A man who spent more than 16 years in prison in Florida on a wrongful conviction was shot and killed Monday by a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia during a traffic stop, authorities and representatives said.

Leonard Allen Cure, 53, was identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is reviewing the shooting.

  • chase_what_matters@lemmy.world
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    This story is fucked. He was wrongfully convicted and then set free, gets $800k compensation in August, then pulled over (looks like they’re still coming up with a reason for pulling him over), threatened I’m sure with more jail (essentially provoked), tased then shot.

    I think some fucking cops were after him and pissed that the dude got paid.

    Video link from a comment below. Not a good look for the guy. Hard video to watch.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GrcptVf8Yk

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      And the alleged ‘good cops’ are out here confused why no one respects them.

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        And the alleged ‘good cops’ are out here confused why no one respects them.

        Until I start running across evidence that some police are angrier about the bad cops than they are about everyone else being angry about the bad cops, I refuse to believe they exist.

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          As someone who knew an actual good cop (grew up with him): They quit. That’s what he did. That’s all they can do. Because speaking up just ruins your career path. So they choose to go along or they change careers entirely.

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            We had a “good cop” DA in my city. The cops went on strike (though they didn’t call it a strike, they just stopped doing their jobs), and started a propaganda campaign. When crime went up, people are stupid and blamed the DA. He got recalled and a police bootlicker got put in instead.

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          I’m still tickled that they have chose the idiom “a few bad apples” to describe the situation.

          Like… Y’all aware the full idiom is “A few bad apples spoils the whole bunch.”?

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        paying their union dues, which keep going up because the defense of their fellow cop’s actions are expensive… if they get caught and lose qualified immunity.

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      gets $800k compensation in August

      Ok so this whole story is fucked up beyond belief but I just want to take a minute to say holy shit, because that dollar figure is pretty messed up in and of itself. They gave him $817k. That’s $5.82/hr.

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        Minimum wage plus overtime for his time in prison placed monthly into a mutual fund with 7% return for 16 years would be a little over 2.5 million dollars.

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          No, you see they subtracted room and board from him, that’s why he only got $800k.

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        Or $51k/yr which is representative of what he could have earned.

        Certainly doesn’t excuse the wrongful conviction but their math is a little more in tune with reality than $819k divided by (16x24x365) equals OMG.

    • Guntrigger@feddit.ch
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      Isn’t this basically what happened with the Making a Murderer guy? He was due a huge settlement from being wrongfully convicted, so they planted a bunch of evidence to put him back in jail instead.

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        The police were definitely corrupt, but that documentary is intentionally misleading.

        While some evidence may be in question, it’s important to know that Teresa Halbach’s vehicle was found on the property, along with charred pieces of her human bones in a burn pit.

        It was the last place she went, the last place she was seen, and Avery lured here there under false pretenses (Teresa was not even supposed to be meeting with Avery).

        None of this excuses any bad behaviors by the police, and that department certainly appears to be corrupt, but probably not a good example for this instance.

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          it’s important to know that Teresa Halbach’s vehicle was found on the property, along with charred pieces of her bones in a burn pit.

          Police corruption is the problem. Her vehicle being on the edge of his fairly large property is a lot less damning if it weren’t for Steven’s blood being reported in the vehicle. There were witnesses who claim to have seen it moved there, even if Zellner cannot seem to decide who moved it.

          And you say “her bones”, but there’s two problems with that. The bones have been confirmed to be human female, but they couldn’t confirm or deny they were Halbach’s. And there’s a compelling reason to believe they were not burned in the burn barrel they were found.

          There seem to be two real possibilities in his case. EITHER it’s a fairly ridiculous frame-up job or he’s guilty. That should be easy because of the question “why would anyone go to THOSE lengths to frame Steven Avery?” It’s not easy because the open animosity and bad-faith of thep olice in this case is compelling.

          I think he likely did it, but I genuinely think the case is so tainted, he should not have been convicted.

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            Huh, I could’ve sworn I had read that the DNA was confirmed to be hers. After looking more thoroughly you’re absolutely correct. I did see a few articles that said it was matched via a partial tooth, but looking deeper into that it looks like the findings may have just been “consistent” with Halbach. Still compelling evidence, but not a direct DNA match.

            I also think it’s more than likely he did it, but that’s an important clarification.

            • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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              It’s a really complex case. And just like the Depp v Heard documentary, Netflix didn’t do it justice. Sometimes exaggerations make the validity of a claim harder to see. Judges don’t like to offer mistrials or retrials to people they are convinced are guilty, whether the appeal was valid or not.

              From my own (very ameteur) independent reading, there’s a few big things that should’ve been slam-dunk for vacated verdict, and his attorney colluding with the prosecutor to have him interrogated unassisted is the top of the list, though Avery lost appeal on that already. Brendan Dassey had perhaps the strongest case to vacate verdict I’ve ever seen short of exoneration, and his eventually failed (after a very reasonable appeal verdict in his favor).

              EDIT: I’d also like to note that Netflix’s exaggeration has led to anti-Avery people who also exaggerate the case against him. People like Kathleen Zellner don’t get involved in cases that are strong or clean. At the very least, a good lawyer would have a cakewalk winning the Reasonable Doubt standard and arguably would have with only the limited evidence that was available during his first trial. It’s that exoneration cases are so hard, understandably so.

              The hardest ethical question regarding law I think ask is this. If a person is guilty of a crime but can only be convicted by illegal and unethical behavior, should they be incarcerated? I’ve always thought we’ve allowed the “be certain they’re guilty” standard to erode too much in the US between jurors who will convict on “I’m pretty sure” and the Federal Habeas Corpus changes.

              I mean, if you boil it down, Steven Avery is arguably in prison today not because he might have committed murder but because he filed his Habeas Corpus appeal without the assistance of a lawyer and is forbidden to file another. And Brendon Dassey is definitely in prison because the current standard for that federal Habeas Corpus appeal is “no reasonable judge would ever rule this way” despite 2 reasonable federal judges agreeing he reached that standard. Hearing the appeal audio is chilling, with one of the judges constantly saying “you know we MUST reject this” without actually listening to the argument.

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                It’s certainly very complex. I definitely agree he didn’t get a fair treatment or trial and for that reason alone shouldn’t be incarcerated

                I also think that the Netflix documentary really skewed the view and understanding of the evidence, though. And, as you note, there can be confusion over what level of certainty a jury needs to reach. Beyond a reasonable doubt, not beyond any doubt.

                All this being said, it bothers me to some degree that people will go to great lengths to fight for Avery’s innocence, largely due to that documentary, when there are others whose cases are much more questionable and deserve attention too, such as Temujin Kensu.

                I just hope that people, upon seeing documentaries (or really any information that drives them to a certain decision or thought, particularly based on an emotional response), would do further research.

                • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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                  And, as you note, there can be confusion over what level of certainty a jury needs to reach. Beyond a reasonable doubt, not beyond any doubt

                  Here’s the Ninth Circuit opinion on reasonable doubt: “A reasonable doubt is a doubt based upon reason and common sense and is not based purely on speculation”. A single “I don’t know”, a single seemingly-minor inconsistency, a singular whiff of incompetence by the defense council. More complicatedly, a single defense line of questioning that gets suppressed (which, maybe a juror is supposed to disregard, but being told to disregard something favorable to the defense at all is something that gets my “common sense” aware)

                  There’s a gap between reasonable doubt and doubt, but it’s a lot narrower than the gap between reasonable doubt and preponderance of evidence. If the phrase “probably did it” shows up in deliberation, that should be the moment everyone stops and agrees to a “not guilty” verdict because of the “probably”.

                  All this being said, it bothers me to some degree that people will go to great lengths to fight for Avery’s innocence

                  He’s an Innocence Project exoneree who, as you just agreed, was railroaded again. I’d like to point out that Netflix didn’t lead the publicity about him, they just profited from it. And the truth is, there’s enough inconsistency with the prosecution’s case that “probably did it” is honestly a bit strong and I vacillate between thinking he did it and that he’s innocent because as bad as it looked for him, there were a couple stronger suspects that didn’t have alibis. The only reason I’m not “team innocence” is the physical evidence, but even I have to admit it’s evidence that prosecution couldn’t form a cohesive narrative for but defense could.

                  Coincidentally, I watched a “Police Accountability” video just yesterday that matches the Defense story of this trial almost perfectly. Small car (let’s say house), they keep searching for something and fail to find it… Then you hear them panicking that this is going to blow back if they don’t find something. And then the cop plants a little marijuana thinking the angle on his body-cam won’t catch it, and it only barely does. There are inconsistencies with how they discovered the only physical evidence that directly ties Steven Avery to the homicide (the bones weren’t a smoking gun), evidence that is so weird it doesn’t create a sensible story.

                  Both Lenk and Colborn are described like they had nothing against Avery, but both were caught in the exoneration crossfire, and their behavior could have prevented Avery from being convicted of the original rape.

                  See, there I go again. Just talking to you and remembering my own independent research about the whole key-and-blood situation, I’m leaning towards actually innocent again. I’ll probably flop back the other way shortly. But that’s why it’s a complicated case. Netflix never shows both sides of everything. And FWIW, all the evidence we’ve been discussing is divulged in the Netflix documentary.

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        That was my takeaway. The more fucked up part is that they dragged his nephew into it and at each man’s trial, told wildly differing stories about how the murder supposedly occurred.

    • arin@lemmy.world
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      Public execution because of jealousy? And nothing will happen to the cops?

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              Not even then. Maybe if you’re white and rich; lots of rich white foreigners settle here, and they could go anywhere they want.

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              Oh, I see the problem. You’ve written black and brown people.

              You should know by now that they don’t count as people unless they go through a very rigorous “personhood” check, with markers such as “will they stay quiet about racism,” “will they strive to emulate rich white people in dress, speech and manner, to the detriment of their own culture,” “will they lead fully sanitized lives as wage slaves without complaint and never dabble in white collar or petty crimes that would be ignored if their skin was lighter,” and “will they silently and happily vote for rich white capitalists in politics, against their best interest”. Because clearly if they can’t follow these very generous and simple guidelines, they don’t want to be considered people, duh.

              Fuck I feel dirty having typed that out.

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        I always joke with my black girlfriend when she driving. I’ll say “Be careful you don’t want to get pulled over for a DWB”. She laughs, I laugh, we both die a little inside.

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          When I was younger, I worked under a Black man driving trucks through Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Anywhere rural, it was unofficial company policy that I (a white man) was supposed to drive and pretend to be in charge. Anywhere urban, my actual boss could be himself.

          It is so incredibly fucked up.

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          My local department of family services very openly teaches about the risk of police violence towards black people and those who adopt them, to make up for the education they would receive from black parents on how to avoid being beaten or murdered by cops.

          It’s so real part of our government formally acknowledges it. While the other part wins “most racist” awards.

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        Edited my comment, thanks. Very difficult to watch. I don’t love the way the interaction was handled by either of the men, though. I understand speeding is dangerous and against the law, but he began the interaction at 11. This could have gone another way, despite the apparent mental health issues the dude was clearly dealing with.

        • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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          I don’t love the way the interaction was handled by either of the men, though. I understand speeding is dangerous and against the law, but he began the interaction at 11.

          Agreed. The cop started out at 11, and the guy started out openly hostile.

          It could have gone another way, but the moment the dude attacked the officer it wasn’t going to.

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      I think some fucking cops were after him and pissed that the dude got paid.

      Stop making up shit. This is tragic enough without people fantasising about the how’s and what’s.

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    That cop had better be charged and jailed for the rest of his life.

    Mf’ers murdering with impunity over a traffic stop. 😡

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        He had just recently received an 800k payout for wrongful conviction in FL. I wouldn’t call him poor.

            • INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone
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              Yeah bro he got like 56k per year with no rent, and there are no expenses in jail am I right? Plus I bet he probably only got his shit pushed in a couple times for it, he was loaded.

              /s

              • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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                Your assigning way more to my statement than is there. If I hand you 800k and you don’t have a staggeringly huge amount of debt, you are not poor, by definition. Regardless of what travails you went through, how shit your life was before then.

                Because whether or not you are poor is not a description of how good or bad the events of your life have been to you, but how much money you have.

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    Miller couldn’t comment specifically on Cure’s death but said he has represented dozens of people convicted of crimes who were later exonerated.

    “Even when they’re free, they always struggled with the concern, the fear that they’ll be convicted and incarcerated again for something they didn’t do,” he said.

    Totally understandable. I would imagine that’s kind of traumatic.

    (He was incarcerated in FL and killed in GA btw)

    Assuming this wasn’t execution…

    Cops are taught Killilogy. I gather they’re trained to protect their own life at all costs and that the public is out to kill them. Also deep seated racism^1 means they fear black men more. So they shoot at the drop of a hat (or for no reason at all).

    We really need to disarm the goddamn cops if they can’t be trained to de-escalate and control a situation without murdering civilians all the time.


    1. Did you know that early 1900s crime “statistics” were heavily biased against black people? These “statistics” established a bullshit racist narrative that black people are more prone to commit crime, which persists to this day, influencing government policies, more than a century later? (Source: The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad)
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      I won’t suspect an intent where a regular assholeness applies.

      That said, they feel like they own the streets. Not only scared, but drunk on the lack of consequencies. That double-wrong story and recent accident when a cop raced after a suspect and slammed into an uninvolved car killing two shows how everything is wrong with their current position and thinking. Act now, think later - as their motto. It’s not what these public servants are supposed to do, not ones with guns and tanks.

      ACAB, because to be this one good cop, you need to actively and implicitly avoid using this given power to do fuck all. This system and their union enables them to act like shit by default. When you order something by delivery, you don’t think about how a character of a delivery guy affects the state of a package, you complain if they give you a box of feces. Why cops aren’t judged like that when they put feces whenever they like, and are free to do so, with lethal consequencies.

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        There might be a ton of awesome cops in my town, but the SPOG - seattle police officer’s guild - is constructed to defend the worst and maximize the force’s overtime grift. So fuck.

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    “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. “I can’t imagine as a parent what that feels like.”

    Pretty tragic.

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    Let this be a lesson to anyone else who thinks they can tell the cops what to do.

    • that cop, probably
  • Rambi@lemm.ee
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    How do the police manage to murder someone in a traffic stop??? Doesn’t that just entail the police telling someone their brake lights aren’t working or ticketing them for being 5mph over the speed limit? Man I’m glad the police (and everybody else for that matter) don’t have guns in my country because that would be happening here too. That poor man and his family.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      He was killed in a different state. I think it’s just that Black men are killed all the time by cops.

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      You mean branches of government? I don’t think the police are a branch of government… I mean the executive, or the executors is a pretty good description for them, though the branch of government executive tends to execute policy not people.

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    Does the police not have an independent body that reviews any time the police use their firearms? Surely it should be an automatic suspension, regardless of the reason. How does the US seem to have such a big police problem?

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      Police Unions. There’s a few Behind the Bastards podcast episodes on how they started.

    • toasteecup@lemmy.world
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      Hey @jimbolauski@lemmy.world , still think I’ve got rustled jimmies or can we see a bit more eye to eye now about my hate of the South?

      • havokdj@lemmy.world
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        only racist cops in the south

        So we just gonna act like Chicago/Detroit/NY PD doesn’t exist?

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          If you’d like to discuss with me, I generally prefer people don’t try to imply that I’m saying something.

          • havokdj@lemmy.world
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            All I’m saying is that you make it seem like the south is the only place with racist law enforcement, it’s not.

            Law enforcement is racist. Laws are geared against minorities, this is a rule of fact everywhere in the US.

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              As I said, you’re making implications and reading much more into it than I intended. What I said was exactly what I meant, nothing more nothing less.

              As I said, I prefer people try not to imply I’m saying something given you didn’t listen for the 2nd chance I see no reason for continue the conversation. Have a good one.

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                You’re feigning ignorance, please stop.

                After all, ignorance is no excuse for the law.

                • toasteecup@lemmy.world
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                  Yet again, you continue to assume and make an ass of yourself and me. So allow me to be clear, I’m asking you to fuck off.

                  You’re being a dick so now I’ll insist, go shove your opinion back up your ass and get fucked.

                  Come back when you learn how to listen without assumption.

      • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
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        I see I’m living in your head rent free.

        I don’t have enough detailes. I don’t like to jump to conclusions based on limited information.

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            Waiting for more details is digging in harder? I’m just not the kind of person that will get hysterical over a clickbate headline.

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              If you’re waiting for more details about cops being horrible in the US, you ar have either dug into the opposite opinion, or have managed to avoid (intentionally or otherwise) a whole lot of data.

              But it’s a good guess to assume the former.

              • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
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                I’m waiting for details on this case. Did the cop have a legitimate reason to pull over Leonard Cure, did he have a reason to arrest him. The article claims Lenard resisted and continued going after the cop after he was tased but I have not seen any evidence.

                I wonder why you get so worked up about someone wanting more info instead of blindly following a narrative.

                • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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                  Well, let me ask…

                  When was the last news story where you went back, got the details later, and felt the cops used too much force and deserved to be punished?

    • FrickAndMortar
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      Something to see, baby…

      Telling that the song was written as a criticism of class in America, but conservatives missed the point and ran with it as a model of what they thought America should be - little pink houses, for you and me.

    • notyourusername@lemmy.world
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      This quote from the Lazarus story, the shortest in the Bible, makes no sense.

      Christians generally believe Jesus is God.

      So, “God cried”.

      All powerful, all knowing God, cried because his friend, who he could have saved if he bothered responding to Lazarus’ family’s pleas for help and arrive timely to heal him.

      Does your God cry because of scheduling conflicts?

      Does your God cry over dead friends he knows he will revive in a bit?

      Does your God cry just to relate & fit in with all the others at the funeral crying?

      Just about death, that he created? Is it the personal responsibility for all death?

      Why would your God need to cry?! F’ing ridiculous.