Once again, Russian prosecutors called a state narcotics expert who analyzed the cannabis oil found in Griner’s luggage when she was detained on February 17 at a Moscow airport where she was returning to finish the season with the women’s basketball team with whom Griner has played for seven years.
Griner’s defense team then called a specialist who challenged the government's analysis, contending that it was flawed. Among the violations, said Griner's lawyer Maria Blagovolina after the hearing, is that the exam results failed to show the amount of THC in the substance.
Asked about the strategy of challenging Russian prosecutors, Blagovolina said: "Well there are a lot of factors which should be taken by the court into account. She admitted that she did bring something, but we need to know what did she bring. What substance?" The lawyer added that her team also found "a few defects" in the machines used to measure the cannabis oil.
Dmitry Gladyshev, a forensic chemist testified to that effect, CNN reported: “The examination does not comply with the law in terms of the completeness of the study and does not comply with the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure.”
Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Blagovolina told CNN that Griner is focused yet nervous "She still knows that the end is near, and of course, she heard the news so she's hoping that sometime she could be coming home, and we hope, too."
Griner, a legal medical marijuana patient in the U.S., told the court in a recent hearing that she’d forgotten to remove the cannabis oil from her bag in her haste while packing for her trip to Russia.
Griner’s lawyers, and others, have expressed hope that a guilty plea would speed up the trial, result in a less severe sentence and set Griner up for a prisoner exchange.
At the moment, it appears that Russia is open to a possible prisoner swap involving Griner and former Marine Paul Whalen - convicted of espionage in 2018 - in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer and former KGB agent Viktor Bout.
Read more here about Viktor Bout.
Elizabeth Rood, charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Moscow said after the hearing that the U.S. would "continue to support Miss Griner through every step of this process and as long as it takes to bring her home to the United States safely."
If you’ve not seen the routine in which Griner, 6 foot 9 inches, is led into court by her Russian prison handlers and then eased into a steel cage where they delicately remove the handcuffs that cinch her lean tattooed arms together, have a look here.
Griner's next hearing is set for Thursday.
