Jonathan Irons has been incarcerated since 1997 for a crime that he did not commit. He was just 16 years old at the time and arrested for the non-fatal shooting of a homeowner during a burglary -- even though no DNA evidence, fingerprints, physical evidence, or footprint evidence collected ever linked Jonathan to the crime.
I’ve known Jonathan for over a decade, and I’m fighting to make sure his case gets a fair review and calling attention to the prosecutorial misconduct that I believe resulted in Jonathan being wrongfully sent to prison for 50 years as a teenager. Will you stand with me and demand new evidence be considered?
Jonathan’s conviction was based solely on unreliable eyewitness testimony. Credible witnesses who could have provided testimony to Jonathan’s whereabouts during the time of the crime were never brought to court to testify, and Jonathan was interrogated by authorities without a guardian or attorney present, even though he was a minor. Moreover, when the shooting victim indicated that he couldn’t identify his shooter, police officers told him to give his “best guess” which led to his guess of Jonathan.
Jonathan has now been in prison for 22 years, for a crime I know and thousands of others know he didn’t commit. I met Jonathan through a family member’s prison ministry program when I was 18. I was shocked and horrified to discover that this was happening to someone who was only a couple years younger than I was at the time of his arrest. I was even more shocked to learn that over 10,000 people may be wrongfully convicted of serious crimes each year and that prosecutorial misconduct is rampant in communities across the United States.
I’m dedicating my life to freeing Jonathan the same way I dedicated myself to each game in the WNBA. And it’s why I need your help today. I urge you to join me in asking Judge Daniel Green and Missouri Assistant Attorney General Patrick J. Logang, the Office of the Missouri State Attorney General and the Office of the District Attorney of Saint Charles County to take into account the undeniable facts of Jonathan’s case, and provide justice for Jonathan Irons once and for all.
