Teen Who Killed Rapist Told To Pay $150K Restitution; Donors Cover It

DES MOINES, IA — A teenage girl who fatally stabbed a man she said repeatedly raped her was sentenced Tuesday to five years probation and ordered to pay $150,000 to his family, according to reports.

Pieper Lewis was 15 on June 1, 2020, when she stabbed 37-year-old Zachary Brooks in his Des Moines apartment, reports said. She was arrested shortly thereafter, police said at the time.

Initially charged with first-degree murder, she pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury, both punishable with up to 10 years in prison, according to the Associated Press, which reported if Lewis violates probation, she could face as much as 20 years behind bars.

“This is the second chance that you've asked for,” Judge David Porter said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. “You don't get a third."

Lewis was 15 when she stabbed Brooks over 30 times, according to the Associated Press, which noted she was a runaway fleeing an abusive home life and was being forcibly trafficked, in at least one case at knifepoint, by a 28-year-old man who took her in. She stabbed Brooks in a fit of rage after he raped her, the Associated Press reported, adding prosecutors argued he was asleep and not an immediate threat to Lewis. Brooks had raped Lewis several times while she was unconscious after forcing her to ingest intoxicants, according to The New York Times.

“My spirit has been burned, but still glows through the flames,” Lewis, who earned her GED in juvenile detention, said in a prepared statement, according to the Associated Press. “I am a survivor.”

While the restitution is mandatory under state law, a GoFundMe started by a former teacher of Lewis’s has raised more than enough money to cover the cost.

“Today, the judge recognized that Pieper was a victim and a child,” said the GoFundMe, created by Leland Schipper, which questioned the concept of mandatory restitution. “This law doesn’t make sense in many cases, but in this case, it’s morally unjustifiable. A child who was raped, under no circumstances, should owe the rapist’s family money.”

As of mid-day Thursday, the fundraiser had collected more than $365,000, which will go toward paying restitution, helping Lewis attend college or start a business, and supporting her efforts to aid other victims of sex crimes.

Lewis will not be eligible for early release from probation and must reside at a women's center in Des Moines, complete 600 hours of community service over three years, and wear a tracking device, according to the Times. If she meets all the probation requirements, her guilty plea could be expunged, the Times reported.

“No matter what the judge’s decision is today, I will still prevail,” Lewis said Tuesday, according to the Times. “Nothing can stop a positive path of progress but negativity and doubt."