A Georgia deputy won't be charged for killing an exonerated man during a violent traffic stop

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff's deputy won't face criminal charges for fatally shooting a Black man during a 2023 traffic stop that spiraled into a violent struggle, the district attorney who examined body-camera video and other evidence in the killing said Tuesday.

Leonard Cure, 53, was killed just three years after Florida authorities had freed him from prison after serving 16 years for a crime he did not commit.

A white deputy in Camden County, Georgia, pulled Cure over for speeding on Interstate 95 near the Florida line on Oct. 16, 2023. The deputy ordered Cure to get out of his pickup truck and shocked him with a stun gun when Cure refused to put his hands behind his back. Body- and dash camera video showed Cure was fighting back and had a hand at the deputy's throat when he was shot point-blank.

“Use of deadly force at that point was objectively reasonable given that he was being overpowered at that time,” District Attorney Keith Higgins told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday.

Higgins, Georgia's top prosecutor for the coastal Brunswick Judicial Circuit, said he told Cure's family of his decision during a meeting Monday and also notified the deputy, Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge.

Attorneys for Cure's family have insisted Aldridge used excessive force.

“This decision is a devastating failure of justice, sending the message that law enforcement officers can take a life without consequence," family attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels said in a statement.

Aldridge still works for the Camden County Sheriff's Office, assigned to its administrative division, said Deputy Dalton Vernakes, a spokesman for Sheriff James Kevin Chaney. Aldridge had been placed on administrative leave while Cure's shooting was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

"The GBI did a thorough investigation and the district attorney came to the right conclusion regarding Mr. Aldridge’s use of force in this instance," Aldridge's attorney, Adrienne Browning, said by email. “We’re happy he’ll be able to continue to serve the citizens of Camden County as he’s done for the past 12 years.”

Relatives have said Cure likely resisted because of psychological trauma from his long imprisonment in Florida for an armed robbery he didn’t commit. Officials exonerated and freed him in 2020.

Cure was killed after being pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving as he was traveling home to Atlanta after visiting his mother in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

The sheriff's office released Aldridge's body- and dash camera video of the traffic stop two days after the shooting. It showed the deputy ordering Cure to get out and stand with his hands on his pickup truck, telling Cure that he was going more than 100 mph (160 kph).

In the video, Aldridge shocks Cure with a stun gun after he ignores commands to put his hands behind his back. Cure then spins around, flailing his arms, and grabs the deputy as traffic speeds past.

The video shows both men grappling as Cure gets a hand on the deputy’s lower face and neck and begins forcing his head backward. The deputy strikes Cure in the side with a baton, but Cure maintains his grip.

“Yeah, bitch!” Cure says on the video. Then a single pop sounds and Aldridge can be seen holding his handgun as Cure slumps to the ground.

Lawyers for Cure’s family have said the Camden County sheriff should never have hired Aldridge, who was fired by the neighboring Kingsland Police Department in 2017 after being disciplined a third time for using excessive force. Personnel records show the sheriff hired him nine months later.

A year ago, Cure's family filed a federal lawsuit against Aldridge and then-Sheriff Jim Proctor in U.S. District Court, seeking $16 million. It accuses Aldridge of using excessive force and Proctor of ignoring the deputy's history of violence. Both have denied wrongdoing in court filings. The case is still pending in U.S. District Court.

FILE - Mary Cure speaks to reporters flanked by her family's attorneys, Harry Daniels, left, and Ben Crump, right, at a news conference Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Woodbine, Ga., announcing their intention to file suit against the Camden County Sheriff's Office for the death of her son, Leonard Cure. (AP photo/Russ Bynum, File)

FILE - This still image provided by Camden County Sheriff's Office shows the police dash camera video of a traffic stop involving a sheriff's deputy and Leonard Cure on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023, in Camden County, Ga. (Camden County Sheriff's Office via AP)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who murdered a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict. Czuba is eligible for a minimum prison sentence of 20 to 60 years or life, according to the Will County state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors declined to comment ahead of Friday's hearing and have not said what sentence they will seek. Illinois does not have the death penalty.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Czuba did not speak during the trial. His defense attorneys argued that there were holes in the case. His public defender, George Lenard, has not addressed reporters and declined comment ahead of the sentencing.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)