Jay-Z's Team Roc Raises $1M to Investigate Wrongful Convictions

According to a new report from the Kansas City Star, the rapper's social justice outfit for Roc Nation, Team Roc, recently raised $1 million to help investigate and, hopefully, overturn wrongful convictions.

"It's a huge investment," as Tricia Rojo Bushnell, the Executive Director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said. "The ability to look at these cases…is really going to continue to shine a light on what we need to do to actually provide a just criminal legal system in Wyandotte County."

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Per the report, Team Roc's donation will go toward the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people through DNA testing and reform. More specifically, the money will be directed to the nonprofit's Wyandotte County, Kansas arm, where it will be used to help free Lamonte McIntyre, who's spent 23 years in prison for two murders in Kansas City, Kansas.

Additionally, Jay-Z's organization also bought a full-page ad in the Washington Post about the "staggering" amount of corruption happening within the Kansas City justice system, including accusations of officer abuse and the solicitation of sexual favors from victims and witnesses. Members of the Kansas City police force are also accused of falsifying witness statements and planting evidence in order to make their cases.

Kansas City officials have yet to respond to the accusations or comment on McIntyre's case.

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