An Iowa teenage trafficking victim who fatally stabbed her accused rapist is being ordered to pay his family more than $100,000.
On Tuesday, Polk County District Judge David Porter sentenced 17-year-old Pieper Lewis to five years of closely supervised probation and ordered her to pay the family of her abuser, 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, $150,000 in restitution after she stabbed him to death for raping her.
The incident between the teen and the accused rapist happened in June 2020, and she was initially charged with first-degree murder. However, Lewis pleaded to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury, which could have given her 10 years in prison if convicted. Judge Porter ended up deferring the prison sentences this past Tuesday, but if she breaks her probation, she could be subjected to 20 years in prison.
Porter says he had “no other option” but to order her to pay thousands in restitution due to it being mandatory under Iowa law, Fox 13 News reports.
Lewis reportedly ran away from her abusive mother’s home in hopes of finding a safe haven. After sleeping in hallways, she ended up meeting a 28-year-old man who took her in and forced her to be trafficked by other men. One of the men was Brooks, who raped her several times in the weeks leading up to his death. He sometimes raped her at knifepoint.
Despite Lewis being sexually abused, prosecutors argued that Lewis wasn’t justified in killing Brooks because he was asleep at the time he was stabbed, claiming he wasn’t a threat.
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