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The Justice System’s Stunning Betrayal of Chrystul Kizer

NNPA NEWSWIRE — According to the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office, the court denied Kizer eligibility to engage in any early release programs at the Department of Corrections; she should be freed in 2033.

Published

2 years ago

August 28, 2024

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The opening words on a fundraiser page started four years ago remain harrowing: “Hello, I am the mother of, Chrystul Kizer, who was a minor at the time of her incarceration and is currently facing charges in Kenosha, WI, because she defended herself from a known sex trafficker,” Devore Taylor wrote. The page, which has raised more than $67,000 to date, a Facebook page urging authorities to “Free Chrystul,” and a Wisconsin law that seemed to side with Kizer wasn’t enough to stop a judge from sentencing the now 24-year-old to more than a decade in prison for killing the man who allegedly sex trafficked her.

A Kenosha County judge added 5 years of extended supervision to Kizer’s sentence in the 2018 death of Randall Volar, 34. She was given credit for 570 days, about one and a half years of time served. According to the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office, the court denied Kizer eligibility to engage in any early release programs at the Department of Corrections; she should be freed in 2033. Kizer, who is Black, pled guilty in May to second-degree reckless murder in Volar’s killing, avoiding a 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. Incidentally, Kenosha is the same city where Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted after killing two men at a Black Lives Matter Rally. Kizer told police she encountered Volar on a sex trafficking website. She said that for the year before his death, he had been mistreating her and marketing her as a prostitute. She said she shot him as he tried to touch her.

Her attorneys argued that Kizer could not be held criminally accountable for any of it because of a 2008 state statute that exempts sex trafficking victims from “any offense committed as a direct result” of being trafficked. Over the last decade, most states have approved similar legislation that provides sex trafficking victims with some amount of criminal protection. Arguing in court pleadings that victims of trafficking feel imprisoned and occasionally feel as though they had to take matters into their own hands, anti-violence organizations swarmed Kizer’s defense. In 2022 the state Supreme Court decided Kizer could raise the defense during trial. However, prosecutors argued that Wisconsin lawmakers couldn’t have meant for safeguards to include homicide.

“I think about all the people who harmed Chrystul who are walking free today. There are individual men in southeastern Wisconsin who paid to sexually abuse Chrystul. They’re walking free. Only Chrystul is being held responsible,” Claudine O’Leary, an independent consultant for survivors of human trafficking with Rethink Resources who worked with Kizer’s defense team, said on the NPR show, “Wisconsin Today.”

Many observed that the case mirrors that of Cyntoia Brown, which played out over 15-years in Tennessee. In 2006, Brown, also Black, was convicted of aggravated robbery and first-degree murder for killing 43-year-old real estate agent Johnny Allen, whom she went home with after he picked her up for sex at a Sonic Drive-In in Nashville. Fearing that Allen was reaching for a gun, she claimed she took a revolver from her handbag and killed him.

She then escaped with Allen’s firearms and cash. She drove off in his pickup vehicle. Brown, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the homicide, was freed from prison in 2019 after serving 15 years. Author of “No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us,” Rachel Louise Snyder, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, described the justice system’s history of betraying Black women and girls like Kizer.

“In this world, Black girls, especially, are routinely over-sexualized by law enforcement and the judiciary,” she wrote. “The lead investigator in the case against Volar wrote of one of Valor’s victims that she was ‘prostituting herself out.’ He was writing about a 15-year-old.” Snyder noted that Kizer was trying, “in the best way she knew, to help her family.” “She posted the ad on backpage.com so she could buy food and school supplies,” Snyder determined. “Kizer didn’t know that under federal law, it is illegal to solicit someone under the age of 18 for prostitution. What she did know were the layers of systemic racism embedded into her life – poverty, homelessness, abuse, hunger.”

After the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling, Snyder noted that Kizer had a choice. She said the disillusioned Black girl could go to trial and risk getting a life sentence — “her life for his, if you didn’t count how he’d already hijacked hers — or take a plea deal and some lesser time to serve. She faced up to 30 years on the plea. But 30 years wasn’t life, at least.” She took the plea, Snyder continued.

“She could have risked a trial, of course. But consider what the world had taught her by then, a poor Black girl with men’s violence and control all around her, with a law-enforcement system that prioritized her abuser’s freedom at the cost of her trauma, a world that said sometimes you were hungry and sometimes you needed school supplies, but no good comes from wanting,” Snyder concluded. “For six years her case was in and out of court, all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and what did that get her? An impossible gamble. What were the odds she’d prevail; in this world we’ve made for her?”

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NFL: Week Two Recap | Jalen Hurts did not fold; Caleb Williams exits game with injury

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts found Darius Cooper with nine seconds left for the game winning touchdown as his team beat the Tennessee Titans 24-20 in Nashville. Hurts finished the day 26/37 for 264 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and two interceptions. Prior to the final drive, the Eagles ran 25 plays for 45 […]
The post NFL: Week Two Recap | Jalen Hurts did not fold; Caleb Williams exits game with injury appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 weeks ago

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Oakland Post

Prior to the final drive, the Eagles ran 25 plays for 45 yards. During the final drive Hurts went 6-8 with 61 passing yards and the touchdown. Titans defensive tackle — and team captain — Jeffery Simmons said this week that the way to defend Jalen Hurts is to make him “play quarterback.”

Hurts said to Simmons after today’s game: “You started that sh**. I had to finish it.”

Running back Saquon Barkley suffered a stinger in the first half but he ultimately finished the game. He had four carries and nine yards and one catch for eleven yards. He will get an MRI for his injury, but admitted to Cameron Wolfe of the NFL Network he was fine.

Caleb Williams leaves game against Vikings with apparent lower-body injury

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was helped off the field with a right leg injury with 7:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams was down, writhing in pain after scrambling to his left. After departing the injury tent, Williams raised his right fist, acknowledging the crowd while expressing his frustration. Testing will commence on Monday to find out more details about his injury.

“We’ll know tomorrow,” Johnson admitted regarding Williams’ injury. “He’s in good spirits. He’s a team player.”

Williams finished the day with 138 passing yards and one interception.

“I’m actually happy it’s nothing with the knee — that was my first inclination,” Johnson said. “But, a hamstring could be pretty damaging as well. So, we’ll see. We’ll see how bad it is tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

Bryce Young once again dominated the Falcons

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is 5-1 against the Atlanta Falcons and is undefeated at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Today, Young threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns as he led the Panthers to a 34-3 dismembering of the Atlanta Falcons. Georgia Tech alumnus Darren Waller caught two touchdowns and linebacker Devin Lloyd returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown.

Cooper Rush started his second straight game for the Falcons and it did not go well. The partisan crowd voiced their displeasure after Rush completed 10/17 passes for 86 yards and two interceptions. Jack Strand entered the game for Rush prompting cheers from the Falcons fans. The rookie threw a pick-six on his first career pass attempt. Strand was the first QB to accomplish that feat since Sam Darnold in 2018 and is the first Falcons player to do that since Brett Favre in 1991. Strand finished the day with 59 passing yards and 16 rushing yards.

According to reports, quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. is expected to make his season debut this Thursday at the Green Bay Packers. His return should help the Falcons. They are the first team since the 2008 Rams to not run any plays in the red zone after the first two games to open a season.

The bright spots for the Falcons today were the Spelman College Jaguarettes performing with the Falcons cheerleaders and Florida A&M’s marching band, The Marching 100, also performed during halftime!

Jayden Daniels gets carted off after apparent arm injury

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels appeared to injure his left elbow on the final play of the first half in his game against the Dallas Cowboys. During the play, Daniels got stepped on, braced himself for the fall, and his elbow bent the wrong way. Daniels draped a towel over his head as he exited the field on the cart.

He was later ruled out.

Daniels suffered a dislocated elbow to the same arm during week nine of last season against the Washington Commanders, which led to him being shut down for the remainder of the season.

The post NFL: Week Two Recap | Jalen Hurts did not fold; Caleb Williams exits game with injury appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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The post The Complete Negotiation Framework — Every Stage, Every Tactic, Every Win appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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Negotiation framework stages, tactics, and winning strategies from AutoNetwork

Roosevelt Gist and Roosevelt deliver the complete vehicle-purchase negotiation framework in Episode 8 of The Color of Our Money Is Green. This episode covers the three foundations of every effective negotiation, the full seven-stage negotiation sequence with exact language for every stage, and five of the most common dealership tactics with the specific response each one requires.
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The three foundations that make every negotiation tactic work
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Why signing preliminary paperwork isn’t the same as signing the final contract
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“The Color of Our Money Is Green: A Buyer’s Guide to What Cars Actually Cost” — stan.store/RGist
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AutoNetwork helps serious car shoppers inspect any new vehicle online before walking into a dealership. I’m Roosevelt — I’ve been reviewing cars and shaping digital car buying and credit union auto leasing since before YouTube car reviews existed.
You’ll find detailed walkaround reviews, POV test drives, and buyer-focused breakdowns covering comfort, space, features, and real-world value.

How to use the channel:
Watch the walkaround of the car you’re considering
Visit AutoNetwork.com for the full review
Check CouponsOffersAndDeals.com for current dealer specials
Walk in already knowing what you want — and what it should cost

AutoNetwork.com
CouponsOffersAndDeals.com
Affiliate disclosure: some links earn a small commission at no cost to you and help support the channel. Insta360 is one of those partners.

The post The Complete Negotiation Framework — Every Stage, Every Tactic, Every Win appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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The post Mazda CX-90 Luxury: Heated Seats & Premium Comfort! #shorts appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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