On November 10, 2003, the African-American Leonard Cure was a minor at Dania Elementary School in Florida, located near the Walgreens pharmacy store, where a robbery occurred, according to the newspaper Sun Sentinel, declared an official agent of Broward County.
An employee and manager of Walgreens, victims of the crime, they were unsure whether the African-American was responsible for the theft of, according to the Miami Herald, $ 1,700 in cash.
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So in 2004, due to an unbelievable alibi for the police — which included a bank receipt and a testimony about his time of arrival at work by a supervisor — and his criminal record, Cure was sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the Solar sentinel.
But Cure found a lifesaver in 2019, when “the State Attorney’s Office formalized the practice of reviewing cases by setting up a review unit” of convictions, the Miami Herald.
The manner in which he was identified as a suspect and the manner in which the police acted was questioned. then by Deputy State Attorney Arielle Demby Berger, who reviewed the case.
The prosecutor noted that apparently Cure was not involved in the robbery, as there is no “physical evidence” or “witnesses who knew him.”
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The Innocence Project, whose mission is to release “innocent people who remain imprisoned and reform the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment,” took over Cure’s case at the request of Broward’s prosecutors.
Florida lawyers for that organization collaborated with investigators from the Judicial Circuit’s tax office 17 to find evidence that would allow Cure to be free again.
In October this year, the independent sentencing panel voted unanimously in favor of ending Cure’s conviction with the argument that there is reasonable doubt as to his guilt and he was more likely to be innocent.
“The prosecutor’s office asked a judge to release Cure in April. An independent review panel approved Demby Berger’s findings and recommended that Cure’s conviction be overturned and the charges dropped. The panel was made up of local attorneys Penny Brill, Ashley Gantt, Jeff Harris, Cynthia Lauriston and Mila Schwartzreich, “he said Solar sentinel.
Healing has a very positive attitude, much more than they probably have in theirs
case
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This Monday, after 16 years, was then when Judge John Murphy of Fort Lauderdale ordered that Cure be released. Murphy did the necessary paperwork to change the sentence imposed on Cure in 2004 by the time he already served under pressure, the digital medium said. Florida Phoenix.
“Cure has a very positive attitude, much more than he will probably have in your case,” said Krista Nolan, an Innocence Project lawyer who represented him in the sentencing review process.
According to him Florida Phoenix, if it were not for a Florida rule that only erroneously convicted prisoners who have no other background for other reasons can be compensated financially, Cure could receive up to $ 800,000.
Nolan told the Florida Phoenix that Cure, who is currently 51, is already living with his family and looking for work.
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* With information from Efe
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