A verdict in Brittney Griner’s drug-smuggling case in Russia will reportedly be made as early as Thursday, with prosecutors seeking 9.5 years of jail time, according to CNN. The WNBA star’s attorney made the revelation in a statement to the media today, as closing arguments in the trial commenced this morning — six months after she was taken into custody for carrying a vape canister containing cannabis oil in her luggage at the Moscow airport.
As previously reported, Brittney pleaded guilty to illegal drug possession but heavily insisted in court that carrying the cannabis oil cartridge into Russia was an accident. In her testimony, she further explained how she had made a 13-hour flight from Arizona to Moscow shortly after contracting Covid, and that the cannabis oil was given by a doctor to treat an injury she had been suffering from.
While rushing to pack her luggage for Russia, she inadvertently took the cartridge with her, and when she was questioned in Moscow, she was never explained her rights nor was she given access to an attorney or an interpreter that was providing translations for her to explain the mishap at the airport.
“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and (Griner’s) personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence,” Brittney’s attorneys said in July.
A defense expert testified on Tuesday, saying that the substance contained in the athlete’s luggage did not comply with Russian law as they seek to have her punished with a sentence of up to 10 years behind bars. “The examination does not comply with the law in terms of the completeness of the study and does not comply with the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure,”Dmitry Gladyshev said during the two-hour court session.
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The US State Department has gotten involved since Brittney’s arrest became a high-profile case across the globe, with her fans and family having reached out to the White House in a bid to have President Joe Biden offer his assistance in bringing her back home.
“She’s still focused, and she’s still nervous. And she still knows that the end is near, and of course, she heard the news so she’s hoping that sometime she could be coming home, and we hope, too,” Brittney’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina said earlier this week, adding that a verdict is expected to be reached as soon as Thursday.