As the executive director and lead attorney at the Midwest Innocence Project Tricia Rojo Bushnell has fought to free people convicted of crimes they did not commit for over a decade.
Working from Midwest Innocence Project headquarters in Kansas City, Tricia led efforts to bring home innocent individuals incarcerated in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, freeing 15 people — most of whom were serving time in Missouri and Kansas — over her time with the organization.
“It’s a very bittersweet moment,” Tricia said. “I don't think anyone ever prepares you to leave a job in a community that you love. ... It's been an absolute honor to be part of the Midwest Innocence Project, and I still say I work with the best people that exist. ... They know this fight. They've been leading it this entire time, and I know there’ll still be justice in the Midwest.”
From her first day, when she walked in as the only employee at the nonprofit, to now leaving behind a team of 12 employees, Tricia went from representing individuals case-by-case to pushing for criminal justice public policies.
In August, Tricia will begin a new role as the Executive Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania, where she said she’ll take the lessons she learned at MIP to make the criminal legal system more fair on the national level while putting a spotlight on injustice in the Midwest.
