A sex trafficking victim who killed her alleged rapist was sentenced Tuesday in an Iowa court to five years supervised probation, 1,200 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay $150,000 restitution to the family of the alleged rapist.
Pieper Lewis, who is now 17 years old, killed 37-year-old Zachary Brooks of Des Moines, Iowa, in June 2020, when she was 15 years old, after Brooks allegedly raped her numerous times. The teen stabbed the man more than 30 times, according to authorities.
“Well, Ms. Lewis, this was the second chance you asked for,” Polk County District Judge David M. Porter said Tuesday. “You don’t get a third. Do you understand that?”
Judge Porter also said the court was “presented with no other option” then to force the teen to pay restitution to Brooks’ family thanks to Iowa law. The state also does not have a safe harbor law, the Associated Press noted.
The teen pleaded to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury, both of which were punishable by up to 10 years behind bars, Fox News noted. Judge Porter deferred the prison sentences; if the teen violates her probation, she could serve out the 20 years.
Lewis was adopted out of foster care at age three by Billy and Leslie Lewis. She reportedly struggled and ran away from home on three occasions. Before she ended up with Brooks, she was taken in by a musician, 28, who is not named and has not been charged with a crime. The man, whom Lewis considered her boyfriend, allegedly sex-trafficking the minor to Brooks.
Police and prosecutors have not disputed that Lewis was sexually assaulted and sex trafficked, though prosecutors said Lewis killed Brooks while he was sleeping, and therefore not an immediate threat, the AP reported.
“I took a person’s life,” Lewis said in court. “My intentions that day were not to just go out and take somebody’s life. In my mind, I felt that I wasn’t safe, and I felt that I was in danger, which resulted in the acts. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that a crime was committed.”
The teen hopes to become a juvenile justice advocate.
“My story can change things,” Lewis said. “My story has changed me. The events that took place on that horrific day cannot be changed, as much as I wish I could. That day a combination of complicated actions took place resulting in the death of a person, as well as a stolen innocence of a child.”