Search icon

Crime

22nd Nov 2021

Rittenhouse verdict prompts demands to free Black teen who killed alleged sex trafficker

Kieran Galpin

Rittenhouse was recently acquitted on all charges

Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal on November 19 has sparked similar calls to free a Black teenager who was charged with killing an alleged child sex trafficker in 2018.

Chrystul Kizer was only 17 when she was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting of Kenosha resident Randall Volar, 34.

Read more: Kyle Rittenhouse breaks silence after not guilty verdict

Volar had allegedly been filming the abuse of underage girls, including Kizer, and was also being investigated by Kenosha police for child sex trafficking offences.

Though Volar had been arrested for such charges, she was released on bail at the time of his killing.

Kizer said she shot Volar in the head as he attempted to pin her to the ground in 2018. She was later accused of setting fire to his house and then fleeing to Milwaukee in his car.

Kizer was then charged with first-degree murder and arson and jailed for two years before an advocacy group raised $400,000 to pay her bond in June 2020.

Many have been quick to draw comparisons between Rittenhouse and Kizer’s cases as they both happened in Kenosha. In June of this year, Kizer appeared before the court, where they determined she may be able to use a defence employed by sex trafficking victims.

The only caveat? She has to be able to prove that her actions were a direct result of sex trafficking.

“The system isn’t broken—it was built this way,” tweeted human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid.

Another tweeted: “Chrystul Kizer and Kyle Rittenhouse. Both of their stories take place in Kenosha. ‘Liberty and Justice…for all?’

A third said: “17 year old Chrystul Kizer of Kenosha, WI shot and killed the man who kidnapped and sexually abused her and was found guilty of 1st degree murder…. We all know why.”

Related links: