Pieper Lewis Iowa Teen Who Killed Alleged Rapist And Escaped From Residential Correctional Facility Is Back In Custody

  Pieper Lewis, the Iowa teen and sex-trafficking victim who killed a man she said raped her multiple times, is back in custody after escaping from a correctional facility where she was on probation, according to her sheriff’s office of Polk County.   

  Lewis, 18, was arrested days after she left the Des Moines women’s center where she had been sent as part of a deferred adjudication order she received after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and malicious wounding in the 2020 slaying of the 37-year-old old Zachary Brooks.  Louis was 15 at the time.   

  Lewis was found in Des Moines and taken back into custody Tuesday, the Iowa Department of Corrections said in a statement.  The teenager is being held in the Polk County Jail, said Lt. Ryan Evans of the sheriff’s office, who told CNN she is expected to have a future court date for violating her probation.   

  Lewis disappeared early Friday, Nov. 4, when she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left the Fresh Start Women’s Center, Jerry Evans, executive director of the Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections, told CNN.   

  When she left, authorities filed a “probation violation report,” Evans told CNN, “recommending that her incarceration be revoked” and seeking a warrant for her arrest.   

  The probation violation report said an alarm went off at the facility at 6:19 a.m., alerting staff that a door had been opened.  A housing officer then saw Lewis exit the facility through a door, according to the report obtained by CNN.   

  The report, which was signed by a police officer and a housing supervisor, goes on to call for a warrant for Lewis’ arrest, adding: “It is further ordered that her suspended sentences be vacated and the original sentence imposed.”   

  Lewis became a resident at the Fresh Start Women’s Center after pleading guilty to Brooks’ murder, saying in her plea agreement that he raped her multiple times.   

  He originally faced up to 20 years in prison.  But in September, Polk County Judge David Porter issued a deferred judgment, meaning the plea could be dropped if he completed probation at the penitentiary.   

  Under Iowa law, the court also had to order Lewis to pay a $150,000 restitution fee to Brooks’ family, the judge said.  He was also ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and pay more than $4,000 in civil penalties.   

  In the plea agreement, Lewis described in court the sequence of events she said led up to the murder, beginning with her running away from home because of what she said was an abusive environment.  She was eventually arrested by a man who she said trafficked her, forcing her to have sex with other men in exchange for money.  Brooks was one of those men, according to Lewis, who described in her plea agreement that she was repeatedly assaulted, even while she was unconscious.   

  On May 31, 2020, the man Lewis lived with confronted her with a knife and forced her into Brooks’ apartment, where Lewis said she was forced to drink vodka and eventually fell asleep.  At one point she woke up to find Brooks raping her, she said.   

  Later, Brooks fell asleep and Lewis, “overwhelmed with rage” when he realized he had raped her again, “immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him,” she said in the plea agreement.   

  Lewis’s lawyer was pleased with the postponement, but advocates for victims of sexual violence expressed concern about her ability to serve the sentence, showing the extent of her trauma.   

  They also pointed out how her case echoes other recent cases in the US in which teenagers – often of color – have been prosecuted or convicted for killing their trafficker or attacker.   

title: “Pieper Lewis Iowa Teen Who Killed Alleged Rapist And Escaped From Residential Correctional Facility Is Back In Custody " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-10” author: “David Vollmar”

  Pieper Lewis, the Iowa teen and sex-trafficking victim who killed a man she said raped her multiple times, is back in custody after escaping from a correctional facility where she was on probation, according to her sheriff’s office of Polk County.   

  Lewis, 18, was arrested days after she left the Des Moines women’s center where she had been sent as part of a deferred adjudication order she received after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and malicious wounding in the 2020 slaying of the 37-year-old old Zachary Brooks.  Louis was 15 at the time.   

  Lewis was found in Des Moines and taken back into custody Tuesday, the Iowa Department of Corrections said in a statement.  The teenager is being held in the Polk County Jail, said Lt. Ryan Evans of the sheriff’s office, who told CNN she is expected to have a future court date for violating her probation.   

  Lewis disappeared early Friday, Nov. 4, when she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left the Fresh Start Women’s Center, Jerry Evans, executive director of the Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections, told CNN.   

  When she left, authorities filed a “probation violation report,” Evans told CNN, “recommending that her incarceration be revoked” and seeking a warrant for her arrest.   

  The probation violation report said an alarm went off at the facility at 6:19 a.m., alerting staff that a door had been opened.  A housing officer then saw Lewis exit the facility through a door, according to the report obtained by CNN.   

  The report, which was signed by a police officer and a housing supervisor, goes on to call for a warrant for Lewis’ arrest, adding: “It is further ordered that her suspended sentences be vacated and the original sentence imposed.”   

  Lewis became a resident at the Fresh Start Women’s Center after pleading guilty to Brooks’ murder, saying in her plea agreement that he raped her multiple times.   

  He originally faced up to 20 years in prison.  But in September, Polk County Judge David Porter issued a deferred judgment, meaning the plea could be dropped if he completed probation at the penitentiary.   

  Under Iowa law, the court also had to order Lewis to pay a $150,000 restitution fee to Brooks’ family, the judge said.  He was also ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and pay more than $4,000 in civil penalties.   

  In the plea agreement, Lewis described in court the sequence of events she said led up to the murder, beginning with her running away from home because of what she said was an abusive environment.  She was eventually arrested by a man who she said trafficked her, forcing her to have sex with other men in exchange for money.  Brooks was one of those men, according to Lewis, who described in her plea agreement that she was repeatedly assaulted, even while she was unconscious.   

  On May 31, 2020, the man Lewis lived with confronted her with a knife and forced her into Brooks’ apartment, where Lewis said she was forced to drink vodka and eventually fell asleep.  At one point she woke up to find Brooks raping her, she said.   

  Later, Brooks fell asleep and Lewis, “overwhelmed with rage” when he realized he had raped her again, “immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him,” she said in the plea agreement.   

  Lewis’s lawyer was pleased with the postponement, but advocates for victims of sexual violence expressed concern about her ability to serve the sentence, showing the extent of her trauma.   

  They also pointed out how her case echoes other recent cases in the US in which teenagers – often of color – have been prosecuted or convicted for killing their trafficker or attacker.