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Chrystul Kizer, woman who said killing her sex trafficker was legal, gets 11 year prison term
Kenosha, Wis. — A Milwaukee woman who said she was legally allowed to a kill a man because he was sexually trafficking her was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced count of reckless homicide.
A Kenosha County judge sentenced Chrystul Kizer to 11 years of initial confinement followed by 5 years of extended supervision in the 2018 death of Randall Volar, 34. She was given credit for 570 days, about one and a half years, of time served.
The judge didn’t make Kizer eligible to participate in any early release programs at the Department of Corrections and she should be released in 2033, according to the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office.
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Kizer had pleaded guilty in May to second-degree reckless homicide in Volar’s death, allowing her to avoid trial and a possible life sentence.
Prosecutors said Kizer shot Volar at his Kenosha home in 2018, when she was 17, and that she then burned his house down and stole his BMW. Kizer was charged with multiple counts, including first-degree intentional homicide, arson, car theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Kizer, now 24, said she met Volar on a sex trafficking website. He had been molesting her and selling her as a prostitute over the year leading up to his death, she said. She told detectives she shot him after he tried to touch her.
Her attorneys said Kizer couldn’t be held criminally liable for any of it under a 2008 state law that absolves sex trafficking victims of “any offense committed as a direct result” of being trafficked. Most states have passed similar laws over the last 10 years providing sex trafficking victims at least some level of criminal immunity.
Prosecutors countered that Wisconsin legislators couldn’t possibly have intended for protections to extend to homicide.
Anti-violence groups flocked to Kizer’s defense, arguing in court briefs that trafficking victims feel trapped and sometimes feel as if they have to take matters into their own hands. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Kizer could raise the defense during trial.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
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Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.