Lynx legend Maya Moore marries the man she helped free from prison
It's been about five months since former Minnesota Lynx star Maya Moore helped vacate the conviction of Jonathan Irons, who served 22 years of a 50-year sentence after being wrongfully convicted of murder when he was 16 years old.
Now, Moore and Irons are married. The couple announced their marriage during an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.
"We wanted to announce today that we are super excited to continue the work that we are doing together, but doing it as a married couple. We got married a couple months ago and we're excited to continue this new chapter of life together," Moore said.
Moore stepped away from the WNBA two seasons ago to focus her attention on Irons' case. She first learned about his case when she was 18 years old.
"He had been in prison for over a decade at that point. I was just interested in learning, got to know him and over the last 13 years we have developed a friendship and entered into this huge battle to get him home. Just over time, it was pretty clear what the Lord was doing in our hearts," she said.
Irons said he asked Moore to marry him about two years ago while he was in prison, but he didn't want her to give an answer until he was free. He picked up the proposal a short time after he was released earlier this year.
Irons served 22 years of a 50-year sentence after being convicted of burglary and assaulting a homeowner with a gun in Missouri. Moore and Irons' attorney argued that the evidence supporting Irons' innocence was overwhelming.
Last October, Moore wrote a letter to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt arguing that there is no DNA evidence or physical evidence of any kind that links Irons to the crime. She elaborated on her belief of Irons' innocence in an interview with TIME
"He was sixteen years old at the time. There was an interrogation that happened without any adult present, there were no interrogation notes that were retained from the time of the interrogation. Those were thrown away.
"There were highly unreliable eyewitness testimony practices, eyewitness testimony procedures with no physical evidence, no footprints, DNA, blood. He had alibi witnesses that were never brought to the stand, and there were unidentified fingerprints that didn’t belong to Jonathan or the victim. That was never acknowledged during the trial.
"The facts alone are just overwhelming. It’s like something out of a made-up show, because it just seems unreal how this could have happened."
Maya Moore future with the Lynx, WNBA
The Lynx, who are preparing to face Phoenix in the first round of the upcoming WNBA playoffs, still don't know if Moore will return to the lineup next season because she hasn't yet decided her basketball future.
"I'm still trying to be so present in this second year away from the game. I'm hoping sometime in the spring we'll be able to have a next step moving forward, but right now I'm trying to breathe from this long battle and enjoy and rest and just be in the moment. There's a lot of unknowns for a lot of us right now so I'm still in that camp," Moore said.
Moore, a former WNBA MVP, helped the Lynx win four championships between 2011-17.
Robin Roberts noted her company, Rock'n Robin Productions, is working with ESPN Films on a documentary about about Moore and Irons.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.