Cyntoia Brown Long, who was convicted of murder at age 16, is extending her support to a Wisconsin teenager who faces the death penalty for killing her pimp.
Chrystul Kizer was only 16 when she met her pimp, Randy Volar III. She is accused of shooting Volar twice in the head, then setting fire to his home.
Kizer, now 19, admitted killing Volar in his home in 2018 after she says he raped her multiple times. On the day he died, police planned to arrest Volar for child sex trafficking.
Long took to her Instagram account early Friday to voice her support for Kizer. She posted a photo of herself wearing a hoodie with the words “Justice 4 Chrystul Kizer” on the front.
Long, now 31, was granted clemency earlier this year and paroled after serving 15 years of a life sentence for killing a customer when she was a streetwise teenage prostitute.
Police say Volar’s estate is worth $800,000. He made large bank deposits and other activities typical of sex traffickers.
The teenager told police that Volar sold her to other men, which is why her attorney believes she should be shielded under sex trafficking laws.
But prosecutors say the sex trafficking laws don’t apply to Kizer because she was engaged in prostitution and her life was not in imminent danger when she shot Volar in the head twice and set fire to his home.
Kizer, who has a criminal record of petty offenses, suffers from depression and other mental disorders.
If convicted of murder, she faces the death penalty or mandatory life in prison.