Source: The Washington Post / Getty
We first heard of Chrystul Kizer’s case in 2019. The then 17-year-old girl was facing a life sentence for killing her 34-year-old abuser, Randall Phillip Volar III, after several instances of sexual abuse.
Prosecuting attorneys argued that the murder was premeditated and Kizer killed Volar in an attempt to steal his BMW.
Kizer said she killed Volar, shooting him and then setting his body on fire before stealing his laptop and car, because she told him she did not want to “have sex” that night and he pinned her down on the floor.
After she gained nationwide support, Kizer was released from jail after several community organizations raised money to pay for her $400,000 bond, a number that had been reduced from a million dollars. At the time of her release, she had already spent two years in jail awaiting trial.
The latest news from Kizer’s case suggests things might be looking up for her.
According to NBC News.com, a Wisconsin court has ruled that Kizer is entitled to an appeal using a strategy known as “affirmative defense.”
The affirmative defense was adopted into state law in 2008 and argues that what the defendant is charged with was a “direct result” of being a human trafficking victim.
As it stands, Kizer, now 20, is facing five felonies, including arson and first degree intentional homicide, a charge that warrants a life sentence in prison.
In 2019, Kizer told The Washington Post, that she acted in self-defense. “I didn’t intentionally try to do this,” she said.
According to NBCNews, District Attorney Michael Graveley argues that Kizer’s actions were calculated. He alleges that there was evidence Kizer planned to kill Volar to steal his car. Prosecutors also argue that Kizer “never indicated that she was trafficked by Volar.”
But Volar’s relationship with a teenage Kizer was not the first time he had been linked to an underage girls and sex crimes.
Authorities were reportedly working on a case against Volar before his death. And he had previously been arrested and released even after video evidence allegedly shows him sexually abusing several Black girls. According to The Root, despite all the evidence pointing to his deviant behavior, Volar never spent a night in jail.
