Brittney Griner’s Guilty Plea Could Have Cost Her ’Hostage Status’, Gave Russia More Bargaining Chips: Fox News Report

Brittney Griner may have cost herself “hostage” status by pleading guilty in some folk’s opinion. On July 7th, Griner told the judge, “I’d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law.”

Griner’s defense has also presented a prescription for the cannabis oil found while she was at the Moscow airport. Griner was arrested in February right before Russian invaded Ukraine.

Fox News’ Hugh Dugan believes that the guilty plea may give her an upper hand in negotiations but eliminates her “hostage” claim.

Dugan told Fox News, “I can’t say that’s the right or the wrong thing to do because, in any event, the Russian system … it’s not our system. But that’s the gamble based on the direction that her attorneys counsel her. To our eyes, it looks like, OK, this gets her into that status where they can do a [prisoner] swap.”

Dugan then added that Griner would be expected to finish her sentence, whatever it may be in an American prison if a prisoner swap was to take place. But he also believes this will just be a procedural agreement that neither country would likely honor.

Dugan also believes that Griner has made Russia’s negotiating position stronger as she has admitted to criminal activity, moving her status from “hostage” to possibly “wrongfully detained”.

He concluded his thoughts with, “It’s a roll of the dice as to what we’re dealing with. Russia will do what it wants anyway. … It’s kind of a no-win situation no matter what.”

Former DIA intelligence officer, Rebeka Koffler, told Fox News, “They don’t want anything public. The one thing about the Russian system that is very, very different from the American system is that there’s virtually no independent judicial process, especially in cases of high visibility like that.

“Russians are saying she isn’t unlawfully detained. She possessed drugs. It’s basically the clash of two legal systems.” She added that it will come down to “what Putin wants.”

Griner is at the mercy of the Russian judicial system, and it is unlikely that the public would be made aware of any deals being made by Russia and the United States until it was completed.