MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee child sex trafficking victim accused of killing her trafficker can argue he drove her to do it, a state appeals court has ruled.
Prosecutors have accused 20-year-old Chrystul Kizer of killing 34-year-old Randall Volar III in 2018. They allege she went to his home in Kenosha, shot him in the head, set his house on fire and stole his car, computer and cash. She was 17 at the time.
She faces multiple charges, including first-degree intentional homicide.
Wisconsin law provides an affirmative defense for trafficking victims to any offense committed as a direct result of being trafficked. If proven, an affirmative defense trumps all charges.
A Kenosha County judge ruled in 2019 that Kizer couldn’t raise that defense, finding that her acts weren’t the direct result of being a trafficking victim.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that the 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed that ruling on Wednesday and found that Kizer could argue her actions resulted from being trafficked. Judge Mark Gundrum wrote in the court’s opinion that a judge will have to decide whether that was in fact the case.
Kizer is due back in court for a status hearing June 25.
