[外電] WNBA star's successful campaign for J.Irons' release

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https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/53677658 As Jonathan Irons emerged from prison, Maya Moore fell to her knees. 當 Jonathan Irons 步出監獄，Maya Moore 跪了下來。 It took a moment for her strength to return. Then she got up and embraced him, a free man for the first time in over 23 years. 她花了些許時間找回起身的力量，並擁抱這位等待了23年，重獲自由的男子。 Irons' first steps outside that building were also the last on a path the two had been walking together for more than a decade. Irons 踏出這棟監獄的第一步，也是他們兩位在過去超過十年間，共同奮鬥的最後一小步。 Once she had regained composure, Moore turned to the phone filming the momentous occasion and said: "OK guys. It's done. It's over.” Moore 恢復冷靜後，拿起手機錄下這個重要時刻，並說「好的，各位朋友，結束了，我們達成了。」 This is the story of their extraordinary journey. 以下是他們不凡的旅程。 --- The 2020 WNBA season started on 25 July. The Minnesota Lynx are aiming for a fifth title but for the second season in a row they are doing it without one of their star players. 2020年 WNBA 球季於7月25日展開，明尼蘇達山貓隊瞄準隊史第五座冠軍，但他們將連續第二年缺少陣中明星的助陣。 Back in 2011, Moore was a first-round draft pick for the Lynx. Since then, she has helped them win four championships and was named MVP in the 2014 season. 2011年開啟職業生涯，Moore 於首輪狀元被山貓隊相中。她已經幫助球隊拿下四座聯盟冠軍，並於2014年獲得最有價值球員殊榮。 The 31-year-old also has two Olympic and two World Championship gold medals. Some would argue she is the best the WNBA has seen. 現年31歲的她，也已贏得兩屆奧運以及兩屆世錦賽金牌，有些聲音稱她為 WNBA 史上最佳。 But in early 2019 she shocked the sport by giving it all up because of a man she had met 12 years before. A man who had become like a brother to her. 但在2019年初，因為一位12年交情的朋友，一位跟她有如兄妹般親情的朋友，讓她選擇拋開一切震驚體育界。 Although he was just 16 when the crime took place, Irons was tried as an adult. 這位 Moore 的朋友 Irons 在犯罪發生時雖然僅僅16歲，但他是以成人身份受審。 On 14 January 1997, someone entered the home of Stanley Stotler, situated in a white working-class suburb of St Louis, Missouri. When Stotler returned, the burglar shot him in the head. 1997年1月14日，位於密蘇里州聖路易，白人藍領階級聚集的郊區，Stanley Stotler 的住家遭人闖入。當 Stotler 返家後，遭到此位強盜朝頭部開槍。 Stotler survived and was initially unable to identify the perpetrator in a line-up of six photos. According to the New York Times, a police officer asked him to make his best guess and he pointed at a picture of Irons and another one of a different African-American man. Stotler 倖存下來，但起初無法從六張照片中指認出犯罪者。根據紐約時報紀錄，一名警官要求他做出臆測，他便指出 Irons 和另一名非裔美國男子。 Later, at a preliminary hearing, Stotler identified Irons as the assailant. But there were no fingerprints connecting the teenager to the crime. No DNA or blood evidence. No corroborating witnesses. 之後的初步聽證會場上，Stotler 緊咬 Irons 為兇手，不過並無任何指紋，任何 DNA 或是血液證據，或是目擊者指出這位青少年與案件的任何關聯。 A public defender would not allow Irons to take the stand to proclaim his innocence, saying he was too young and uneducated. 當時公設辯護人並沒有讓 Irons 起身替自己辯白，理由是他還太稚嫩，還缺乏教育。 Prosecutors said Irons had admitted the offence, something he and his lawyers denied. The officer who questioned Irons was alone and did not record the interview. 檢察官表示 Irons 已承認犯行，Irons 和他的律師始終否認到底。此外，警方對 Irons 採取單獨訊問，且過程並無進行記錄。 At the time of the trial, in October 1998, American politicians were running on tough-on-crime platforms. There were particularly harsh sentences for young offenders handed out. 案件審判發生在1998年10月，當時嚴厲打擊犯罪為美國政界所主張，針對少年罪犯的判決尤其嚴苛。 A prosecutor is quoted as saying about Irons:external-link "Don't be soft on him because he is young. He is as dangerous as somebody five times that age. 一段檢察官對 Irons 陳述：「不要因為他還年輕而對他心軟，他和年長五倍的罪犯同樣危險。」 "We need to send a message to some of these younger people that if you are going to act like somebody old, you are going to be treated like somebody old.” 「我們需要對年輕族群傳達一個訊息，如果你想作出成人的行為，就必須被當作成人對待。」 In December 1998, aged 18, Irons was convicted of assault and burglary by an all-white jury and sent to prison for 50 years. 1998年12月，一個由白人組成的陪審團做出決定，18歲的 Irons 被以攻擊和強盜定罪，求處50年刑期。 In 2007, nine years into that sentence, an 18-year-old Moore travelled to Missouri to visit family and met Irons through the prison ministry they were involved with. 時間快轉到2007年，18歲的 Moore 前往密蘇里探望家人，並透過與家人熟識的監獄部門，與已經服刑九年的 Irons 見面。 Over the years that followed, she continued to return to Jefferson City - her hometown - to visit Irons. She sent him books by her favourite writers and spoke to him on the phone before big games. 此後每一年，她保持返回家鄉 Jefferson City 的習慣，去探望 Irons，還送上她最愛作家撰寫的書籍。每當重大比賽前夕，都會與 Irons 透過電話聊上幾句。 Eventually, she decided to press pause on her basketball career. 最終，她決定將籃球生涯按下暫停鍵。 Why? Because she always believed Irons was telling the truth. 為何？因為她堅信 Irons 說的是實話。 "There's something about truth that makes you believe it's going to happen," Moore says. 「真相讓你相信平反終將會發生。」Moore 說道。 "He just had to keep believing that if we could get the truth in front of the right people, who want to do the right thing, they'll do it.” 「他必須繼續保持信念，相信如果我們能夠把真相傳達給願意做正確事情的人，他們會幫我們達成。」 So in early 2019, when she was supposed to be preparing for the new WNBA season, Moore got to work with Irons and his lawyers to request a retrial. She dedicated herself to the cause. 2019 年初，Moore 本該開始為新球季備戰時刻，她與 Irons 以及他的律師團合作，著手聲請重審。她全心奉獻在替好友平反工作上。 Some 21 years after Irons' conviction, state prosecutors were still not willing to admit defeat. They tried to prevent a review but were unsuccessful and, in October 2019, Irons was finally able to state his innocence in front of a judge. 距離 Irons 的判決過了21年，州檢察官仍不願承認審判失敗，他們試著迴避重新檢視此案，但並沒有成功。2019年10月，Irons 終於能夠在法官面前，陳述他當年該說的話。 On 9 March 2020, Irons' conviction was overturned. Judge Daniel Green described the original case as "very weak and circumstantial at best”. 2020年3月9日，Irons 的原裁決被推翻，法官 Daniel Green 用「非常薄弱、充其量間接證據」來描述原判例。 In his decision, the judge cited a fingerprint found inside a door in Stotler's home that matched neither Stotler nor Irons. 法官說明理由，他舉出從 Stotler 家中房門內側採集到與 Stotler 和 Irons 皆不吻合的指紋。 It was evidence that could have proved someone else committed the crime, but it was never turned over to the defence team in the trial in 1998. 那是原本可以讓真正兇嫌定罪的證據，但在1998年審判當時，從未移交給辯護團隊。 Irons' story is not unique and it is rooted in systems and issues unimaginably complicated to unpick. Irons 的故事並非單一個案，它深植在整個系統內，揭露問題是難以想像地複雜。 The 2016 Netflix documentary 13th shone a light on statistics demonstrating how prisons in the United States are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. 2016 年 Netflix 的一部紀錄片「13th」秀出統計數據，顯示美國監獄不成比例地充斥著非裔美國黑人。 Perhaps the most eye-opening one was this: while a white male in the country has a one in 17 chance of ending up behind bars, for black males it is one in three. 也許更讓人驚訝的事實：每17位白人男性有一位會被定罪，但黑人男性卻是每三位就有一位。 But sometimes for change to happen, statistics are not enough. It takes a real, human story. 但有時渴求改變發生，不只需要冰冷統計數據，也需要一則真實有溫度的故事。 --- For now, Moore will be sticking to prosecutorial reform. Her campaign, Win With Justice, seeks to challenge a "win" culture that is considered to be "eroding the trust our community must have in those charged with promoting public safety”. 到目前，Moore 將持續專注於檢察官改革這方面。她的倡議 - Win With Justice，挑戰著「勝訴」文化，這樣的文化被視為是「侵蝕社會群體對負責促進公共安全執行者的信任。」 She says: "I see such a connection between sports and the leadership that prosecutors have of winning and losing. What is a win and what is a loss? 她進一步表示「我看到競技運動和檢察官領導對於輸贏有類似思考，什麼才是勝利？什麼又是失敗？」 "I will continue to try to help and share and empower others to do the same.” 「我將持續嘗試幫助和分享，讓其他人加入行列。」 It is not yet clear what form Moore's continued work will take, nor whether she will return to basketball. 至於 Moore 接下來的工作要用何種形式進行，或是她是否將重返籃壇，那就拭目以待了。 ------- 最近看到聯盟搞了一個沒有明確目標，方式有不太適當的罷賽(休息)後，突然又想起持續為理想在奮鬥的 Maya Moore，剛好近期BBC有一篇整理報導，但內容很長，只擷取部分，應該跟本版有一點點關係，都在明州的同一座球場打球，而且是同一位老闆XD。黑人在美國的問題不可否認是個盤根錯節，歷史延續下來的問題，但要改變不能只停留在爭辯口號如何喊，實際行動更為重要，Maya Moore是很好的示範，也令人尊敬。 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 1.169.242.48 (臺灣) ※ 文章網址: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Timberwolves/M.1598716718.A.152.html