Pieper Lewis’s legal saga has finally come to a close, and while she won’t be spending the next 20 years behind bars, the outcome is still less-than-ideal.
As Blavity previously reported, Lewis was forced into sex trafficking at only 15 years old upon meeting a 28-year-old man who provided her shelter during a stint of homelessness in mid-2020.
This individual proceeded to force Lewis to have sex with numerous other men, including a 37-year-old named Zachary Brooks.
One night, after being raped in Brooks’ apartment, the then-15-year-old proceeded to stab him 30 times as he slept, and she was resultingly taken into police custody.
It’s worth adding that, while authorities and prosecutors “have not disputed that Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked,” the fact that she killed Brooks while he was sleeping is being used against her, according to AP News.
Although her case was considered for juvenile court, it was ultimately bumped up to adult court, where she plead guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of willful injury.
Both charges carried a potential 10-year prison sentence, meaning that this teen was facing 20 years behind bars for killing her rapist.
The highly anticipated sentencing finally went down on Tuesday, and Lewis was sentenced to five years of “closely supervised probation,” according to AP News.
If Lewis violates the terms of her probation, she could be sent to prison in order to serve her 20-year sentence.
“The next five years of your life will be full of rules you disagree with, I’m sure of it,” Judge David M. Porter told Lewis, AP News reports. “This is the second chance that you’ve asked for. You don’t get a third.”
On top of her 5-year probation, the Des Moines, Iowa, court also ordered her to pay Brooks’ family a whopping $150K in restitution.
A teenage human trafficking victim who was initially charged with first-degree murder after she stabbed her accused rapist to death has been sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $150,000 restitution to the man’s family. https://t.co/PhxQ7adnI4
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 14, 2022
“This court is presented with no other option,” Porter said of this order, as the restitution is reportedly mandatory in the state and has been upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court.
Despite this outcome, however, Lewis says that she’s looking forward to rebuilding and carrying on with her life.
“My spirit has been burned but still glows through the flames,” she said in a prepared statement, AP News reports. “Hear me roar, see me glow, and watch me grow.”
“I am a survivor,” Lewis powerfully added.
What do you think about the outcome of this situation?
