By: Brittney O.
Hip-HopVibe.com Entertainment Editor
Four time championship and league Most Valuable Player, Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx, stepped away from basketball last year in part to help Jonathon Irons with his appeal. The 31-year-old athlete activist became a strong voice for prosecutorial changes; In 2019 she shocked the sports world with her announcement that she would be taking a timeout in order to devote more of her time and energy in helping Irons with his final appeal. She used her fame to to raise awareness and helped fund the hiring of Kent Gipson, a highly regarded defense attorney based in Kansas City, Missouri to handle Irons’s case.
In March, a Missouri judge vacated Irons’s 1998 conviction in what police said was a burglary and shooting at the home of a white male whom was shot twice. Irons insisted that he was not there and had been misidentified. Maya Moore and Jonathon Irons had a close bond like brother-sister that she did not talk about publicly until around 2016 when she began campaigning for changes in law enforcement and the legal system.
Irons was only 16 years old at the time, yet was convicted as an adult before an all white jury.
After months of battling the system, the WNBA star finally accomplished the goal of achieving justice for Jonathon Irons and proudly took to Instagram to stream his release from prison.
“I feel like I can live life now. I’m free, I’m blessed, I just want to live life worthy of God’s help and influence.”
The now 40-year-old Jonathon says on video after serving 22 years of a 50-year sentence that he was handed in 1998.
“This day has been a long time coming,”
Maya Moore stated,
“We are just so grateful and thankful to God and to everybody who has played a role in bringing justice.”
Over Moore’s career she has averaged 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and was a five time All-Star. Respect and celebration is definitely due as Moore has now become an All-Star to society and the culture. She is scheduled to speak on Good Morning America tomorrow and we love to see it.
