Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Broward robbery convict now declared innocent
Leonard Cure was freed from a Florida prison eight months ago, the beneficiary of a Broward initiative reviewing questionable convictions.
On Thursday, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said there is nothing questionable about it: Leonard Cure is an innocent man.
The exoneration of a convicted felon is a rarity in criminal justice, but it has happened before in Broward. This is the first exoneration stemming from an investigation by the conviction review unit established by the State Attorney’s Office last year.
Cure, now 51, was tried in 2004 on accusations that he forced his way into a Walgreens near Dania Elementary School early on Nov. 10, 2003, armed with a handgun. The victims, an employee and manager at the drug store, disagreed on whether they were sure that Cure was the robber. A Broward deputy, who has since passed away, testified that she saw Cure in the area that morning, walking a child to school.
Cure was sentenced to life in prison in 2004, partly because of his prior criminal record.
But the robbery, prosecutors now say, was a crime he did not commit.
Assistant State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger reviewed the case and found problems with how he
was identified as a suspect and why police were unwilling to accept his alibi — a bank receipt and his supervisor’s testimony about his arrival at work left him no time to commit the robbery.
“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,” she said in her official review.
The prosecutor’s office asked a judge to release Cure in April, but it wasn’t until a further investigation by an independent review panel that the decision was made to have Cure’s conviction overturned and the case dismissed.
“I’m just extremely grateful to everyone involved,” said Cure, who now lives in Port St. Lucie. “I’m looking forward to putting this situation behind me and moving on with my life.”
The decision is not final — prosecutors have to present it to a judge who will be asked to make it official.
“We are thrilled for Mr. Cure and his family,” said Krista Dolan, a staff attorney for the Innocence Project of Florida. “Having his name cleared will be a well-deserved win for him.”