Sex-trafficking victim Chrystul Kizer gets 11 years for killing her abuser; she pleaded guilty to 2nd degree reckless homicide

[essentialsaltes]

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A judge on Monday sentenced a Milwaukee woman charged with killing the man who sexually abused her as a teenager to 11 years in prison plus five years of extended supervision. The decision ends a six-year legal saga that tested the limits of the court’s leniency toward trafficking survivors who commit crimes.

Chrystul Kizer will ultimately not serve the full 11 years in prison, after Kenosha County Judge David P. Wilk credited her with more than a year and a half of time already served.

Kizer, now 24, initially faced a possible life sentence for shooting 34-year-old Randall Volar III when she was 17. Volar, who was White, had been filming his sexual abuse of Kizer, who is Black, for more than a year.

This year, Kizer agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon, which carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

izer’s case marked the first time a Wisconsin court had allowed a defendant who was a sex-trafficking victim to use an “affirmative defense” for a homicide charge. More than 30 states have affirmative defense provisions that allow trafficking victims to be acquitted of certain charges against them if they can prove at trial that a crime was committed because of their abuse.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley had argued that Kizer carried out a premeditated killing to steal Volar’s BMW, while public defender Jennifer Bias said Kizer acted in self-defense after Volar had pinned her to the ground while trying to initiate sexual contact.

A 2019 Washington Post investigation showed that the Kenosha Police Department knew Volar was abusing underage Black girls for nearly three months before his death. After a 15-year-old Black girl fled from his home in nothing but a bra and jacket, police raided Volar’s residence and found hundreds of videos of child sexual abuse; among the stash were videos Volar had made of Kizer and girls who appeared to be as young as 12. But while the investigation continued, police and prosecutors allowed Volar to remain free.

 

[Sif]

LINK

A judge on Monday sentenced a Milwaukee woman charged with killing the man who sexually abused her as a teenager to 11 years in prison plus five years of extended supervision. The decision ends a six-year legal saga that tested the limits of the court’s leniency toward trafficking survivors who commit crimes.

Chrystul Kizer will ultimately not serve the full 11 years in prison, after Kenosha County Judge David P. Wilk credited her with more than a year and a half of time already served.

Kizer, now 24, initially faced a possible life sentence for shooting 34-year-old Randall Volar III when she was 17. Volar, who was White, had been filming his sexual abuse of Kizer, who is Black, for more than a year.

This year, Kizer agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon, which carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

izer’s case marked the first time a Wisconsin court had allowed a defendant who was a sex-trafficking victim to use an “affirmative defense” for a homicide charge. More than 30 states have affirmative defense provisions that allow trafficking victims to be acquitted of certain charges against them if they can prove at trial that a crime was committed because of their abuse.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley had argued that Kizer carried out a premeditated killing to steal Volar’s BMW, while public defender Jennifer Bias said Kizer acted in self-defense after Volar had pinned her to the ground while trying to initiate sexual contact.

A 2019 Washington Post investigation showed that the Kenosha Police Department knew Volar was abusing underage Black girls for nearly three months before his death. After a 15-year-old Black girl fled from his home in nothing but a bra and jacket, police raided Volar’s residence and found hundreds of videos of child sexual abuse; among the stash were videos Volar had made of Kizer and girls who appeared to be as young as 12. But while the investigation continued, police and prosecutors allowed Volar to remain free.

This is one of far too many examples of how Human Trafficking victims are often re-victimized by the so call justice system (and not only in the US). Often women and girls takes from the traffickers face charges of prostitution and are ignored by police and district attorneys when they try to explain they ere forced into such activity. Often forced with threats of violence to them or their families, or forcibly drugged. Then the ones that are not charged can't get bank accounts and therefore can't get housing once any temporary shelters kick them out. Frequently the victims are simply tossed right back into the environment they were rescued from.

Some law enforcement (certainly not all) seem to be squeamish or have weak stomachs when investigating Human Trafficking. They often don't do much, if anything with the traffickers themselves, at least initially. Very few have any grasp of the psychological torture and abuse trafficking victims endure. Most, I feel, don't even want to try and understand.

 

[RileyG]

This is so sad.