80. "Journey to Justice" with Jonathan Irons

Where Ya From? Podcast

Imagine being wrongly accused of something you never did, spending the prime years of your life in a cold, cramped jail cell. This is happening all while you’re fighting an uphill battle to prove your innocence to people who seem to put up hurdle after hurdle. Jonathan Irons doesn’t have to imagine it. That was his reality—for more than two decades. Join us as we hear Jonathan’s courageous fight for freedom and justice, while considering what we might be able to do for those who are still on the long path toward freedom.

Guest Bio:

Maya Moore and Jonathan Irons’ story has all the makings of a modern fairytale: full of faith, friendship, a fight for justice, and ultimately the triumph of love.

Maya is a basketball icon—a two-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time WNBA champion, and WNBA MVP. Jonathan was just 18 years old when he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury for a crime that occurred when he was 16. With no physical evidence tying him to the crime, Jonathan was handed a 50-year prison sentence, of which he served 23 years. Their lives juxtaposed, it might seem unlikely that their paths would cross.

Yet, it was right before her freshman year at UCONN that Maya was introduced to Jonathan by her family involved with prison ministry. She heard his story, and over the next decade, as Maya graduates from UCONN and is drafted into the WNBA, Jonathan pours himself into earning first his GED, then develops a deep understanding of law. The two forged a close friendship, grounded in their shared faith and cultivated through their dedication to finding his freedom. Then, in 2019, at the peak of her career, Maya shocked the world when she decided to step away from basketball to focus solely on Jonathan’s case.

After a winding, yearlong effort, Jonathan was finally released. The next day, Jonathan proposed to Maya, and weeks later, they were married. Maya was the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2021 ESPYS, and the story of her fight for Jonathan’s freedom was told in the ESPN 30 for 30 film “Breakaway.” In 2023, Maya and Jonathan welcomed their first child, Jonathan, Jr. (“JJ”), and published their joint memoir, Love and Justice.

Together, they are dedicated to using their now shared platform and social action nonprofit Win With Justice to raise awareness and advocate for issues surrounding criminal justice reform, the important role district attorneys play in the judicial system and the power of each individual to live out their purpose and impact change.

Notes & Quotes:

• “But faith has to become your own. You have to have your own personal relationship with God. I would feel His presence, and just things would line up in a way where I’m like, that can’t be nothing but God, talking to me and looking out for me.”
• “When you’re in a situation where you feel dehumanized, the only way that you can feel human is if people treat you like you’re a human being. And when you treat someone like they’re a human being, they care about life, and they care about what happens to other people. That inspires them to change and have a lasting change and to strive for the stars and to have hope and to have vision and to have dreams.”

Links Mentioned:

• FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
• Learn more about Jonathan’s work with Win with Justice.
• Check out Jonathan and Maya’s book, Love and Justice.
• Visit the VOICES website to sign up for emails. Get new episodes sent straight to your email.
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• Follow VOICES on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/experiencevoices/

Verses Mentioned:

• Proverbs 22:6
• Habakkuk 1:2-4
• 1 Kings 19:1-9
• Matthew 25:40-45

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