Chrystul Kizer receives eleven years in prison for killing her alleged sex trafficker

Chrystul Kizer, a Milwaukee woman charged with killing her alleged sex trafficker, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Monday.

Kizer, now 24, was sentenced by Kenosha County Judge David P. Wilk in connection with the death of 34-year-old Randall Volar in 2018. In addition to the 11 years in prison, Kizer was also sentenced to five years of extended probation.

However, the court credited Kizer with 570 days, or about one and a half years, of the sentence she had already served, reducing her total time behind bars, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Kizer, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was initially charged with several counts, including first-degree premeditated murder, arson and auto theft. Prosecutors said she shot Volar in his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2018 before burning down his house and stealing his BMW.

However, Kizer said she met Volar through a sex trafficking website and claimed he sexually abused her and sold her as a prostitute for over a year.
In interviews and court documents, Kizer said that Volar invited her on dates and provided her with cash and shopping trips in exchange for sexual acts.

On the night of June 4, 2018, Kizer said she shot Volar in his home after he tried to attack her.

In May of this year, Kizer pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter with the use of a dangerous weapon, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The deal allowed her to avoid a trial and a possible life sentence.

Newsweek reached out to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the Kenosha District Attorney's Office via email on Monday seeking comment.

Kizer's case has attracted widespread attention, with her defense team arguing that her actions were protected by a 2008 Wisconsin law that exempts sex trafficking victims from criminal liability for crimes committed as a direct result of their exploitation. Similar laws have been passed in more than 30 states over the past decade that allow trafficking victims to be acquitted of certain charges if they can prove in court that a crime was committed as a result of their abuse.

Prosecutors, however, insisted that the law was never intended to cover murder cases.

Nevertheless, the state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Kizer could plead human trafficking in court. That decision drew support from anti-violence groups who argued that victims of human trafficking often feel compelled to defend themselves by any means necessary, the AP reported.

Despite her defense, Judge Wilk reportedly acknowledged that sex trafficking was a serious problem but questioned Kizer's expressions of remorse.

“It seems that your relationship to the truth is fluid and opportunistic,” Wilk said, according to The Washington Post.