A Wisconsin teen faces life in prison for killing her alleged sex trafficker and now her case is getting national attention.
Chrystul Kizer was 17-years-old when she was arrested in June 2018 for fatally shooting Randy Volar III and setting fire to his house in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to multiple media reports at the time.
In a recent jailhouse interview with The Washington Post, Kizer said she killed Volar because he was using her for sex trafficking and when she didn't want to have sex on the night of Volar's death, he pinned her to the floor.
Kizer was just 16-years-old when she first met 33-year-old Randy Volar.
The Washington Post said Kizer revealed after several interviews that Volar had sold her through Backpage.com to other men. She described to the Post how he would place ads on the site, then drive her to hotels to meet with other men. She said she would then give Volar the money she earned.
After she was arrested and charged with killing Volar, her attorneys learned that Kenosha Police had been investigating Volar for sex trafficking, the Kenosha News reported.
Four months before his death, police arrested Volar on charges that included child sexual assault, but they then let him go without bail, according to The Washington Post. During the course of their investigation, police found "hundreds" of child pornography videos, and more than 20 "home videos" of Volar with underage black girls, according to files given to Kizer's family and reviewed by the Washington Post.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley told the Kenosha News that police had sent the case to his office three months later and a prosecutor requested more info from police. He Graveley said that info didn't arrive until the day Volar's body was discovery.
The district attorney told the Kenosha News he believes they would've wound up charging Volar that same day or the day after.
Kizer's attorneys argue that she should be protected under sex trafficking victim laws. But during a recent court hearing, a judge ruled the use of the "affirmative defense" would be limited and couldn't be used as a defense for killing Volar, the Kenosha News reported.
The district attorney told WISN he's been pressured to drop all charges from the start, but believes Volar's killing was premeditated and Kizer bragged about it on social media.
"If somebody commits crimes against you, even horrible crimes, that you aren't allowed to go kill them in response," Gravely told WISN.
A Change.org petition calling for all charges to be dropped already has more than 11,000 signatures.
Some of Kizer's supports have compared her case to Cyntoia Brown, who went to prison at the age of 16 and served 15 years of a life sentence for killing a man who purchased her for sex. Brown was released in August after then-Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted her clemency.
Kizer's case is currently scheduled to go to trial March 16, according to the Kenosha News.
