In August 2015, a Wisconsin judge declared that the two teen defendants in the so-called “Slender Man” stabbing case would be tried as adults for their alleged 2014 attack on a female classmate, Payton Leutner. On Monday, one defendant, Anissa Weier, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide, rather than the original attempted first-degree (with intent) charge. Leutner, who was attacked in a forest during a sleepover with the defendants (then age 12), miraculously survived after being stabbed 19 times and left for dead, all allegedly in tribute to the mythical character who became the subject of an HBO documentary called Beware the Slender Man.
During the hearing in which Weier entered her guilty plea, she told Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael O. Bohren that her co-defendant, Morgan Geyser (who has pleaded not guilty due to mental illness), pressured her to participate in the attempted homicide. Weier also accuses Geyser of physically carrying out the attack:
“I told her that I couldn’t do it,” Weier said, adding that her co-defendant “asked me whether or not she should do it” when they were in the woods.
“And I just wanted it to be over with so I said, ‘Go do what you have to do,’ and Peyton was then hurt,” Weier said.
“How was she hurt?” the judge asked.
“Morgan jumped on top of her and stabbed her repeatedly,” Weier said.
Weier also told the court that she believed Slender Man would take retribution upon herself and her loved ones if she didn’t participate in the attack. Prior to her guilty plea, she faced up to 65 years behind bars while being tried as an adult. The lesser charge of second-degree homicide could yield a 10-year sentence, or following a trial next month, three years in a mental institution if Weier’s found not guilty.
(Via Associated Press & CBS News)