Teen Trafficking Victim Lewis Pirates ordered $150,000 to pay compensation to family of rapist she stabbed to death
Pieper Lewis, a 17-year-old human trafficking victim in Iowa, was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of her rapist.
According to NPR, Lewis was initially charged with first-degree murder for stabbing her alleged rapist, Zachary Brooks, 37, in June 2020. Her sentence for that charge was adjourned. in exchange for probation and mandatory restitution. payment under the law of the state of Iowa. Despite the gruesome nature of the case, Polk County Judge David M. Porter said, “this court has no choice,” as it involved a whopping $150.00 payout.
Here’s a video from Judge Porter’s decision:@ WHO13news #PieperLewis pic.twitter.com/CLPU523k45
– Zach Fisher (@ZachFisherNews) September 13, 2022
Officials say Pieper Lewis was 15 years old when she stabbed Brooks to death for participating in a sex trafficking ring in which she was coerced. At the time, Lewis was said to be “a fugitive looking to escape a life of abuse with his adoptive mother and was sleeping in the hallway of a Des Moines apartment building when a 28-year-old man she entered before raping her. other men for sex. “
Prior to sentencing, Pieper read a prepared statement to those in the courtroom that:
My spirit has been burned, but still shines through the fire. Hear me roar, see me glow and watch me grow. I’m a survivor.”
Despite the facts of the case, the prose actors disagreed with Peiper Lewis being the victim, and stated that she had no intention of taking a person’s life no matter how she was treated.
I took someone’s life. My intention that day was not just to go out and take someone’s life. In my mind, I feel that I am unsafe and I feel that I am in danger, leading to the behavior. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that a crime has been committed. “
People on social media have started campaigns demanding that Pieper be lenient in the case.