On Thursday, WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner appeared once again in front of a Russian court. She faced up to 10 years in prison for drug charges, as Russian authorities alleged that they found vape canisters containing hashish oil with trace amounts of cannabis oil in her luggage in February. Before a judge handed down her sentence, she pled for leniency, saying, "I made an honest mistake and I hope your ruling doesn’t end my life here." But she was sentenced to nine years of prison. 

Dr. William Butler, John Edward Fowler Distinguished Professor at Pennsylvania State’s Dickinson Law School, and Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a PhD candidate studying race in Russia at the University of Pennsylvania Department of History, joined us to explain Griner's defense, sentence, and what she's really facing for the next nine years.