Crime

WNBA Star Britney Griner Pleads Guilty to Drug Possession in Russian Court

Her guilty plea came one day after Pres. Joe Biden and Vice Pres. Kamala Harris spoke to Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, who had complained that the president had not been in touch with her or other members of the basketball star’s family. She revealed the contents of a hand-written letter Brittney wrote to the president on national news networks on July 4.

Published

3 years ago

July 11, 2022

Oakland Post

Photo of Britney Griner by Lorie Shaull / Wikimedia Commons

By Post Staff

WNBA champion Brittney Griner entered a guilty plea for possession of hashish oil cartridges on Thursday as part of what some legal experts assert is a strategy for a lighter sentence.

Accused of large-scale drug transportation, she has been detained since Feb. 17, 2022. She was in possession of .07 grams of hashish oil. The charges carry a 10-year sentence.

“I’d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” Griner said on the second day of her trial, according to Reuters.

“(As) I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” a portion of the 31-year-old’s letter read.

The prolonged silence from the U.S. government for much of her imprisonment raised questions in the African American community that perhaps the Black, gay woman was not important enough.

Rev. Al Sharpton had been advocating for a group of Americans go to Russia to offer prayer and solace for the two-time Olympic gold medalist who was there to play with the Russian Premier League during WNBA’s off season.

On learning of her guilty plea, Sharpton said “I still support Brittney Griner and pray that her plea of guilty is met w/ mercy and leniency. (National Action Network) and I will continue to campaign for her return home, our concern for her life and safety remains.”

Tested for the presence of drugs in her system, Griner was clean, giving rise to speculation that her arrest at a Moscow airport one week before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 was politically motivated.

Diplomacy experts agree, asserting that Griner is considered a pawn in a test of wills between Russian Pres. Vladmir Putin and Western powers including and especially the U.S.

Possible next steps after her trial, which will last several more weeks, is the possibility of a prisoner swap where a Russian national detained in the U.S. will be traded for Griner’s release.

Reuters, ESPN, Slate magazine, CNN and USA Today were sources for this story.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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California Assembly Passes Bill to Strengthen Penalties for Soliciting Minors

The revised version of Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), now allows prosecutors to file felony charges against adults who solicit sex from a 16 or 17-year-old, provided the accused is three or more years older than the minor. If the offender is within three years of the minor, the charge would remain a misdemeanor.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

The California State Assembly has agreed to amend a controversial bill that would increase penalties for adults who solicit sex from minors ages 16 or 17, following a wave of criticism from Republicans and concerns raised by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“From a prosecutor’s standpoint, this bill strengthens California law and gives us the felony hammer to prosecute the creeps that are preying on teenagers,” Krell said in a statement supporting the amended bill.

The new amendments also include provisions for a state grant program aimed at improving the prosecution of human trafficking and sex trafficking cases, as well as a support fund for survivors partially funded by increased fines on businesses that enable or fail to address human trafficking.

The bill faced significant opposition last week after the Assembly removed a provision that would have treated solicitation of 16 and 17-year-olds as a felony for all offenders.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Afterlife of Malcolm X

Betty Shabazz didn’t like to go to her husband’s speeches, but on that February night in 1965, he asked her to come with their daughters to the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Did Malcolm X sense that something bad would happen on that night? Surely. He was fully aware of the possibility, knowing that he’d been “a marked man” for months because of his very public break with the Nation of Islam.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Book Cover of the Afterlife of Malcolm X. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: by Mark Whitaker, c.2025, Simon & Schuster, $30.99, 448 pages

Who will remember you in fifty years’ time?

A handful of friends – at least those who are still around – might recall you. Your offspring, grandkids, and greats, maybe people who stumble upon your tombstone. Think about it: who will remember you in 2075? And then read “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” by Mark Whitaker and learn about a legacy that still resonates a half-century later.

As the news of his murder spread around New York and around the world, his followers and admirers reacted in many ways. His friend, journalist Peter Goldman, was “hardly shocked” because he also knew that Malcolm’s life was in danger, but the arrest of three men accused of the crime didn’t add up. It ultimately became Goldman’s “obsession.”

Malcolm’s co-writer for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, quietly finished the book he started with Malcolm, and a small upstart publishing house snatched it up. A diverse group of magazines got in line to run articles about Malcolm X’s life, finally sensing that White America “’needed his voice even more than Blacks did.’”

But though Malcolm X was gone, he continued to leave an impact.

He didn’t live long enough to see the official founding of the Black Panther Party, but he was influential on its beginning. He never knew of the first Kwanzaa, or the triumphs of a convert named Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm left his mark on music. He influenced at least three major athletes.

He was a “touchstone” for a president …

While it’s true that “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” is an eye-opening book, one that works as a great companion to the autobiography, it’s also a fact that it’s somewhat scattered. Is it a look at Malcolm’s life, his legacy, or is it a “murder mystery”?

Turns out, it’s all three, but the storylines are not smooth. There are twists and tangents and that may take some getting used-to. Just when you’re immersed, even absorbed in this book, to the point where you forget about your surroundings, author Mark Whitaker abruptly moves to a different part of the story. It may be jarring.

And yet, it’s a big part of this book, and it’s essential for readers to know the investigation’s outcome and what we know today. It doesn’t change Malcolm X’s legacy, but it adds another frame around it.

If you’ve read the autobiography, if you haven’t thought about Malcolm X in a while, or if you think you know all there is to know, then you owe it to yourself to find “The Afterlife of Malcolm X.”

For you, this is a book you won’t easily forget.