Two months after Jonathan Irons walked out of prison 23 years after a wrongful conviction, he married the woman who helped get him freed: WNBA star Maya Moore. Get into their love after lockup story inside….
Finding love after lockup isn’t always like the foolishness we see on the WEtv reality series. And we know that to be true with this #BlackLove love story.
Two months ago, Jonathan Irons walked out of prison after serving 22-years of a 50-year sentence on burglary and assault charges that were overturned in March. WNBA star Maya Moore helped vacate the conviction and now, they’re married!
The happy couple made the announcement on “Good Morning America” during an interview with Robin Roberts.
“We wanted to announce today that we are super excited to continue the work that we’ve been doing together, but doing it as a married couple,” the former Minnesota Lynx star shared. "We got married a couple months ago and we're excited to just continue this new chapter of life together"
The couple said their “I Dos” quarantine style where guests wore masks and socially distanced.
The couple said they plan to continue their work of educating people about voting and to help other people who have been wrongfully convicted.
At the age of 16, Jonathan was tried and convicted as an adult by an all-white jury for the burglary and shooting at the home of 38-year-old Stanley Stotler. During his time in prison, he always maintained his innocence, saying he was wrongfully identified during a line up.
A decade later, he met Maya, who was 18, through a prison ministry program. From there, romantic feelings started to grow.
"Over the last 13 years we have just developed a friendship and just entered into this huge battle to get him home and just over time it was pretty clear what the Lord was doing in our hearts and now we're sitting here today, starting a whole new chapter together," she said.
Aww! Despite Maya taking time away from the WNBA, she said she is "still trying to be so present in this second year away from the game."
While in prison, Jonathan, 40, asked Maya, 31, to marry him, but he didn’t want an answer right at that moment. He said he didn’t want to trap her in a prison relationship because he wasn’t sure if he would ever see the light of day again. Look at them now!
After his release, he got down on one knee and asked her again…this time as free man.
"When I got out we were in the hotel room we had some friends in the room, it was winding down and we were extremely tired, but we were still gassed up on excitement," Irons recalled. "It was just me and her in the room and I got down on my knees and I looked up at her and she kind of knew what was going on and I said, 'will you marry me,' she said, 'yes.'"
Below is a clip of Jonathan being released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Missouri:
A Missouri judge overturned Jonathan’s conviction after it was revealed that there were problems with the way the case had been investigated. A fingerprint report would have proved Jonathan was innocent, but it was never turned over to his defense team.
After spending over two decades behind bars, Jonathan said he doesn't feel resentment toward the man who wrongly identified him, and said that Stanley Stotler (the man who was shot) is a "victim" as well.
Now, they are on a mission to get people to the polls!
"We're basically trying to just educate the public -- get them engaged in the voting process and just being more involved in what's going on with our country and our government and local jurisdictions, prosecuting offices," Irons said, adding that they want people "to be aware and pay attention because if you don't pay attention, things can get out of hand and become harmful to our country."
Peep the clip above.
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
Congrats!
Robin Roberts' production company, Rock'n Robin productions, has teamed up with ESPN films to produce a documentary about Maya and Jonathan's story. Nice!
Photo: Maya's IG
source: theybf
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