Maya Moore, arguably the greatest women’s basketball player of all time, abruptly left the sport a year ago to help in the fight against a corrupt criminal justice system. She left the sport in her prime, because some things in life are just bigger than sports.
Moore first met a man named Jonathan Irons through a prison ministry in 2007 when she was going into her freshman year at the University of Uconn. Irons, an African American man was convicted of burglary and assault at the age of 18 at was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Irons has always insisted that he had been misidentified and that he was never at the scene of the crime. There were lots of problems in the way the case was original handled, especially when it came to fingerprints that were not turned over to Irons defense team. Maya Moore became a strong voice for prosecutorial changes and put all her energy into helping Irons prepare for what they thought would be his final appeal.
This past Wednesday July 1, 2020 Jonathan Irons was released from prison after spending 22 years in prison for a crime he never committed. An appeal by the Missouri attorney general’s office was unsuccessful and the St Charles County prosecutor’s office decided not to retry the case. “I feel like I can live now,” Irons said. “I’m free, I’m blessed, I just want to live my life worthy of God’s help and influence. I thank everybody who supported me—Maya and her family.”
Thank you Maya Moore helping Mr Irons and shedding some light on the criminal justice system in the United States.
Jeremy
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