When Minnesota Lynx star Maya Moore announced that she was taking time off basketball two years ago, she was clear about her motivations, including the fact that she wanted to help free a man in Missouri who she felt had been wrongly convicted.
Now, after serving 23-years in prison, that man, Jonathan Irons, is set to be free after a judge granted a petition of habeas corpus filed by his lawyers, overturning his conviction for burglary and assault of a homeowner in the suburbs of St. Louis. Irons was represented by a law firm hired by Moore’s advocacy group, Win with Justice.
Irons was 16 when the incident occurred and was serving a 50 year sentence. There was no physical or DNA evidence to tie him to the case, though the victim did testify that he commited the crime.
“There was a fingerprint that didn't belong to either of the two and the victim actually lived by himself, so it would suggest that there may have been another person in the house who left that fingerprint,” she said.
Rickard said that Moore’s’ importance went beyond helping to hire the attorneys.
“Maya has been very influential. Obviously, she is very well known and she has a lot more pull than a lot of other people do, so having her advocate for Jonathan has been so important because it's been able to reach a lot more people than otherwise possible without having her support,” she said.
And in her view, the outside support that Irons received, in part because of Moore’s advocacy, has been crucial.
“There's a lot of men and women in the same shoes as Jonathan who are sitting in prison for wrongful convictions and they don't have family, they don't have friends, they don't have outside people that are willing to help them. And so, having those outside support systems for Jonathan has been huge for him,” she said.