I don't know about that---I was watching Fox News yesterday, and they had a long piece about this case, and they interviewed a lawyer and a law enforcement official from Florida, and they both said that here in the US, she might get 5 years...
Here in Canada, with no previous record, if convicted she might have done two years, or very possibly, gotten a conditional sentence (house arrest). If she is guilty, she is guilty of trafficking at a very low level - she's a mule. I recently got two clients acquitted who were facing somewhere between 6 and 8 years for transporting 90lbs of pot and 80,000 exctasy pills so nine pounds is really nothing.
In the US, from what I understand, proving motive is almost essential to proving guilt in a crime like this. IF all her finances were in order, and she didn't have a drug habit or anything that she needed to support, she would likely have been acquitted.
20 years for an offence like this is ridiculous. Of course she isn't likely to survive it.