![]() He basically became like a son to my godparents. Well, over the years he just became a part of our family. Why have you connected with Jonathan on a personal level? On the eve of a March 9 hearing in Irons’ case, Moore - who’s kept a relatively low profile during her time away from the game, granting few interviews - talked to TIME about criminal justice reform, skipping the Olympics, and how she the hopes to celebrate Irons’ release. (Colin Kaepernick, for example, protested social injustice, but has said he wants to play in the NFL). In fact, Moore’s decision to fight for Irons feels unprecedented in American sports. No basketball player of Moore’s stature has ever willingly taken a sabbatical from the game, in her prime, to advocate for social reform. Besides her WNBA titles, she’s a two-time gold medalist, a two-time NCAA champ at UConn, a two-time EuroLeague champ for pro teams in Spain and Russia, and a three-time title-winner Women’s Chinese Basketball Association (WNBA players, who make far less money than NBA players, often spend their off-season competing overseas to supplement their income). Moore is one of the best women’s basketball players of all-time, and among America’s all-time winningest athletes. She’s spent the last year-plus - Moore also stepped away from basketball in 2019 - working with lawyers, attending hearings, and visiting with Irons to offer moral support. Moore has taken up Irons’ cause, and the larger issue of criminal justice reform. (A spokesperson for the Missouri Attorney General’s office declined to comment to TIME on the case.) Irons, who is African-American, was tried as an adult and found guilty by an all-white jury. The victim was shot in the head but survived. As Moore dug into the case, she found that no corroborating evidence tied Irons to the crime the prosecution said Irons confessed to breaking into the victim’s home, but Irons has denied making such a confession. ![]() the city in which Moore was born before she moved to the Atlanta area, where she became a high school star. Moore got to know Irons through her godparents, who are from Jefferson City, Mo. The summer after her senior year of high school, Moore first met Jonathan Irons, who is serving a 50-year sentence after he was convicted in 1998 of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. “We are proud of the ways that Maya is advocating for justice and using her platform to impact social change,” said Cheryl Reeve, head coach and general manager of the Minnesota Lynx, the team with which Moore has won four WNBA titles, and the 2014 WNBA MVP award. When Maya Moore announced in January that she was once again sitting out a basketball season - and this year, skipping what would be her third appearance in an Olympic Games - in order to keep pursuing a wrongful conviction case in Missouri, her peers expressed admiration. ![]()
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