More than $440,000 has been raised online to support Pieper Lewis, the 17-year-old survivor of sex trafficking who was convicted of murdering one of her alleged rapists, and has been ordered to pay his family $150,000 in compensation.
Lewis pleaded guilty to manslaughter and willful injury after stabbing 37-year-old Zachary Brooks to death in Des Moines, Iowa when she was just 15.
On Tuesday she was sentenced to five years' probation by Polk County District Judge David M Porter.
She could face up to 20 years in prison if she violates its terms, which include wearing a tracking device, living in a residential facility and completing 1,200 hours of community service.
The teenager was also instructed to pay $150,000 to the family of Brooks, as a result of a 1997 Iowa law targeting those convicted of homicide.
Lewis said she had been sleeping rough in 2020, after fleeing an abusive home, when an abusive man took her in and trafficked her for sex. She told the court a number of men, including Brooks, raped her multiple times.
The prosecution did not contest that Lewis was the victim of sexual abuse.
Money to support Lewis was raised on GoFundMe by Leland Schipper, one of her former teachers.
On the online fundraiser he wrote: "In Iowa, there is a law that states that anyone who is convicted of killing a person, regardless of circumstances, must pay that individual's family 150,000 dollars. This law is intended to provide justice to families who lost their loved ones.
"However, in the case of Pieper, it will require her to pay 150,000 dollars to the family of a man who purchased Pieper's fifteen-year-old body from a sex trafficker, gave her drugs and alcohol, and then raped her repeatedly.
"Pieper does not owe that man's family justice. Pieper does not deserve to be financially burdened for the rest of her life because the state of Iowa wrote a law that fails to give judges any discretion as to how it is applied. 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."
In a follow-up post Schipper said he was "overjoyed" that donations removed the financial burden from Pieper. He said money raised would first be used to pay off the $150,000 in restitution Pieper was ordered to pay her alleged attacker's family, along with $4,000 owed to the state.
Any remaining money would be used to "remove financial barriers for Pieper in pursuing college/university or starting her own business" and "give Pieper the financial capacity to explore ways to help other young victims of sex crimes."
Following her sentencing, Lewis made an emotional statement, saying: "My spirit has been burned, but still glows through the flames. Hear me roar, see me glow, and watch me grow. I am a survivor."
Leland Schipper has been contacted for comment.
In November 2021 a father in Washington State was charged with murder after allegedly killing his daughter's ex-boyfriend, who he believed had trafficked her into sexual slavery. Separately, Chrystul Kizer is facing charges in Wisconsin after allegedly killing her abuser, aged just 17, in 2018.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
