Chrystul Kizer sentenced to 11 years for killing her sex trafficker

KENOSHA, Wis. - A judge on Monday sentenced a Milwaukee woman charged with killing the man who sex trafficked 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 survivors of sexual abuse who commit resulting crimes.

Chrystul Kizer will ultimately not serve the full 11 years in prison, after Kenosha County Judge David P. Wilk credited 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.

Advocates said Kizer’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 Gravely 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.

Prosecutors declined to comment, and Kizer’s attorney was not immediately available following Monday’s sentencing.