Brittney Griner holds a photo of 2022 WNBA All-Stars wearing her name and number on their jerseys.AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov
- Brittney Griner was found guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison.
- The WNBA star was arrested in February after Moscow airport officials found cannabis in her luggage.
Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison over drug-smuggling charges for carrying vape cartridges in her luggage at a Moscow airport.
The WNBA superstar's trial came to a close Thursday, with the judge handing down a guilty verdict along with her heavy sentence. Griner has been detained in Russian jail since February, when she was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport after customs agents discovered vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage.
Over the month of July, Griner and her legal team have appealed for leniency after she admitted wrongdoing and pleaded guilty to the charges against her. Though the defense made the case that Griner inadvertently brought the drugs in her luggage and that she had been prescribed medical marijuana back in the US, the two-time Olympic gold medalist received a near-maximum sentence and now faces the prospect of spending almost a decade at a Russian penal colony.
The jarring outcome evoked reactions from across the sports ecosystem and beyond. From basketball and football stars to politicians and musicians, here's how the world responded to Griner's plight: