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Sex Trafficked Teen Who Killed Alleged Rapist Ordered to Pay His Family $150,000

HeadlineSep 15, 2022

A teenage girl who killed her alleged rapist has been sentenced by an Iowa court to five years’ probation and ordered to pay his family $150,000. Pieper Lewis was 15 when she stabbed 37-year-old Zachary Brooks to death. Police and officials agree that Lewis was forcibly trafficked to men for sex after running away from home, including at knifepoint. Lewis says that one of those men was Brooks, who raped her multiple times in the weeks before his death. Lewis, who is now 17, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury last year, charges punishable by up to 10 years in jail. Iowa does not have so-called safe harbor laws in place that give underage trafficking victims at least some level of criminal immunity. 

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