Brittney Griner sentenced to nine years

A Ru sian court has sentenced Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for drug smuggling and po se sion charges, .In addition to the nine-year prison sentence, Griner has been fined 1 million rubbles, the equivalent of roughly $16,500.As noted by Quinn, Griner's sentencing ends the first chapter of New York Giants Jersey her detainment in Ru sia, which began when customs service officials said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in Griner's luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport.MORE: |Since February, Griner has been detained in Ru sia, causing multitudes of figures in the sports world to call for her safe return home to the United States.Griner, 31, was selected first overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Mercury. Since 2014, she has spent WNBA offseasons playing for the Ru sian club UMMC Ekaterinburg, located in Yekaterinburg, Ru sia.She is charged with attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into Ru sia upon her return into the country.While Griner now faces a nine-year sentence in prison, some legal experts view the verdict as a formality. The length of her detainment will presumably be determined by diplomatic between the United States and Ru sia. United States President Joe Biden in response to Thursday's sentencing.Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Ru sia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. Its unacceptable, and I call on Ru sia to release her immediately so she can be with her Blake Martinez Jersey wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates. My administration will continue to work tirele sly and pursue every po sible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as po sible. WNBA Commi sioner Cathy Englebert and NBA Commi sioner Adam Silver in response to Griner's sentencing.Today's verdict and sentencing is unjustified and unfortunate, but not unexpected and Brittney Griner remains wrongly detained. The WNBA and NBA's commitment to her safe return has not wavered and it is our hope that we are near the end of this proce s of finally bringing BG home to the United States. The and released the following joint statement in response to the verdict and sentencing.While we knew it was never the legal proce s that was going New York Giants Jackets to bring our friend home, today's verdict is a sobering milestone in the 168-day nightmare being endured by our sister, BG.We remain heartbroken for. her, as we have every day for nearly six months.We remain grateful to and confident in the public servants working every day to return her to her family and us.We remain faithful the Administration willl do what it takes to end her wrongful detention.We are inspired every day by BG's strength and we are steadfastly committed to keeping her top-of-mind publicly until she is safely back on American soil.We will not allow her to be forgotten. We are BG. As Griner awaited sentencing, to the court. Below are excerpts from her statement.I want to apologize Evan Engram Jersey to my teammates, my club, the fans and the city of (Yekaterinburg) for my mistake that I made and the embarra sment that I brought on to themI want to also apologize to my parents, my siblings, the Phoenix Mercury organization back at home, the amazing women of the WNBA and my amazing spouse back at homeI never meant to hurt anybody, I never meant to put in jeopardy the Ru sian population, I never meant to break any laws hereI made an honest mistake, and I hope that in your ruling, that it doesn't end my life hereI know that everybody keeps talking about political pawn and politics, but I hope that Kadarius Toney Jersey that is far from this court roomI want to say again that I had no intent on breaking any Ru sian laws. I had no intent, I did not conspire or plan to commit this crimeThis is my second home, and all I wanted to do was just win championships and make them proud.---