Russian prosecutors have asked a court outside Moscow to sentence Brittney Griner to 9½ years in prison on cannabis possession charges.
The prosecutors' request was made during closing arguments Thursday in Griner's trial, nearly six months after the American basketball star was arrested at a Moscow airport in a case that has reached the highest levels of U.S.-Russia diplomacy.
Griner also addressed the judge Thursday, saying she "never meant to break any law" in Russia by having vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage at the time of her arrest Feb. 17 and that it was an honest mistake.