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September 15, 2022

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