this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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A Milwaukee woman has been jailed for 11 years for killing the man that prosecutors said had sex trafficked her as a teenager. 

The sentence, issued on Monday, ends a six-year legal battle for Chrystul Kizer, now 24, who had argued she should be immune from prosecution. 

Kizer was charged with reckless homicide for shooting Randall Volar, 34, in 2018 when she was 17. She accepted a plea deal earlier this year to avoid a life sentence.

Volar had been filming his sexual abuse of Kizer for more than a year before he was killed.

Kizer said she met Volar when she was 16, and that the man sexually assaulted her while giving her cash and gifts. She said he also made money by selling her to other men for sex.

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[–] Fades@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

That poor girl, this world is so disgustingly unfair.

Now with that said, it is not your place to obtain whatever you may think is "justice". We have no need or want for vigilantism, all that creates is more opportunities for mistakes to happen and innocents hurt.

[–] freddydunningkruger@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Was it vigilantism? Did you read up on the case? Do you ever stop to think, why is it so easy for these fuckers to sex traffic girls? How they typically manage to get away with it for so long, against so many different women? You know, it's ALMOST like the system is set up to make it easier for them to commit the crime than it is for the girls to find a safe way out. Weird, huh?

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Now with that said, it is not your place to obtain whatever you may think is “justice”. We have no need or want for vigilantism, all that creates is more opportunities for mistakes to happen and innocents hurt.

Yes it is your place. If the law doesn't account for that and unjustly puts you behind bars, the problem is with the law.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (3 children)

This case is an easy one. The problem is folks seeking justice for slights that aren't so heinous and the whole drawing the line thing.

I'm totally on board with her killing the dude, if I was on the jury I'd have ignored the charge from the judge 100%. There should be a "what you did is illegal and you are guilty, but no jail for you" kinda deal.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That's jury nullification. And every district does it's best to make sure juries never hear about it. Some have even outlawed it. But it's a natural consequence of the jury system. If you can't nullify the charges as a jury then you aren't a jury, you're a rubber stamp.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc -5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's a jury's job to find a defendant guilty or not guilty of a given charge.

When a jury starts considering whether they feel a charge is fair, they're pretty much just making up the law. At that point you don't need a court and a jury you could just have a bunch of people deciding the defendants fate based on the vibe.

When you say they "don't want jurors to know", they simply want jurors who understand their role in finding a defendant guilty or not guilty. Thinking that nullification is a possible outcome is tantamount to a refusal to fulfil the role of a juror.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That is them finding not guilty. It's called nullification because the jury instructions are usually something stupid like, "if you believe he did the act you must vote guilty."

Which just isn't true. The entire purpose of juries is to avoid miscarriage of justice by law. Otherwise you can just outlaw a skin color and juries are forced to rubber stamp that.

It just doesn't hold up in practice or theory.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The entire purpose of juries is to avoid miscarriage of justice by law.

This is patently false. Juries have a very clear role, to consider the charges against a defendant and weigh the evidence supporting those charges and conclude whether the charges are likely to be true beyond any reasonable doubt.

There is no step whereby jurors must consider the likely penalties arising from the charges and whether or not those penalties seem fair given the context - that is very clearly the role of a judge.

Otherwise you can just outlaw a skin color and juries are forced to rubber stamp that.

Correct. There's a democratic process for creating laws. If a government creates a law making having a given skin color a criminal act, then the role of a jury in such a case would be to find the defendant guilty. In this absurd hypothetical example, there are a myriad of better options to avoid this eventuality, such as not electing a government that would create such a law.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So you're down for authoritarian democracy. Good to know. Of course you'd want a rubber stamp jury. But our founders instituted juries the way they did specifically because parliament passed and enforced unjust laws. To say they must convict on the most absurd of laws flies in the face of our entire history.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So you’re down for authoritarian democracy.

That's a disingenuous misrepresentation of what I've said. You can do better.

It's absurd to argue that a jury should have the ability to make up the law based on the vibe of a given case. Courts have not operated in that manner since pre-history. It's fair to say that civilisation itself is based on our collective ability to communicate and apply a reliable frame work of laws.

our founders instituted juries the way they did

Sure, juries determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty of the charges against them, that is quite literally how juries are instituted.

To say they must convict on the most absurd of laws

Juries do not "convict", they find a defendant guilty or not guilty of the charges against them.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You just described authoritarian or illiberal democracy and said you believe it's correct.

There's a democratic process for creating laws. If a government creates a law making having a given skin color a criminal act, then the role of a jury in such a case would be to find the defendant guilty.

If what you say is true then we don't need a jury at all. Just judges. After all why would we rely on random citizens when we could have a technical expert deciding if the law is applicable and was violated.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Obviously, you need a jury of the accused peers to find them guilty so as to avoid corruption. The court may not criminally penalise someone unless a more or less random selection of the public agree that the person is guilty of the charges against them.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A corrupt court would just declare a mistrial over and over until it looks like they're getting the result they want. So a jury is hardly a defense against that. Heck a corrupt court would probably just find a way to not have a jury at all. Like forcing people into plea deals by denying them a defense.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Obviously, a jury prevents a judge from arbitrarily finding someone guilty.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So could a second and third judge.

Ok, but we have juries instead.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

The problem is folks seeking justice for slights that aren’t so heinous and the whole drawing the line thing.

The problem of there being no justice to seek for would be worse. And attractiveness of using legal systems is in them being actually useful for victims.

[–] LordGimp@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

You are talking about jury nullification.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

That's not vigilantism. That's escape. We're locking this woman up for escaping her situation.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Did you read the article? It sounds like she had escaped. Maybe her persecutor had psychological control over her but not physical, that makes it vigilantism.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The facts of the case are barely present in the public sphere because she was denied her self defense argument in court. It's entirely possible Volar had tracked down escaped women before and entirely possible she was in the process of escaping others working with him. Literally the only thing the prosecution said is that she traveled between cities.

And if this was vigilantism, why hasn't she gotten the same treatment as Kyle Rittenhouse? It's the same state but when she travels with a gun, gets in a fight and ends it she's not allowed the self defence argument he had?

[–] fuzzy_ad@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

gets in a fight

No fight here.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Not according to her attorneys.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc -2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Obviously Chrystul is aware of all the facts and she decided that her actions didn't meet the legal definition of self defence.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They literally denied her the defense.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So Chrystul is aware of all the facts and understands that her actions didn't meet the legal definition of self defence ?

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

According to the system. That did give that defence to the guy who traveled to a protest to shoot people.

I need that F to doubt button.

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

She'd already escaped. She was free of him. Then she got a gun, hunted him down, and shot him.

This is why she couldn't claim self defense or a battered woman defense - she'd already escaped.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

So glad you're just taking the prosecution's word as fact. Her defense was that she was literally in the process of being raped.

[–] fuzzy_ad@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Another uninformed and angry commenter getting upvoted by this awesome community.