WNBA star Maya Moore has married Jonathan Irons – the man she helped free from prison following his wrongful conviction for assault and burglary.
Irons was released in July after 23 years in prison, his conviction having been overturned in March.
Moore had paused her WNBA career in 2019 to focus on getting him free.
“We got married a couple of months ago and we’re excited to continue this new chapter of life together,” Moore, 31, told Good Morning America.
Moore was a first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Lynx in 2011, helping them win four championships and being named MVP in the 2014 season.
The 31-year-old, one of the best players in WNBA history, also has two Olympic and two World Championship gold medals.
But she gave up her career early in 2019 to help Irons, whom she had met 12 years before and who was serving a 50-year term.
WNBA star Maya Moore reveals she has married Jonathan Irons, the man she helped free from wrongful conviction. Congratulations to the happy couple! https://t.co/XQgDH7hJAY pic.twitter.com/oattxmhhzO
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 16, 2020
Overturning the conviction, Judge Daniel Green called the case “very weak and circumstantial at best”.
Maya Moore fell to her knees when she greeted Irons, 40, as he walked out of Jefferson City Correctional Center – a maximum security prison in rural Missouri – as a free man.
Asked whether she would go back to her playing career, Moore said: “I’m hoping sometime in the spring we’ll be able to have a next step moving forward.
“Right now I am trying to really just breathe from this long, long battle and enjoy and rest.
“There’s a lot of unknowns for a lot of us right now so I’m still in that camp.”
