UPDATE
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin judge says two girls accused of stabbing a classmate to please the horror character Slender Man will stay in adult court, where they could face decades in prison.
Attorneys for the two 13-year-old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, wanted the cases transferred to juvenile court, where the girls could be held for only five years. But Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ruled Monday they should remain in adult court.
The girls are accused of luring Payton Leutner into the woods during a sleepover and attacking her in May 2014. Payton was stabbed 19 times but survived. All three girls were 12 at the time.
Geyser and Weier were charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, automatically placing them in adult court under Wisconsin law. If convicted, they could face up to 65 years in prison.
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ORIGINAL STORY
A Wisconsin judge is expected to make a decision Monday on whether two teenage girls accused in the Slender Man stabbing case will continue to be charged as adults.
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier are charged with 1st Degree Attempted Homicide in the May 2014 stabbing of Payton Leutner.
A Waukesha County judge will rule Monday if the case will continue in the adult system or be moved to the juvenile system.
Geyser and Weier were 12-years-old when they lured Leutner to a park in Wauskesha and stabbed her 19 times, according to investigators.
The girls said they attacked Leutner to please the fictional horror character Slender Man.
Attorneys for the girls have argued the girls would get better mental health treatment in the juvenile system.
In June, psychiatrists testified at a hearing about Geyser’s rare early-onset schizophrenia. Doctors said it was Morgan’s plan to stab Leutner due to a delusional belief in Slender Man.
“She continues to believe that Slender Man is real, she continues to believe that she has an ongoing relationship with several characters from the Harry Potter book who come and visit her and who she feeds and who sometimes sleep over,” said Dr. Kenneth Robbins.
Weier’s attorney has blamed Geyser for influencing Weier’s delusions about Slender Man.
If convicted as adults, Geyser and Weier would each face up to 65 years in prison.
If the case is moved to the juvenile system, the girls could be held for five years.
