Pieper Lewis, who killed her alleged rapist in 2020, received a deferred sentence from Polk County District Judge David Porter after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and malicious wounding.
Porter ruled that Lewis would receive five years of probation, serve 200 hours of community service and pay $150,000 in restitution, in addition to more than $4,000 in civil penalties. The deferred judgment means this can be expunged from Lewis’ record. Iowa law requires the court to sentence criminals to pay at least $150,000 in restitution if they kill another person. Any money raised beyond the court-ordered amount would help Lewis attend college, start his own business and “explore ways to help other young sex victims.” crimes,” his former teacher Leland Schippe wrote on the GoFundMe page he created.
Lewis pleaded guilty in June 2021 to the murder of Zachary Brooks. According to the plea agreement, Lewis said Brooks, 37, raped her multiple times in 2020. She was initially charged with first-degree murder.
Lewis said in the plea agreement that he ran away from home several times and ended up sleeping in the hallway of an apartment complex.
A man took her in, but she left when he became abusive, she wrote in the plea agreement. She said she then moved in with another man who created an online dating profile for her and arranged for men to have sex with her for money. She lived with that man, who she said was her girlfriend, from April 2020 until she was arrested for killing Brooks, Lewis said.
She was introduced to Brooks in May 2020, and he gave her alcohol and marijuana and had sex with her five times while she was unconscious over a three-day period, she said in her petition.
On May 31, the man Lewis lived with confronted her with a knife after she refused his order to go to Brooks’ apartment to have sex with Brooks in exchange for marijuana, he wrote. She finally agreed to go after he slit her throat, she said in the plea.
Brooks picked her up and carried her back to his apartment, where he told her to go to the bedroom.
She was forced to drink shots of vodka and fell asleep, she wrote in her plea agreement. At one point in the night she woke up and Brooks was raping her, she said. Brooks fell asleep and Lewis went to get his clothes. When she returned to the bedroom, she found him passed out naked, she wrote.
“Suddenly I realized that Mr. Brooks had raped me again and I was overcome with rage. Without thinking, I immediately grabbed the knife from the bedside table and began to stab him.” Lewis testified in the plea agreement. “Furthermore, I acknowledge that the multiple stab wounds I inflicted upon Mr. Brooks thereafter resulted in his death.”
In court Tuesday, Lewis read a statement.
“My story can change things. My story has changed me,” he said. “The events that happened that horrible day cannot be changed, as much as I would like to. A complicated combination of actions took place that day that resulted in the death of one person as well as the stolen innocence of a child .
“As I grow and evolve as a young woman, I feel for the victim’s family. I wish what happened never happened. And I truly do. The healing process is inevitable. I repeat, I I wish the events that happened on June 1. , 2020 never happened. But to say that there is only one victim in this story is absurd.”
Lewis’ lawyer said he was pleased the court deferred sentencing.
“We are very excited about Judge Porter’s decision in the case. A deferred judgment will allow Pieper to live a full life,” Matt Sheeley told CNN.
“Pieper is so grateful for all the love, compassion and support she has received. Anyone who has met her immediately falls in love with her,” said Sheeley. “She’s a remarkable young woman who has extraordinary courage. And she’s blown away by all the love she’s received – she’s just blown away. Frankly, we’re all blown away.”
Explaining her decision to order community service, Porter said: “The purpose of this, Mrs Lewis, is that you have a story to tell … you have to be willing and able to tell that story to other women our country’s young and vulnerable. community. And so you will give back … through community service hours.”
Sheeley did not say whether they planned to appeal the restitution decision in the case.
KellyMarie Meek of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault said she was troubled by Tuesday’s decision.
“I don’t think justice was served. I don’t think justice would have seen Pieper Lewis do any time behind bars,” Meek told CNN. “This is not the worst outcome that could have happened, but it is far from the best outcome and it is definitely not justice.”
Meek also expressed concern about Lewis’ ability to handle the terms of his probation due to the severity of his trauma.
“Five years (of) probation under strict supervision is something that concerns me, because I know that many of the ways that trauma survivors deal with their trauma are not very well understood by people who have not experienced trauma , which can sometimes lead to behaviors that get people into trouble,” he said.
Meek said he understood the restitution sentence and the fact that the judge had no discretion.
“It worked very poorly in this case, but I don’t want to automatically swing the pendulum and say, just get rid of this,” he said.
Many victims’ families fought hard to get the restitution bill passed, he said, adding that what’s needed now is a discussion with “many voices at the table to figure out how we get crime victims the support they need and not punish unjustly. people.”