Page 19 - Florida Sentinel 2-11-20

National
Chrystul Kizer, Accused Of Murdering Her Alleged Sex Trafficker, Has $1 Million Bond Reduced
CHRYSTUL KIZER
Gayle King 'Angry' At CBS After Backlash Over Kobe Bryant Sexual Assault Interview Clip
Gayle King has taken aim at her own network, CBS, after a clip of her asking WNBA player Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant's 2003 sexual assault case went viral. The video was uploaded by CBS on Tuesday to promote an inter- view King conducted with Leslie on CBS This Morning, and King has faced harsh crit- icism in the days since. In a video posted to her Instagram on Thursday, a visibly upset King says the clip has been "totally taken out of context."
"I’ve been up reading the comments about the interview I did with Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant, and I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too," she said in the post. "I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very
GAYLE KING
angry. Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging inter- view—totally taken out of con- text—and when you see it that
way, it’s very jarring. I didn’t even know anything about it." Among those to criticize
King for the clip was Snoop Dogg, who posted a video di- rectly addressing her. "Gayle King... Out of pocket for that shit," he said. "Way out of pocket. What do you gain from that? I swear to god we the worst. We the fu**in' worst. We expect more from you Gayle. Don't you hang out with Oprah? Why y'all attack- ing us? We your people. You ain't coming after fu**in' Har- vey Weinstein a**s and them dumba** questions.
"How dare you try to tar- nish my motherfu**in' home- boy's reputation, punk motherfu**er," Snoop adds. "Respect the family and back off, b**ch, before we come get you."
Chrystul Kizer, a 19-year- old who stands accused of killing her alleged sex traf- ficker in Wisconsin, will no longer need to post a $1 mil- lion bail in order to see her mother again.
On Thursday, a judge in Kenosha, Wis., lowered Kizer’s bond to $400,000. The state requires defendants to pay their bonds in full, but the Washington Post reports that activists are hopeful they’ll be able to raise money for the teenager.
Kizer, whose case has drawn widespread attention in recent months, was also of- fered a plea deal this week: if she pleads guilty to felony murder and armed robbery for killing Randy Volar, the 34- year-old man she says was paying her for sex since she
was 16, she could get a reduced sentence.
Under that sentence, she could still face up to 43 years behind bars—meaning she’ll be well into middle age by the time she leaves prison. Kizer’s team of public de- fenders declined the plea deal because they’re still seeking an affirmative defense for their client.
Under Wisconsin state law, “affirmative defense” al- lows victims of sex trafficking to be acquitted for crimes they commit while they are being trafficked. In December, a judge said the law couldn’t be applied to Kizer’s murder charges. Prosecutors held that line this week, arguing that the teenager had planned to kill Volar, and thus wasn’t pro- tecting herself.
FBI Deems White Supremacists An ISIS-Level ’National Threat Priority'
The FBI now views white supremacism and other "racially motivated violent ex- tremism" as serious as for- eign-born terrorism.
FBI Director Christopher Wray informed the country of his bureau's new focus on Wednesday, stating that homegrown terrorism is now a "national threat priority" for 2020, one that's “on the same footing" as the dangers posed by ISIS.
“The most persistent threats to the nation and to U. S. interests abroad are home- grown violent extremists (HVEs), domestic violent ex- tremists, and foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)," he ex- plained to the House Judici- ary Committee. "The international terrorism threat to the U. S. has expanded from sophisticated, externally directed FTO plots to include individual attacks carried out by HVEs who are inspired by designated terrorist organiza- tions."
"We remain concerned that groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and al Qaeda have the intent to carry out large-scale attacks in the U. S.," he added. Wray also pointed out that
FBI
racially motivated attacks were the "primary source of
ideologically-motivated lethal incidents and violence" in 2018 and 2019. The FBI con- siders them to be the most lethal of all domestic extrem- ism since 2001.
"They choose easily ac- cessible weapons — a car, a knife, a gun, maybe an IED they can build crudely off the internet — and they choose soft targets," the FBI director said, according to KUTV. "That threat is what we assess is the biggest threat to the homeland right now."
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 19