Girls to stay in adult court in Slender Man stabbing case

The girls are accused of stabbing classmate Payton Leutner 19 times last year in allegiance to the horror character Slender Man.

The girls now face one count each of attempted first-degree homicide in adult court. If they were in the juvenile court system, the court would no longer have authority over them after that age.

“This was an effort to kill someone”, the judge said.

A bicyclist found Leutner, who recovered from her extensive injuries in time enough to start seventh grade past year.

National advocates for juvenile justice reform had been watching the Slender Man case.

Geyser and Weier were 12 years old at the time of the alleged attack; a passerby found the victim bleeding in a wooded park, and the girl survived. This is where they believed Slender Man lived.

Weier suffered from a delusional disorder that allowed her to believe in Slender Man, and that he would harm her or family if she and Geyser didn’t kill for him. One of the girls had a five-inch blade knife in her backpack, according to the criminal complaint.

■ That the girls could not get needed treatment in the adult system.

The girls’ defense attorneys also had asked the judge to declare the underlying law that put the case in adult court unconstitutional, alleging the statues lead to cruel and unusual punishment. The judge will make a ruling on Monday whether the the girls – now both 13-years-old – should be tried as adults, or be moved to juvenile court.

For the past year, psychiatrists say Morgan Geyser has had little treatment for her schizophrenia, and no medication for the psychotic hallucinations she experiences and the voices she hears.

Information for this article provided by NBC News and the Associated Press.

The victim, who was so badly injured she could not speak immediately afterwards, has since made a full recovery.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1J4DrUh) the four shootings include a 12-year-old boy wounded while inside a house by a bullet fired from outside.

The judge said he decided to keep girls in adult court by looking at the seriousness of the crime including the fact that this was premeditated.

Both defendants will be arraigned on August 21, according to court records.