A Milwaukee woman has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing a man who prosecutors say trafficked her as a child.
The sentence, handed down on Monday, ends a six-year battle for Chrystul Kizer, now 24 years old, who argued that he should not be prosecuted.
Kizer was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 shooting death of Randall Volar, 34, when he was 17 years old. He accepted a plea deal earlier this year to avoid a life sentence.
Volar had been recording his sexual abuse of Kizer for more than a year before he was killed.
Kizer said she met Volar when she was 16 years old, and said the man sexually assaulted her while giving her cash and gifts. He said he also made money by selling her to other men to sleep with her.
An investigation by the Washington Post found that authorities have evidence, including video, that Volar molested at least 12 black girls, including Kizer – all of whom appeared to be minors.
Four months before Volar’s death, police arrested him on charges of sexual assault but released him the same day.
Police say Kizer went from Milwaukee to Volar’s home in Kenosha in June 2018 armed with a gun. He shot him twice in the head, burned the house and took his car.
Prosecutors say the killing was premeditated, and part of a plan to steal Kizer’s car. Kizer’s attorneys argued that he was acting in self-defense.
Kizer’s case tested the leniency given to victims of sex trafficking. Some states implement laws – called “immunity statutes” – that protect victims from other crimes including prostitution or theft, if those acts were the result of trafficking.
Kizer has tested whether the “affirmative defense” of trafficking victims can be used for murder. In 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that he could.
The ruling allowed Kizer to use evidence to show his abuse at the time of the crime. The case attracted a lot of public attention and Kizer received support from activists of the #MeToo movement.
He ultimately opted for a plea deal to avoid risking a life sentence at trial.
“I’m starting to try to move on,” Kizer told the Washington Post in a prison interview this year.
He has served more than a year and a half of his sentence. He will face five years of extended supervision after his eventual release.
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