Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charges in Russian court

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

(CNN) Two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian court near Moscow, her lawyers confirmed to CNN on Thursday. Griner, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison under the charge. She left the courtroom without giving any comment to reporters, and her next hearing is set for July 14.

Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport after Russian officials say they found cannabis oil in her luggage. The basketball star, who plays in Russia during the WNBA's offseason, has been held since then on drug smuggling charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Her trial began last week.

The US State Department has classified Griner as wrongfully detained, and her supporters have called for her release over fears that she is being used as a political pawn amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Griner's plea came on the second day of her trial, which began last week, when a prosecutor accused her of smuggling less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage.

According to state media agency TASS, prosecutors argue Griner intended to import the drugs into Russia's territory and put the prohibited substances into a backpack and a suitcase. On Wednesday, the White House announced President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner. Cherelle Griner was "grateful" for the call from Biden and Harris, she said in a statement Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/07/europe/brittney-griner-russia-pleads-guilty/index.html

[purr-rat beauty]

1. For some marijuana vape cartridges?

That's a shame, I hope there's a way out of this

Don't be an idiot in other countries! Some have very bad consequences

I'm sure this is also political

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Dictatorial countries around the world don't play when it comes to what they bill as "illicit drugs"

(even when they really aren't)

And in her case - she has everything going against her as something that Pootie would loathe - being an American black married gay woman now in his clutches, all while he is being pummeled with bruising sanctions from this country.

So it's definitely escalated into being "political".

[bhikkhu]

22. And even some that are kind of "nice"

Like Singapore, for instance, where trafficking is potentially a death sentence. Of course it wasn't really trafficking, and it's absurd that it would come to that for a few vape cartridges, but you don't want to wind up having to tell that to a judge in a foreign country.

Russia is pretty backwards on drug policies, but then so is most of Asia, and so was the US until very recently. Still is, some places.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I know growing up

the "scary" warnings about overseas charges centered around the infamous "Turkish prisons". For example this incident that happened in the early '70s -

[PoliticAverse]

11. "For some marijuana vape cartridges?" - The sad thing is...

in some states in the US she could face a similar penalty for the same thing.

[Slammer]

41. empty

For empty marijuana vape cartridges?

Might I inquire state you think has such a law on the books so I can look up that law and read it for myself?

[PoliticAverse]

47. According to reports it was 0.7 grams of oil...

I am unable to find the specific type/concentration of the oil allegedly involved.

In Texas (from: https://tylerflood.com/news/understanding-thc-concentrates-laws/ )

Section 481.002(26) of Texas Penal Code categorizes THC extract as a penalty group 2 drug, as a result of which the use, possession, and transportation of the substance is considered a felony, not a misdemeanor.

The quantum of punishment generally depends on the amount of THC concentrates you possess.

If the amount of THC you posses is less than one gram, it is considered a felony, the punishment for which can be up to two years in jail and a penalty of $10,000.
If it is between 1 to 4 grams, it is considered a third-degree felony, the punishment for which can be up to 10 years in prison and a penalty of $10,000.
If it is between 4 to 400 grams, it is considered a second-degree felony, the punishment for which can be up to 20 years in prison and a penalty of $10,000.
If it is 400 grams or more, it is considered a first-degree felony, the punishment for which can be anywhere from 5 to 99 years in prison and a penalty of $50,000.

[Sparky 1]

49. In no state would she be put in a cage too small to straighten her legs.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. They were probably planted

but I think she did this to either lessen her sentence or get out sooner. I hope anyway.

[jimfields33]

5. If they were planted, she'd never plead guilty.

She now may end up with 10 years for not fighting for her innocence if she was? I’d fight to the end if I were innocent.

[obamanut2012]

6. Of course she would

Plead guilty, a shorter sentence and maybe a chance to get traded.

Refuse to plead guilty, get longer sentence no chance of a trade.

She's played there for many years, she knows what's going on and so does her attorney.

This was a show trail, and I tend to believe she didn't have cannabis carts.

[jimfields33]

7. So instead of 10 years, she'll get 5 years?

Nope. I’d take my innocence and fight.

[obamanut2012]

12. Then she would have been given 20 years of hard labor

In someplace like Siberia. You would have been fighting nothing except the cold and the miserableness.

That is what would have happened to her, and it would have also happened to you. This was a show trial, they want their arms dealer back. Griner and her attorney did the best they could in these circumstances.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. You can't really fight in Russian courts. That's the problem. It's not like the USA. . . nt

[obamanut2012]

25. Exactly

[stopdiggin]

50. a good many defense lawyers would advise you strongly against such a course

even in our US judicial system. You are plainly setting yourself up for a more onerous punishment. (both here and there)

[Sgent]

51. 5 years

and is now eligible for a prisoner swap -- we want her and a former marine who was arrested on trumped up espionage charges back and have a prisoner that Russia wants back. She could be walking free within a month of her sentancing.

[maxsolomon]

8. I'm not so sure.

I can see a scenario where she had CBD cartridges among the others and forgot that they're contraband - since they're not here. Or she thought she was a VIP (she is) and wouldn't be subject to a drug dog search.

We'll never know until she's out of the country, and maybe not then.

I feel like this is a necessary move, and will lead to a release fairly soon.

[PoliticAverse]

10. She probably put them in her luggage like she said she did. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I think the problem is their conflating CDB to THC & marijuana (as a purposeful decision)

so I expect that is what she had with her... and for countries like Russia (even with her having played for teams there), that was going to be an issue.

She wasn't born when the film "White Knights" came out, and although it took place before glasnost and perestroika, it is still instructive on how blacks are treated there (as shown with the character that Gregory Hines played).

[LisaL]

42. She admitted she brought them.

So, no, they weren't planted.

[Thomas Hurt]

4. She is a political prisoner just as certainly as Poot poisons and defenestrates his rivals

[PoliticAverse]

9. "I was in a rush packing and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bags."

From: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brittney-griner-russia-guilty-court-marijuana-accidentally/

"I would like to plead guilty on the charges against me, but I had no intention on breaking any Russian law," she said in court. "I was in a rush packing and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bags."

[obamanut2012]

13. My mom accidentally left three cartridges in her small carry-on bag

She would also use it as her range bag, and the bullets were stuck under the flap bags can have on the bottom. TSA freaked the hell out and wanted her arrested, but the LEOs there (Pittsburgh) roared with laughter and let her go. She still does get pulled aside and searched almost every time now, even with Global Entry.

The best part: this was on the RETURN trip, so she made it through the TSA at Charlotte.

My mother is the most law abiding citizen I know, and she made this mistake. I believe Griner, especially since she has lived there for so long.

[PoliticAverse]

14. "She still does get pulled aside and searched almost every time now"

Sounds like she made the TSA's naughty list.

[obamanut2012]

27. hahaha she did

Apparently it's for seven years, so she has two more to go.

[867-5309.]

20. I'm not sure of that, either

Russia carries a 99% conviction rate, and acquitted people can be found guilty on appeal. She could be saying whatever she had to say for a shorter sentence and better conditions.

[PoliticAverse]

23. We'll see what she says after she is free and back in the US. n/t

[Mr. Evil]

16. Do they have a distinction

between simple possession and smuggling? Russia is a fucked up place so we won't know what's really going on until we hear it from her.

Per the article: "A prosecutor accused her of smuggling less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage." And, "prosecutors argue Griner intended to import the drugs into Russia's territory..."

Less than a gram!? Yeah, I'm so sure that's going to really fuck up Russia more than it already is. It just seems she's being railroaded and made to agree to this, that or the other as a political pawn and that they're so concerned about their people's well being.

Fucking Russia. Where it's ok to be an arm of an unscrupulous oligarch and/or member of the Russian Mob and wreak havoc every day but, allegedly possess less than a gram of cannabis oil and it's off to the gulag for you!

Sheesh!

[FM123]

17. She has been playing basketball in Russia for the past SEVEN YEARS with no problems....

Then all of a sudden - seven days before they invade Ukraine - they find something in her luggage and take her into custody? Shady.

[Dopers_Greed]

19. I have no doubt those were hers. People accidentally leave stuff in their bags all the time

I flew last month and the person behind me in had a knife in their bag that they forgot about.

[PoliticAverse]

28. You never know what accidentally makes it into bags...

Stowaway cat found in hand luggage at airport security
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-isle-of-man-50070123

[NJCher]

32. People leave their kids in their car

There was a story posted at DU about a week ago where a guy shot himself in the woods because he discovered he'd left his baby in the back seat and the infant died.

I read a lot of stories about memory because I think mine is so bad. My friends tell me otherwise, but I think it is. I do a lot of stuff on automatic pilot.

That might have been what happened to Brittney. Let's face it, packing is not the most scintillating task in the world. And maybe she didn't see any of those horrible movies about drug arrests in Turkey.

I just know every time I see her on TV or in a photograph, I think about this person with such talent and ability, sitting in a Russian prison cell, doing absolutely nothing with the talents and abilities she was born with. What a total waste of human potential.

[Marthe48]

21. I hate to hear this

I hope she isn't mistreated. I hope she is deported rather than jailed. I really hate putin and his thugs.

[PoliticAverse]

30. Considering what's happened to other Americans arrested in Russia...

and the current situation between the US and Russia it seems unlikely she will be deported (unless Putin wants to make a "grand gesture" ). Most likely she'd have to be swapped like Trevor Reed was (see: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trevor-reed-russia/index.html ).

[Jilly_in_VA]

26. Something y'all may not know

is that the owner of the team she played for in Ekaterinburg is currently on Vlad's "naughty list". She is/was pretty much the star of the team so this is a good way to get back at him.

[PoliticAverse]

29. Please provide evidence for that claim. n/t

[Jilly_in_VA]

31. I don't recall where I read it now

His name is Iskander Makhmudov. He is an Uzbek-born businessman, tremendously wealthy (of course), from a Muslin family. IIRC he had a yacht seized somewhere. I can't lay hands on the article I read about him being on the naughty list, however.

[Mawspam2]

33. If she were in America, she would have been shot by police 60 times.

https://www.wsaz.com/2022/07/06/investigation-underway-officer-involved-shooting/?outputType=amp

[barbtries]

34. 10 years for cannabis oil.

the woman who killed my daughter got 4.

i thought we handed out some draconian sentences. well, we do, but this? is fucked up.

[Marthe48]

36. Sorry you lost your daughter

That caught my attention. Sorry for your loss.

[barbtries]

37. thank you.

[Elessar Zappa]

38. I'm sorry.

I can’t imagine losing a child, much less to murder. Hugs.

[barbtries]

39. thank you

[mvd]

40. I'm so sorry

[mackdaddy]

35. Supposedly this will accelerate any possibility for her being eligible for release or trade.

On the reporting on MSNBC this morning one reporter was saying the by pleading guilty and no intent to commit a crime that this accelerates the process and that she was going to be found guilty by the Russian system any way. They were saying that once she had gone through the court system that she could then be at a status where being expelled or traded would be possible.

If that is the case, then she is one step closer to getting out, politically at least.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

43. U.S. Secretary Of State Reacts To Brittney Griner Decision

WNBA superstar Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Moscow court on Thursday. As a result, she could face up to 10 years in prison.

Despite her guilty plea, the United States government maintains that Griner was "wrongfully detained" by Russian officials.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken emphasized the government's commitment to getting Griner home.

"[U.S. Russian Embassy] officials again attended Brittney Griner’s trial today and delivered to her a letter from President Biden. We will not relent until Brittney, Paul Whelan, and all other wrongfully detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones," he wrote on Twitter after today's plea.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-secretary-of-state-reacts-to-brittney-griner-decision/ar-AAZkb9h

[blue-wave]

44. I believe she was coerced

Likely for favored treatment in prison and/or for expediting her release and return home. The russians badly wanted and will use this guilty plea to rage with their anti-American, anti-west and anti-Ukrainian propaganda. Count on it.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

45. Moscow wants Viktor Bout. It's been mentioned before. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

46. Yup

I think he had a 20-year sentence here, if I'm remembering correctly.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

48. 20 sounds right.

I'm a fan of the movie.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

52. I found last week's video this morning.

Bout got 25 years according to this: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017747197

[BumRushDaShow]

53. I just found who I apparently saw mentioned who had been sentenced to 20 years

and released in a trade - Konstantin Yaroshenko...

Trevor Reed says US should trade Viktor Bout if it will free Americans held in Russia


By Patrick Reevell, James Hill, and Bill Hutchinson
May 23, 2022, 5:49 PM

(snip)

“With this determination, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens will lead the interagency team for securing Brittney Griner’s release," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told ABC News this month.

Reed was released from a Russian prison on April 27 when the Biden administration orchestrated a prisoner exchange with the Russian government for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot from Russia who was sentenced in 2011 to 20 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

(snip)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trevor-reed-us-trade-viktor-bout-free-americans/story?id=84900081

[ripcord]

54. And a famous sports star gets special treatment

The President is being very visible on this because she is a sports star, it is good that Paul Whelan's family is calling out the administration over the hypocrisy.

[stopdiggin]

55. Griner's support group MADE this into a headline

not Joe Biden. Biden (and every part of his administration plus any channels or negotiations that might be entail) would have clearly preferred this stay low key. If there is any 'hypocrisy' involved here I think you need to be looking in another direction.

Meanwhile Griner's WNBA coach is giving interviews declaring that, "if this were LeBron - he's already home .."
So - that's real helpful ... According to this reading - the problem is that Brittney is not famous enough - or doesn't have the proper amount of testosterone in her bloodstream, or - whatever.

[ripcord]

56. Paul Whelan has been in a labor camp for over 3 years

The U.S. has declared him to be wrongfully detained, why is Griner more important and moved to the front of the line? Why haven't the President and Vice President contacted his family by phone? Why was Whelan left behind in the last prisoner swap even though he had been detained longer than Reed?

[stopdiggin]

58. there's a line? like a queue?

dear lord. Never mind! I don't think I feel like doing this ...
----- -----

[ripcord]

59. No line just Griner is getting special treatment

[stopdiggin]

60. because her SUPPORT group raised a big fat stink

publicly (which will probably end up being counterproductive - unless a phone call from Biden is your 'measure of success') And the media was gullible enough to pounce all over it. Where Biden ended up with his tit in a wringer about all this - I guess remains the province of the gullible and shiny trinkets.

But we've all got phone calls now, so .. Yippee!!

[ripcord]

61. So Whelan's family should make a huge stink, I'm sure they could get the republicans behind them

since he was ignored in the last swap and Griner is taking center stage this time around. Even Trevor Reed said the first priority should be Whelan and that Biden hasn't done enough to get him out, you would think someone in the White House wouldn't be tone deaf.

[stopdiggin]

62. And Trevor Reed is feeding you

(and the rest of the world who will listen) this assembly line, conveyor belt picture - that there is a queue, and people entitled to a place in the line, first come, first served (just like the drive up at Burger King) ...

And I am saying to you - that is a mountainous load of twaddle. It has nothing to do with an administration that is tone deaf (or unmotivated) - rather than a bunch of people bleating around on the media that really have little or no idea what they are talking about.

And - given the state of affairs between Washington and Moscow at this juncture ... Their blathering about makes even less sense than it did when we had more or less normal diplomatic relations.

But, yeah - let's all give Joe Biden a good healthy kick ... Because then I'm sure we'll all feel so much better! (won't do much for Griner, or anybody else in Putin's clutches right now. But, hey ..!)

[ripcord]

63. So Whelan can just keep going in the work camp while Griner complains about being locked in a cell?

Biden was wrong to leave Whelan behind last time and now all the focus in on getting Griner out, the US has failed Whelan and gone on to someone else who is shiny and new. Who would have though getting released from wrongful detention in Russia was actually a popularity contest? Trevor Reed was released during in April during the invasion of Ukraine so it can be done, if the administration really wants to.

[stopdiggin]

64. "so it can be done, if the administration really wants to"

Utter and complete bullsh*t! And I don't care who is feeding you the manure. It's still total crap.

----- --- --- -----

[ripcord]

65. So they could get Reed out

And they are going full steam to get Griner out, hopefully Whelan will live through his time in the labor camp. It would be nice if the White House at least included Whelan in their statements about working to get Griner out but then they would have to publicly discuss leaving him hostage in Russia. Whelan asked the President why he was left behind, he received no response but of course the President is going to make the time to respond to Griner's letter, I wonder why Whelan, his family and supporters feel they are being ignored.

[alphafemale]

57. Even just Mexico I just had My ID and a credit card and Passport.

You do not ever try to sneak shit.

Oh my gawd.

I realize she maybe thought she had super special status.

And we are in no way giving that international terrorist arms dealer for her

No. Flat no. .