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An Iowa teen sentenced to five years of probation after killing her alleged rapist escaped from custody at a women’s center in Des Moines.
On Friday (November 4), Pieper Lewis, 18, escaped the Fresh Start Women’s Center and cut off a GPS monitor, per a probation violation report obtained by the Des Moines Register.
Lewis' escape comes after she was sentenced in September to five years of closely supervised probation and ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of Zachary Brooks, the alleged rapist who she fatally stabbed to death.
According to Lewis, Brooks raped her multiple times when she was 15, which prompted her to stab him.
While prosecutors agreed that Lewis was a victim of sex trafficking, they argued that Brooks was asleep at the time of the stabbing, and thereof didn't pose an immediate threat.
Many were critical of the ruling that ordered the teen to pay $150,000 to Brooks' family. Still, the judge in the case said the court was presented "with no other option” since restitution is mandatory under Iowa law.
Lewis previously faced up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury. The terms of her probation, however, deferred her sentence.
Yet, Friday's probation violation report obtained by the Register suggested that her deferred judgments be revoked and her original sentence be imposed.
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