Woman Accused Of Killing Man At 17 Can Use Sex Trafficking Defense, Wisconsin Court Says

KENOSHA, WI — A woman charged with killing a man who she said trafficked her for sex can use her experience as a trafficking victim for her homicide defense, the state’s high court has ruled.

Chrystul D. Kizer was 17 and living in Milwaukee in June 2018, when she fatally shot 34-year-old Randall Volar in his Kenosha home, set the house on fire and fled in his car, authorities have said. If convicted, she faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kizer's case has been slow to move forward as various courts have considered her request to invoke an affirmative defense, meaning she would claim Volar’s death was a direct result of her being victimized through child sex trafficking. This week, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed an appeals court’s earlier decision that Kizer could use an affirmative defense against the first-degree intentional homicide charge, according to the supreme court's 4-3 majority opinion, filed Wednesday.

“Kizer allegedly admitted to detectives that after she arrived, she ‘had gotten upset and she was tired of [him] touching her,’ and shot him,” the opinion said.

Kizer told investigators Volar would pay her to have sex with him, and that he eventually made her have sex with other men, her attorney has said. Volar tried to rape Kizer when she was 16 and sexually abused her repeatedly, investigators have said.

“Unlike many crimes, which occur at discrete points in time, human trafficking can trap victims in a cycle of seemingly inescapable abuse that can continue for months or even years,” the supreme court opinion said.

“For that reason, even an offense that is unforeseeable or that does not occur immediately after a trafficking offense is committed can be a direct result of the trafficking offense, so long as there is still the necessary logical connection between the offense and the trafficking.”

Volar was never charged in connection with the sex trafficking Kizer has referenced in court, but one report said investigators found his burnt body the same day he was expected to be charged with child sex crimes.

After Volar's death, Kizer posted a Facebook Live video in which she displayed what appeared to be a handgun and pistol ammunition, according to a criminal complaint. A detective reported hearing Kizer say that she "wasn’t afraid to kill again” and that she would give Volar’s BMW to her brother.

In addition to first-degree intentional homicide, Kizer is charged with arson, operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent, possession of a firearm by a felon, and bail jumping. Her case is scheduled to proceed with a status conference Sept. 9.