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Post by Joanna on Aug 5, 2014 2:49:46 GMT -5
Girl Accused in 'Slender Man' Stabbing Says She Talks to Unicorns and VoldemortWAUKESHA, Wis. – One of two Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing their friend so they could meet the fictional character “Slender Man” simply shrugged today before a judge ruled that she was incompetent to stand trial. Morgan Geyser (above left) had been found not competent by two prior evaluations and today was found incompetent to stand trial by a judge. Geyser and Anissa Weier, both 12, are charged with first degree attempted murder after prosecutors said they lured their friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. Geyser was seen fidgeting in her seat and playing with her hair during the hearing, even pulling a blond strand directly in front of her face at one point. She smiled while watching Weier being led out of the room.
Two mental health professionals gave testimony in the Waukesha County Courthouse today, speaking about their evaluations of Geyser before Judge Michael Bohren ruled that she is unfit to stand trial. Dr. Brooke Lundbohm, who evaluated Geyser June 18, 2014, said Geyser’s unusual behavior – including what she said was nonsensical rambling and inappropriate, near-hysterical laughter – contributed to her decision that Geyser is incompetent. Lundbohm said Geyser spoke with her at length about fictional characters she believes in, including unicorns, Slender Man and Harry Potter villain Voldemort, who Geyser reportedly called “Voldy.” She added that Geyser claims she has Vulcan Mind Control.
Dr. Kenneth Robbins also examined Geyser and told the court Geyser told him she has to be careful about what she says because she believes speaking about Slender Man could cause him to harm her or her family.
Robbins said Geyser claims she and Slender Man can communicate telepathically and Lundbohm said Voldemort “gives her direction.” Both doctors concluded the preteen does not appear to understand the seriousness of her charge and that was echoed in court when she shrugged as the judge asked if she was competent to assist her attorneys. The mental health experts said Geyser’s parents described her as a bright student who got good grades and had no behavioral issues at school except one time when she brought a mallet to class.
Weier, Geyser’s alleged co-conspirator, was also in court today because her legal team unsuccessfully tried to argue they should be given hard copies of Geyser's mental evaluations. Weier has not had to undergo any mental evaluations of her own because her attorneys have not yet requested one.
Geyser and Weier are being tried as adults because Wisconsin law dictates that anyone above the age of 10 charged with first degree murder or attempted murder will not be considered juveniles.
The 12-year-old victim, who has not been identified because of her age, was said to have nearly died from her wounds, but has since been released from the hospital and her parents recently released new details about her recovery. “She’s doing great,” family spokesperson and media adviser for the Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. law firm Stephen Lyons told ABC News. He also thanked supporters for contributing to a “Hearts for Healing” fund to cover the victim’s medical expenses. “She’s healing well. Both physically and emotionally she’s getting better.” Source: Meghan Keneally and Kelley Robinson, ABC News, August 1, 2014.
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Post by Joanna on Oct 4, 2014 23:37:32 GMT -5
Slender Man Attack Victim identified
The parents of a girl who was stabbed 19 times by classmates trying to please the fake Slenderman character, have revealed how she almost died as her best friend nearly took her life. Payton Leutner (above), age 12, was attacked in a wooded park in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in late May following a sleepover to celebrate her best friend’s 12th birthday. Police said Payton’s friends Anissa Weir and Morgan Geyser told investigators they spent months planning their attack on her to win favor with Slenderman – the modern day version of the “Boogeyman” who is featured on the website Creepypasta.com.
Payton’s mother, Stacie Leutner, and father Joe spoke to ABC’s 20/20 program on behalf of their daughter, to thank those who have sent their well-wishes since the brutal attack occurred. Stacie said Payton told her she recalled “everything” on the day she was lured into the woods. Her mother said she had asked her about Slenderman before the attack, because she was frightened by the stories her best friend Morgan shared with her about him. Payton insisted her best friend knew Slenderman was real but her mother was not overly concerned. “Fantasy when you are 12 years old is still a very active part of your life,” she said. Stacie claimed Payton and Morgan were close. But Morgan also had another best friend, Anissa, who was not very close with Payton. Anissa and Morgan were the ones who first became fascinated with the dark character of Slender Man. Morgan used to send Payton links to Slenderman stories. But Stacie said she told Payton she should email Morgan and ask that she stop sending the stories if they were scaring her so much. “We opened up the computer one night and sat and looked at the site together, and I said, ‘Payton, let’s just read one of these and you tell me, does this sound like this could possibly be real?’” Stacie said. “And she said, ‘No, but Morgan – Morgan knows he’s real.’” Payton stopped talking about Slender Man around the time that Morgan and Anissa had masterminded a plan to attack Payton. After allowing her daughter to attend a sleepover with Morgan and Anissa, neither Payton nor Stacie had any idea what she was walking into.
Police said the murder was planned for 2 a.m. while Payton slept, when they would duct-tape her mouth, stab her in the neck and run “so they didn’t have to look into her eyes,” according to court documents. Following the plan, Payton was taken into the woods, where she was stabbed by the two girls, and left alone.
After crawling from the woods, Payton was spotted by a cyclist. Stacie was later notified by police that her daughter had been stabbed. She then called her husband Joe, saying: “Morgan stabbed Payton, you need to come home.” She then went into the living room where her son was playing and started crying. “I just looked at Caden, and I said, ‘Morgan stabbed Payton. We have to go to the hospital right now.’ And Caden started crying.”
When she arrived at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, she recalls seeing Payton. “She was pale as a ghost,” Stacie recalled. “She was terrified, she was crying, she couldn’t breathe.” Payton reached out and Stacie hugged her daughter. “And I said, ‘you’re going to be okay, it’s going to be fine. But I could see that she was covered, her arms, her legs, abdomen, were covered in stab wounds. And all I hear is, ‘there’s five on her arm, there’s seven on her leg,’ and I’m thinking, ‘seven? What?’” It was the trauma nurses, counting the stab wounds on her daughter’s body. “And one of the nurse’s said, ‘Okay, I count 19,’ and the second nurse said, ‘I count 19 as well,’” Stacie said.
In one stab wound, the knife had almost reached the girl’s heart, but missed it by less than a millimeter. Dr. John Keleman, who performed surgeron on Payton said in an interview: “If the knife had gone the width of a human hair further, she wouldn’t have lived.”
Stacie recalled Payton’s first words to her parents were: “I want to go home.” Then, she asked her mother: “Did they [the police] get them?” Her father confirmed Morgan and Anissa had been arrested.
Her attackers, both 12, have been charged as adults for first-degree intentional homicide but questions remain over whether they will be competent to stand trial. They were located about five hours after the attack walking along a road toward a national forest, where they believed Slender Man lived in a mansion.
Payton’s former best friend Morgan is being treated for mental problems after telling a court-appointed psychologist that she can see and hear things that others cannot – including unicorns, Slender Man and Voldemort, an antagonist in the Harry Potter series. A hearing on the other girl’s mental state is scheduled for next month.
“I think the hardest part for me is that Payton put this trust in this girl,” Stacie said. “And Morgan knew that she was going to do this to Payton that night. She knew, and to betray somebody like that and to hurt somebody like that ... Both of my kids have been robbed of their innocence. No child should ever have to go through something like this. Caden shouldn’t have to watch his sister go through it, and Payton shouldn’t have to go through it. It’s just wrong.”
Another Slender Man Attack. In June 2014, after hearing about the two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing another girl to please the fictional horror character Slender Man, an Ohio girl stabbed her mother and the mother believes her daughter could have been influenced by the story. The victim, whose name was not released, told WLWT-TV in Cincinnati that her daughter wore a white mask and attacked her with a knife in the kitchen. “We found things that she had written and she made reference to Slender Man. She also made references to killing, the mother told the TV station. Her daughter is facing charges in juvenile court.
Sources: ABC News and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Nov 25, 2014 13:14:05 GMT -5
Morgan Geyser Still Believes in Slender ManWAUKESHA, Wis. – A lawyer for a Wisconsin girl accused of luring a classmate into the woods and repeatedly stabbing her to please Slender Man said on Tuesday his client still believes in the fictional Internet character and is unfit to stand trial. Morgan Geyser (above) and her friend Anissa Weier were both 12 when they were charged as adults with first-degree attempted homicide in the attack on a friend the morning after a sleepover in late May in Waukesha, a suburb west of Milwaukee. The girls told investigators they attacked their friend to impress Slender Man, a tall, online bogeyman that they insisted was real, according to a criminal complaint.
Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren on Tuesday scheduled a December 18 competency hearing for Geyser so that her attorney Anthony Cotton can challenge an expert report that found her mentally competent to stand trial. Bohren ruled Geyser incompetent to stand trial on August 1, when two mental health professionals told the court she lacked the capacity to assist in her own defense. At that time, Bohren ordered Geyser be committed to a state department of health services facility, where she is being held and treated.
Cotton said on Tuesday his client still believes that Slender Man is real and he thinks she is unfit to stand trial based on interactions with her and discussions with doctors. “She still believes in fictional characters,” he said. “When a person believes in fictional characters, makes it difficult for them to assist in their defense.”
The victim was stabbed 19 times, but survived. She spent six days in the hospital before returning home for additional recovery and returned to school in September, a family spokesman said. Weier, who is now 13, was found competent to stand trial under mental evaluations released publicly in court on Octonrt 22. Weier’s attorneys have objected to the findings.
Wisconsin law requires attempted homicide cases involving suspects at least 10-ears-old to begin in adult court before attorneys can ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court. The girls could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison if convicted as adults of attempted homicide. They could be held until age 25 if convicted as juveniles.Source: Brendan O'Brien, Reuters, November 18, 2014.
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Post by natalie on Nov 26, 2014 15:42:04 GMT -5
I wonder how they can truly prove someone is incompetent. I can act like a lunatic, say silly things, and talk to myself if I know such antics will get me some sympathy and perhaps a reduced sentence, so how can they prove anyone claiming insanity truly IS insane and is not just a great actor?
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Post by Joanna on Feb 1, 2018 20:24:17 GMT -5
Girl Sentenced in Slender Man StabbingMorgan Geyser (above), a Wisconsin girl who stabbed a classmate to curry favor with the fictional horror character Slender Man, will be committed to a mental hospital for 40 years, a judge ordered Thursday, explaining his decision as “an issue of community protection.” Judge Michael Bohren granted the maximum penalty that prosecutors had sought and discounted Geyser’s youth – she was just 12 at the time of the attack in 2014. “What we can’t forget is this was an attempted murder,” Bohren said. Earlier, he heard from four doctors who talked about how Geyser is making progress with her mental illness, to various degrees. But the judge called the teenager “a fragile person” whose long history of suffering from delusions make her a risk to herself and others.
Geyser, now 15, spoke briefly before she was sentenced, breaking down in tears as she apologized to the girl she stabbed, Payton Leutner. “I just want to let Bella and her family know that ‘'m sorry,” she sobbed, using a nickname for Leutner. “And I hope she’s doing well.”
Geyser and another girl, Anissa Weier, admitted they lured Leutner into some woods near a suburban Milwaukee park. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier urged her on, according to investigators. They left Leutner for dead. but she crawled out of the woods and got help from a passing bicyclist. All three girls were 12 at the time. “Really judge, it’s a miracle that Peyton is still with us, that she survived this,” prosecutor Ted Szczupakiewicz told the court.
Geyser and Weier said they carried out the attack to appease Slender Man, a fictional online horror character, whom they said they feared would otherwise harm them and their families. Slender Man is often typified by spidery limbs and a blank white face.
Weier was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital in December. She pled guilty in August to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide, but claimed she wasn’t responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill. In September, a jury agreed.
At Geyser’s sentencing Thursday, doctors who evaluated her offered conflicting opinions concerning the the type institutional care she needs and the severity of her continued hallucinations. Prosecutors presented testimony from a doctor who said Geyser reported still hearing voices from someone named “Maggie” as recently as September. Dr. Brooke Lundbohm acknowledged that Geyser has made significant progress over the last three years, but said she emphatically believes she is still a danger to herself and others. “This is not a close call,” the doctor said.
Geyser’s attorneys argued that she be moved to a less restrictive facility with children her age and the possibility of being able to go on outings with supervision if she’s well enough. “She has a condition she didn’t choose to have,” said Anthony Cotton, one of her lawyers. They argued in court documents that she suffered from schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder, making her prone to delusions and paranoid beliefs. But three doctors the defense called Thursday said she no longer shows psychotic symptoms and would benefit being in a residential facility where she can socialize with other teenagers. She is currently at a state mental facility with adults and doctors said she is the youngest patient there. “I believe at the present time she is no more dangerous than any adolescent her age,” said Dr. Kenneth Robbins told the court.
Geyser pled guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in October in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. She may seek conditional release before the 40 years are up.Source: Ivan Moreno, The Associated Press, February 1, 2018.
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