Des Moines, Iowa – The chairman of a key Senate committee is working on a bill inspired by the case of an Iowa teenager convicted of murdering a man she says raped her repeatedly.
The judge who handled the Pieper Lewis case did not sentence her to prison and gave her a deferred judgement, but by law was required to order her to pay 150-thousand dollars to the family of the man she killed. Brad Zaun of Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says requiring a rape victim to pay the family of her rapist seems like an injustice.
Zaun has introduced a bill that would give judges the ability to consider the actions of the victim of a crime when deciding whether the victim’s family is owed restitution. Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says the group recommends that bill be more narrowly focused.
Marion County Attorney Ed Bull says providing discretion to judges is a good thing in general, but the bill needs to clearly define what sort of cases would be covered.
Lisa Davis Cook, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Justice, says the trial lawyers group agrees.
The Lewis case drew national attention and a GoFundMe account raised the funds to cover the restitution she was ordered to pay. Lewis, who is now 18, walked away from a residential corrections center in November and was taken back into custody a few days later. A hearing scheduled in March will determine if she’ll be sent to prison for violating her probation.
