Exonerated Florida man will get nearly $1 million compensation after 16-year prison stint

A Florida man sees another good turn in fate after his life sentence was reduced and he was released from prison after serving more than 16 years. Now, he will be getting a historically large compensation by the state.

On Friday, the Broward State Attorney’s Office announced Leonard Cure, 53, was approved for $817,000 from the State of Florida for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. He will also be getting 120 hours of college tuition and fees.

“This is an historic moment and this was the right thing to do,” Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said. “No amount of money will get those years back for Mr. Cure or give him peace, but it is a small gesture that recognizes Mr. Cure was wronged and that we, in the State of Florida and in the justice system, will help him and compensate him.”

In 2003, Cure was found guilty on counts of robbery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm for a armed robbery of a Dania Beach Walgreens at the end of that year.

His first trial ended in a hung jury and he refused to take a plea deal before the second trial. Cure was sentenced to life and an additional 10 years, served concurrently. His sentence began Jan. 27, 2005.

An ATM receipt showed Cure was over three miles away from the Walgreens just 23 minutes before the robbery.

Fast forward to 2019, when the Broward State Attorney’s Office opened the Conviction Review Unit to continue reviewing and investigating claims of innocence.

Prosecutors had serious concerns about his guilt and continued incarceration, the Broward SAO said.

Broward Assistant State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger’s report on the case said:

“The issues we find most troublesome are those surrounding how Cure became a suspect in the first place,” Broward Assistant State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger reported. “Seemingly, a man who had no connection to a Walgreens’ robbery became the main suspect after someone reviewed photos of well-dressed/neat-appearing African-American males.”

“That was it, there was no physical evidence, no witnesses who knew him, nothing but an alleged search in the questionable “TRAP” Program. The case became questionable at the very onset. If the identification was bad, then everything that comes after is bad as well.”

Cure’s case was the first the Conviction Review Unit was able to get an exoneration for. He was released from prison in April 2020.