Jay-Z’s group raises $ 1 million to investigate wrongful convictions

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – An organization led by rapper Jay-Z has facilitated donations totaling $ 1 million for the Local Innocence Project to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County.

The money was raised by Team Roc, which is the criminal justice division of Jay-Z’s entertainment organization Roc Nation, the Kansas City Star reported.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, called it a “huge investment”, adding that the ability to review these cases will shed light on what the group needs to do to provide a fair criminal justice system in the world. Wyandotte County.

Among those injustices is the wrongful conviction of Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison for two murders he did not commit in Kansas City, Kansas. Another is the case of Olin “Pete” Coones Jr., who spent 12 years in prison before being exonerated from murder in Wyandotte County – only to die of undiagnosed cancer 108 days after his death. release.

About 40 other people have asked Project Innocence to investigate their convictions in Wyandotte County, Rojo Bushnell said Monday.