Iowa teen who killed rapist escapes from probation center
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Iowa authorities say an 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who pleaded guilty to killing a man she said raped her escaped from a women's center where she was serving her probation sentence. Pieper Lewis was seen walking out of the building at the Fresh Start Women's Center in Des Moines shortly after 6:15 a.m. Friday, and at some point that day her GPS monitor was cut off, according to a probation violation report. A warrant was issued for Lewis' arrest and the probation report asked for her deferred judgment to be revoked and have her original sentence imposed, KCCI reported.
CW : SA

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities say an 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who pleaded guilty to killing a man she said raped her escaped from a women's center where she was serving her probation sentence.

Pieper Lewis was seen walking out of the building at the Fresh Start Women's Center in Des Moines shortly after 6:15 a.m. Friday, and at some point that day her GPS monitor was cut off, according to a probation violation report.

A warrant was issued for Lewis' arrest and the probation report asked for her deferred judgment to be revoked and have her original sentence imposed, KCCI reported. She could face up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors had called the probation sentence she was given in September merciful for a teen who endured horrible abuse, although some questioned the $150,000 restitution she was ordered to pay. A GoFundMe campaign raised over $560,000 to cover the restitution and pay for her other needs.

Polk County Judge David Porter told Lewis that her probation sentence “was the second chance you asked for. You don’t get a third," the Des Moines Register reported.

If Lewis had successfully completed five years of closely supervised probation her prison sentence would have been expunged.

    • iie [they/them, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      granted, i haven't spent my life pouring over situations like this in detail like you have, but are you sure you haven't allowed US legal system logic to seep into your thinking a bit? maybe you have to adopt a certain mindset to be accepted and to be persuasive in your line of work, is all i'm saying. like, if you said in court, "this guy drugged and raped a 15 year old twice, i don't give a shit that he got stabbed to death," there'd probably be shocked gasps in the courtroom and you'd be in trouble or something. but personally, i am glad this guy died, and i don't think this girl should have spent even a single night in jail.

        • SerLava [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          SURELY IF HE DIDNT CATCH HER IMMEDIATELY HE WOULD HAVE SIMPLY GIVEN UP AND LEFT HER ALONE

                    • Awoo [she/her]
                      ·
                      2 years ago

                      Why are you so obsessed with the exact moment of their death? These are people that do not play fair to begin with.

                      Would you have similar moral quandaries about us fighting the fascists? Should we not end them in their beds? Do we have to do it solely in self defense? Is not killing a fascist ALWAYS an act of self defense? Why is killing a fascist an act of self defense but not killing the literal kidnapper and rapist who made your life hell who would absolutely do it to you if he got the chance? Why do you assume someone is safe if they just run away from their kidnapper and that they're not terrified of being hunted down afterwards?? Do you expect the police to protect them? (lmao)

                      Another poster mentioned that this is law-brained shit and I have to agree with them. You are laser focused on whether the exact moment of death was self defense or not instead of whether the killing was morally just or not, while ignoring the fact that it can be self defense in a larger picture than that exact moment in time anyway.

                        • Awoo [she/her]
                          ·
                          2 years ago

                          I empathise with you not wanting people to die but that does not mean you should go to the extremely-against position you have taken on this simply because the outcome is not strictly ideal.

                          In an ideal system she could walk out of there, some red police would take them into custody and she would be protected from further actions carried out by the trafficking gang members not immediately caught, and her safety would be indefinitely guaranteed until they are or danger has certainly passed.

                          But that's not the system that exists. You know as well as I do that if she walks out while he's sleeping there's not even a guarantee that the police arrest and keep him in custody, there's no guarantee he doesn't get out, there's no guarantee he doesn't hunt her afterwards, and there's no guarantee he doesn't tell his gang to do that even from a jail cell.

                          Is it ideal? Nah. Should she be criticised for her for decision to do it rather than take even larger risks? Nah.

                            • jkfjfhkdfgdfb [she/her]
                              ·
                              2 years ago

                              I am willing to defend the worst human beings in a trial. So you are probably right.

                              the worst? because common criminals are far from the worst

                              if you're defending the actual worst (like yknow capitalists) then yeah fuck off

                                    • SerLava [he/him]
                                      ·
                                      2 years ago

                                      It is like a compulsion

                                      You can't seem to differentiate between what happens under controlled conditions of a state's legal system, versus the way a literal child decides to escape their own rapist who has credibly threatened to kill them.

                                      Nobody here is advocating for state execution. That should tip you off about something

                                      It is very, very obvious that if that child had simply snuck out of the residence that night, she would be the one stabbed 30 times. They told her as much. They demonstrated it to her by cutting her. The police would have done either absolutely nothing, or not enough to protect her.

                                      This isn't a case of "vigilantism" it's a case of obvious self defense against someone with the means and strong, strong motive to murder the child he had been raping. This has happened in my town too and the girl is still in prison. Everyone wants her out.

                        • jkfjfhkdfgdfb [she/her]
                          ·
                          2 years ago

                          these arguments are one thing for state violence

                          but if you're a person in this situation you kill whoever the fuck you need to

            • Mardoniush [she/her]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Yes, that would be ideal. Unfortunately we're not dealing with an adult that can switch of their emotions and calmly reason their way out of the situation with their high ideals intact.

              We're dealing with a child suffering the after effects of rape who acted from terror and anger. She didn't know if he'd wake up or chase her down the street or knew where she lived.

              She was homeless so she'd not be a huge fan of the cops who aren't exactly non-rapey. What was she supposed to do? Walk out calmly and ask the local anarchist co-op to help?

        • Goadstool
          ·
          2 months ago

          deleted by creator

    • TheModerateTankie [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I don't think minors forced into violent sex slavery should be judged too harshly for not making completely sound moral decisions.

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Anyone slapping a murder charge (or frankly any charge) on a minor, let alone a minor afftected by a violent sex crime, is someone I wish a very The Wall to.

      And yes, your drug possession clients should not be there at all.

        • MeatfuckerDidNothing [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Yeah, why didn't the underage homeless rape victim not simply rehabilitate her trafficker and pimp?

          What type of jackass compares that to state execution?

        • yoink [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          you're right, violence on an individual level is exactly the same as violence on a state level

        • Mardoniush [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          No, I am against the death penalty. I like you am also generally a fan of removing yourself from violence rather than resolving it with more violence.

          But I support lethal force against people who are short-term current threats to the safety of others, whether that be shooting reactionaries in a revolution, or attacking someone who might assault you, even if neither of those are currently attacking you.

          My argument is this. Was this the optimal choice if you have all the information in the universe available and act with complete reason? No.

          However, the material conditions are restricting her choices.

          She's

          a) A minor

          b) Immediately affected by sexual assault

          These two points affect IMO her ability to be responsible and to pre-meditate. I do not believe people under age 18 can be guilty of murder, at all. Any death a ward of society (which is essentially what a minor is) causes is society's collective fault.

          She's also

          c) been harmed for refusing to comply previously (by an associate of the dead person)

          d) in the immediate vicinity, in the dwelling, of the person who raped her

          e) aware that these people might chase her

          f) marginalised and unable to rely on legal and civil institutions

          g) likely unaware of dual power organisations that might be able to assist her.

          h) Much weaker than her attacker and thus unable to risk non-lethal methods of disabling

          So her options are

          a) Run, try to find some kind of shelter (as a homeless person) and hope her attacker or their associates don't come for her and recapture her, which would possibly end her life

          b) Kill her attacker, which will at least buy her time and will remove one of the threats facing her.

            • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Probation in exchange for her deciding to create a situation where someone was certainly going to die is fair in my eyes.

              She was kidnapped, trafficked, coerced, subjected to frequent sexual and physical violence, as a penniless Black female in America with no one to turn to, and as a 15-year-old. The threat on her life was clear and present and persistent. In my eyes it is urgent desperation, there is no mens rea, it is impossible to frame this as malice, she did nothing wrong.

              Yeah, a man's life was extinguished. That's unfortunate, but he was guilty and menacing as fuck. The high ideal of justice is completely distorted when you're in a nightmare case like this girl was in. She did what she needed to escape. If you can't imagine how a sleeping person can still be a threat, you have never been in the position of the abused.

        • jkfjfhkdfgdfb [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          If he had been arrested instead, would you have supported his execution?

          no

        • SerLava [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          If he already got arrested he isnt a threat, come on are you joking?

    • Gr8M8 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Worth pointing out that I’ve seen the :reddit-logo: thread on this and the majority of the takes on there are still better than this one.

    • lascaux [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      if only the 15 year old sex trafficking victim had a great lawyer brain like yours

      • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        yeah, she should have woken the sleeping man holding her against her will and told him, "you are doing an illegal" and then he would let her go, obviously, and she could go about her life like a great lib lawyer with brainworms.

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      YO SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN RAPED AGAIN WHAT THE FUCK SHE WAS A CHILD RAPE VICTIM

    • TillieNeuen [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      You may or may not successfully escape from a live person. (Is he really sleeping? How deeply? How quickly can I get out of this house? I need to find my clothes first or I'm not going to get far. How long will that take?) You're definitely going to escape from a dead person though. How many stabs does it take to kill a man? I have no idea. I'm not a terrified child, but my guess would be "keep stabbing until he stops moving."

    • THC
      ·
      1 year ago

      deleted by creator

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      *stabbed a sleeping person once, then stabbed an awake person 29 times

      :blob-stabby: