An Iowa girl will be sentenced on Wednesday for killing her alleged rapist when she was 15.
Pieper Lewis, 17, said in a plea agreement that she stabbed Zachary Brooks, 30 times in June 2020 after he raped her multiple times in the weeks leading up to the slaying. The teen claimed she did not plot to kill Brooks, 37, but she became enraged after he sexually assaulted her again, according to The Des Moines Register.
Lewis said that a day before the slaying, her 40-year-old boyfriend pulled a knife on her and forced her to go to Brooks’ apartment. Once there, Brooks allegedly made Lewis get undressed, drink alcohol, and smoke marijuana while they watched a movie.
According to the Daily Mail, Brooks had planned to offer $50 in marijuana to sexually assault Lewis. Lewis reportedly woke up to Brooks raping her and he ignored her pleas to stop. Lewis said she was getting dressed when she spotted the knife on the bedside and repeatedly stabbed Brooks.
The 15-year-old reportedly fled the scene in Brooks’ car. A maintenance worker discovered his body the same day.
Charged as an adult with first-degree murder, Lewis pleaded guilty in June 2021 to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury. The Register reported that Polk County prosecutors never denied allegations that Pieper was trafficked and a rape victim. The age of consent in Iowa is 16; though individuals 14 and 15 can consent with people within two years of their age.
The Register reported that state law requires someone convicted of homicide to pay the victim’s family $150,000. In July, Lewis’ lawyers filed to stop the payout to Brooks’ estate on the grounds that Lewis is a sex trafficking victim.
Lewis faces up to 10 years on each charge when she is sentenced on Wednesday.
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[Featured image: Pieper Lewis/Facebook; Zachary Brooks/Henderson’s Highland Park Funeral Home]
