details of the traffic stop can be found in the full article.

For many Black men, exoneration can be just as traumatizing as prison.

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