After sitting out an entire WNB season just to help overturn the 50-year-prison sentence conviction for Jonathan Irons, Maya Moore was the first person to embrace Irons as he first walked out as a free man, Wednesday. '
In her Instagram account, the four-time WNBA champion posted a video of Irons release where she wrote the caption "FREEDOM." In the video, Moore can be heard thanking God that the trials were over.
Moore met iron when she was just 16 years old back in 1998 in a prison ministry. Irons was then convicted of assaulting a homeowner with a gun and burglary, the conviction that a judge overturned back in March.
According to CNN, Iron was very thankful to everyone who supported him in this struggle especially Moore and her family. "I feel like I can live life now," he said.
As Irons walked out of the prison, Moore could only clap her hands and fall on her knees upon seeing Irons as a freeman. Moore has been very active and hands-on in working on the release of Irons and fighting for her belief that he was wrongfully convicted of the charges he went to jail for.
During a teleconference held on Thursday morning with members of the media, Moore said seeing Irons walk out the doors felt very surreal and that she just couldn't keep standing. She also explained that she has been used to visiting him and leaving him inside that seeing him walk free was a very emotional moment.
Moreover, the WNBA star stated that she is very excited about the possibilities that Irons will encounter as he becomes free and also that the community is going to get a chance to enjoy and know this remarkable person she has known for years.
Before his release, Irons was serving the 50-year sentence after he was convicted of the nonfatal shooting of St. Louis homeowner. The said incident happened when Irons was 16 years old, he is now 40 years old.
However, after years of spending his life in jail, the convictions against him were overturned by a judge because of problems with the provided evidence for the case including a fingerprint report that was not made available to the defense team in the initial trials, The Washington Times reported.
The office of the attorney general in Missouri tried to appeal the case but was unsuccessful in their attempt. While the office of the prosecutor in St. Charles County decided to not retry the case anymore.
During an interview with Good Morning America on Thursday morning, Irons said that he was simply "thankful and elated" to be in the present at that moment.
On the other hand, despite Irons' convictions having been thrown out back in March, Moore has still chosen to not return in playing with the WNBA this season and also to sit out the Tokyo Olympics which has been scheduled originally back in the summer but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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