State Champ Radio wrongful conviction
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Justice arrived for two New York City men who had their names cleared after being falsely convicted of murder and jailed.
On Monday (November 27), the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked judges to vacate the convictions of two men, Wayne Gardine and Jabar Walker. Both cases were found to have gotten convictions on the two men due to suspicious police work and witnesses who were found to have lied after the cases were investigated again by the Innocence Project and the Legal Aid Society, respectively.
The cases were linked to the notorious 30th Precinct in Harlem, which was previously so rife with corruption in the 1990s that it became known as the “Dirty 30.” Walker was arrested after a witness (who later recanted claiming police pressure) claimed he fatally shot two men in 1994 and offered a plea deal by then-Manhattan DA Bob Morgenthau. Walker would turn it down citing his innocence and would be sentenced to 50 years in 1998. Gardine was also sentenced in 1994 after two witnesses claimed he murdered someone – one of the witnesses would confess later that he was pressured to lie by his boss, who was friends with the victim. The 49-year-old Gardine would serve 28 years of his sentence before coming up for deportation back to his native Jamaica.
The two cases came under the purview of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit launched by Bragg since he took office last year. Since its creation, over 500 cases have been vacated, with the majority being tied to police misconduct. It’s also compelled other city district attorneys to put together similar units. The legal teams for Walker and Gardine had no comment on whether both men intended to file civil lawsuits over their unjust convictions.
The 51-year-old Walker was present in the Manhattan courtroom when the decision was announced, shedding a tear. “I’m trying to process it right now,” Walker said to the press afterward, surrounded by his parents and family. “It feels real good to be out.” Gardine heard of his conviction being vacated through video conferencing while still in federal immigration detention in New Jersey. “It’s a horrible position to put someone in who has been wrongfully convicted. He spent nearly 30 years behind bars, and he’s still not free. It’s a very bittersweet ending to this story,” said Lou Fox, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Wrongful Conviction Unit.
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Source: Innocence Project of Florida / Innocence Project of Florida
A Black man exonerated after spending 16 years wrongfully convicted in prison in Florida was shot and killed by a deputy in Georgia.
According to reports, Leonard Cure was pulled over by a Camden County deputy in the state of Georgia on Monday (Oct. 16). The traffic stop took place on Interstate 95 at the Florida-Georgia state line. When asked by the deputy to step out of his vehicle, Cure was compliant but became angry when told he would be arrested. The deputy fired his taser after allegedly being assaulted by Cure.
That compelled the deputy to fire his taser again then use his baton, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The deputy would then fire his gun, shooting Cure as he continued to resist. GBI spokesperson Stacy Carson said that the unidentified deputy is white. The GBI has also begun investigating the incident as is customary in the state and confirmed that it would forward all data to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit that governs Camden County as well as the district attorney.
Cure, 53, had previously been wrongfully convicted for an armed robbery in Dania Beach, Florida, in 2003. He had been sentenced to life in prison due to previous criminal convictions. In 2020, the Conviction Review Unit of the Broward State Attorney asked a judge to set Cure free. The unit found “troubling” information detailing Cure’s solid alibis being ignored as well as no physical evidence tying him to the crime being present.
After an independent review board of five lawyers agreed with the unit’s report, Cure was released in April 2020 after getting his sentence modified. In December 2020, his conviction was vacated. “I’m looking forward to putting this situation behind me and moving on with my life,” he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel afterward. In June 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill granting Cure $817,000 in financial compensation along with education credits. Cure had reportedly received the restitution in August.
Cure had been driving home to an Atlanta suburb after visiting his ill mother when detained, according to Innocence Project Florida executive president Seth Miller. Miller was one of the lawyers who worked to get Cure freed. “Lenny was a good soul, cared about people,” he said to reporters. “He was getting his life back together.”
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