The Latest: 40-year commitment for girl in Slender Man case
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing hearing for one of two Wisconsin girls who stabbed a classmate to win favor with fictional horror character Slender Man (all times local):
3:55 p.m.
A judge has sentenced a Wisconsin girl to the maximum 40 years in a mental hospital for stabbing a classmate in an attack aimed at pleasing a fictional horror character known as Slender Man.
Judge Michael Bohren says 15-year-old Morgan Geyser remains a risk to hurt herself or others.
Geyser and another girl lured a classmate to a suburban Milwaukee park in 2014 and carried out the attack, with Geyser doing the stabbing. All three girls were 12 at the time.
Bohren said in passing sentence Thursday that although the attack happened when the girls were young, "what we can't forget is this was an attempted murder."
Geyser spoke briefly before she was sentenced, breaking down in tears as she apologized to the girl she stabbed. That girl survived.
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1:00 p.m.
Doctors who examined one of two Wisconsin girls who tried to kill a classmate to please a fictional horror character called Slender Man have provided conflicting opinions about the type of institutional care she needs.
Dr. Brooke Lundbohm says 15-year-old Morgan Geyser's mental health has improved, but that she should continue being treated at a state mental health facility. Lundbohm says Geyser is still a danger to herself and others, and has reported hearing voices as recently as September.
Two other doctors at Thursday's sentencing hearing in Waukesha County say Geyser no longer exhibits psychotic symptoms and recommend moving her to a less restrictive facility where she can be around others her age and possibly go out with supervision.
Prosecutors want Geyser to spend 40 years in a psychiatric hospital.
Geyser was 12 when she stabbed Payton Leutner.
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12:05 a.m.
One of two Wisconsin girls who tried to kill a classmate to win favor with fictional horror character Slender Man is being sentenced for her role in the attack.
Prosecutors want 15-year-old Morgan Geyser to spend the maximum 40 years in a mental hospital for stabbing Payton Leutner in suburban Milwaukee in 2014. Geyser's attorneys will make their own case for what they believe is best for Geyser during a daylong hearing Thursday in Waukesha County.
Geyser and Anissa Weier lured Leutner into the woods at a park and attacked her. Leutner crawled out of the woods and got help from a passing bicyclist.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in October to avoid prison. Weier was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital in December.