A Milwaukee woman who claimed she was legally allowed to kill a man because he was a sex trafficker pleaded guilty Thursday to a reduced charge of reckless homicide.
Crystal Kaiser’s decision means she avoids a trial and the possibility of a life sentence. Also unresolved is the question of whether a state law that grants victims of sex trafficking immunity for crimes committed during their trafficking extends to murder.
Kaiser’s attorneys, Gregory Holdal and Helmi Hamad, did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails seeking comment.
Crystal Kaiser, accused of killing her alleged abuser, arrested in Louisiana after two weeks on the run
Prosecutors allege that Kaiser shot and killed 34-year-old Randall Voller in his Kenosha home in 2018 when he was just 17 years old. They allege she then set his house on fire and stole his BMW. She was charged with multiple charges including first-degree intentional homicide, arson, motor vehicle theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Crystal Kaiser is pictured during a hearing in Kenosha County Court on November 15, 2019. Her attorneys, public defenders Larissa Vargas Benitez Morgan (left) and Carl Johnson, speak at the hearing. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Kaiser, now 23, claimed she met Vollar on a sex trafficking website. She claimed that for a year before her death, he sexually abused her and sold her as a prostitute. She told detectives that she shot the man because he tried to touch her.
Her attorney said that under a 2008 state law that exempts sex trafficking victims from “any crime committed as a direct result” of their trafficking, Kaiser cannot face criminal charges for any of them. He claimed that there was no. Most states have passed similar laws in the past decade, giving sex trafficking victims at least some degree of immunity.
Prosecutors countered that the Wisconsin Legislature could never have intended the protection to extend to murder. Anti-violence groups have flocked to Kaiser’s defense, arguing in court filings that human trafficking victims feel trapped and sometimes feel they have to take matters into their own hands. did. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that Kaiser could withdraw his defense during his trial.
But that won’t happen now. Kaiser pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide during a hearing Thursday morning, according to online court records. Prosecutors dismissed all other charges.
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Kenosha County Circuit Judge Michael Wilk is scheduled to sentence her on Aug. 19. The second-degree reckless homicide charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. First-degree intentional homicide carries a life sentence.
