In an interview last year, Mr. Irons called Ms. Moore a lifesaver who gave him hope. “She is light,” he said. “Pure light.”

During college, Ms. Moore said, she began to consider Mr. Irons as she would a sibling. It was challenging to go to Missouri for visits, but they kept in touch. She sent him books by her favorite spiritual writers, and sometimes before her big games, they spoke on the phone.

It wasn’t until 2016 that Ms. Moore spoke publicly about the friendship between her and Mr. Irons, when she began championing changes in law enforcement and the legal system after a series of police shootings of unarmed Black men.

She became a strong voice for prosecutorial changes. She stunned the sports world when she announced in February 2019 that she would step away from her career in women’s basketball, in part so she could help Mr. Irons in what they thought would be his final appeal.

In March, Mr. Irons’s conviction was overturned by a state judge in Jefferson City, Mo. Mr. Irons was 16 when the crime for which he was convicted occurred. He was prosecuted for burglarizing a home in a St. Louis suburb and assaulting the homeowner with a gun.

But there were no corroborating witnesses, fingerprints, DNA or blood evidence connecting Mr. Irons to the crime.

Source: New York Times

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