Brittney Griner Faces 10 Years In Prison If Convicted 😱 Pleads Guilty To Russian Drug Charges

Brittney Griner Faces 10 Years In Prison If Convicted 😱 Pleads Guilty To Russian Drug Charges

#BrittneyGriner pled guilty to Russian drug charges on Thursday, according to reuters. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. As previously reported, Brittney was detained while entering the country after officials found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

"I'd like to plead guilty, your honour. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Brittney told the court.

Brittney asked the court for time to prepare a statement. This comes within days of a letter she wrote to President Biden pleading for his help to get her home. She is set to return to court on July 14.

#WNBA #Russia

The State Department issued a statement Thursday saying it continues to work for Griner's release.

Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told reporters after the hearing that she spoke to Griner in the courtroom and shared a letter from President Joe Biden.

"She's eating well, she's able to read books and under the circumstances she's doing well,'' Rood said of Griner.

"I would like again to emphasize the commitment of the U.S. government at the very highest level to bring home safely Ms. Griner and all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained as well as the commitment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to care for and protect the interests of all U.S. citizens detained or imprisoned in Russia."

Before Thursday's hearing, Russian police escorted Griner, handcuffed and clad in a bright red T-shirt and sports trousers, into the courtroom past a crowd of journalists.

Sources said the guilty plea to charges of drug possession and smuggling was a strategy to help facilitate a prisoner swap that could bring Griner home, and it also was a recognition that there was no way she was going to be acquitted.

U.S. officials and Russia experts have described the trial, which was in its second day, as "theater," with a guilty verdict seen as a foregone conclusion.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned Thursday that "attempts by the American side to make noise in public ... don't help the practical settlement of issues.''

The White House said Biden called Griner's wife on Wednesday to assure her that he's doing all he can to obtain the athlete's release as soon as possible. They spoke after Biden read a letter from Griner in which she said she feared she'd never return home.

There is no timetable for the length of the trial, but the real resolution to Griner's case is expected to be a deal that brings one or more Russians currently in U.S. custody back to Russia in exchange for the release of Griner and possibly another American, Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since December 2018.

Russia has sought the release of an arms dealer named Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States for supporting terrorism. But sources have said there are voices in the Biden administration who have argued against releasing Bout, who is known by the nickname "the Merchant of Death."

Experts have said any deal to release Griner would almost certainly require an admission of guilt by the American star, regardless of the facts. A source familiar with the strategy said that by pleading guilty, Griner gets that out of the way. And while it could complicate public reaction to her case, one source said the thought was to just get her home however possible and deal with the fallout when she returns.

Ryabkov noted that until Griner's trial is over, "there are no formal or procedural reasons to talk about any further steps.''

He warned that U.S. criticism, including a description of Griner as wrongfully detained and dismissive comments about the Russian judicial system, "makes it difficult to engage in detailed discussion of any possible exchanges.''

"The persistence with which the U.S. administration ... describes those who were handed prison sentences for serious criminal articles and those who are awaiting the end of investigation and court verdicts as 'wrongfully detained' reflects Washington's refusal to have a sober view of the outside world,'' Ryabkov said.

The trial of the Phoenix Mercury star and two-time Olympic gold medalist was adjourned after its start last week because two scheduled witnesses did not appear. Such delays are routine in Russian courts, and her detention has been authorized through Dec. 20.