Former WNBA star Maya Moore and the man whose wrongful conviction she helped overturn re-entered the spotlight Wednesday with a blissful announcement.
“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,” Moore told “Good Morning America,” while sitting beside her new husband Jonathan Irons.
Irons, 40, was sentenced in 1998 to 50 years in prison after he was convicted of breaking into a Missouri home and shooting a homeowner, ESPN reported.
According to the sports news network, Moore, 31, paused her playing career in February 2019 to assist Irons in his fight for exoneration. A judge ruled in March that prosecutors had suppressed fingerprint evidence that would have aided his defense.
Irons was released from prison on July 1, and Moore confirmed to “GMA” that the couple wed over the summer.
“We’re excited to share this new chapter of life together,” she told the program.
Moore, the league’s most valuable player in 2014, won four WNBA championships as a member of the Minnesota Lynx. She was also the 2011 WNBA Rookie of the Year, a six-time All-Star and a five-time All-WNBA first-team honoree, in addition to being a two-time national champion while a student-athlete at the University of Connecticut, ESPN reported.
According to USA Today, Moore’s foundation, Win With Justice, has partnered with the “Get Out the Vote” campaign to raise civic awareness.
The newlyweds are also making plans to assist wrongfully convicted individuals seek justice who “don’t have the resources or the blessings that I have been blessed with,” Irons told the newspaper.