STORY: Last week, Griner pleaded guilty to carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil but said she had no intention of breaking Russian law.

At Friday's session, Griner's defense team presented evidence in a bid to prove this.

Washington has heavily criticized Griner's detention, but the Russian authorities do not consider Griner's detention illegal and say the case against her is not political despite Moscow's fraught relations with the United States.

Amid suggestions that Griner could be exchanged for a Russian citizen jailed in the United States, a Russian deputy foreign minister said last week that the "hype" surrounding her case was not helpful.