WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – The Latest on a jury trial to decide whether a Wisconsin girl accused of helping stab a classmate to please horror character Slender Man is mentally competent (all times local):
12:15 a.m.
An attorney for a Wisconsin teenager who was found by a jury to have been mentally ill in the stabbing of a classmate says the teen was relieved by the verdict.
Anissa Weier passes a note to defense attorney Joseph Smith Jr. during closing arguments in her case before Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in Waukesha, Wis. Weier is accused of helping her friend stab their classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man. (C.T. Kruger /Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Maura McMahon says her client, Anissa Weier, cried after the jury delivered its verdict near midnight Friday. It came after a week’s testimony over Weier’s mental state at the time she and a friend, Morgan Geyser, stabbed a classmate in what they said was an effort to please the fictional horror character known as Slender Man.
The ruling means Weier will go to a mental hospital instead of prison.
Weier’s attorneys argue she was delusional at the time of the stabbing, which happened when all three girls were 12. McMahon says she hopes the case shows that kids may be dealing with mental health issues lost on adults too busy to notice.
The prosecutor in the case declined comment, as did the family of the girl who was stabbed. She survived the 2014 attack.
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11 p.m.
A jury has found that a Wisconsin girl who admitted to participating in the 2014 stabbing of a classmate to please horror character Slender Man was mentally ill during the attack.
Jurors reached the verdict late Friday in the trial of Anissa Weier. She pleaded 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. The jury’s job was to decide whether she was.
The decision means Weier will be sent to a mental hospital rather than prison.
Weier told investigators she and co-defendant Morgan Geyser believed they had to sacrifice Payton Leutner to protect themselves and their families from Slender Man. Prosecutors argued she knew what she was doing was wrong.
All three girls were 12.
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9:35 p.m.
A judge says a jury deciding whether a Wisconsin girl accused of helping stab a classmate was mentally ill during the attack must continue deliberating after delivering an inconsistent verdict.
According to investigators, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser stabbed Payton Leutner in a suburban Milwaukee park in 2014 to please the fictional horror character Slender Man. The girl survived. All three were 12 at the time.
Weier and Geyser told detectives they believed they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man’s servants and protect their families from him. Weier’s attorneys are trying to convince jurors she was mentally ill and should be committed to an institution rather than prison.
Under Wisconsin law, 10 of 12 jurors must agree on whether Weier was mentally ill and if so decide if she was responsible for her actions.
After 9½ hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict. Judge Michael Bohren did not announce it in court, but Weier attorney Maura McMahon said 10 jurors found Weier mentally ill and 10 found her not responsible.
But Bohren said the same 10 didn’t answer each question, so the verdict was inconsistent. He ordered the panel to continue deliberating.
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7:10 p.m.
Jurors are still trying to decide whether a Wisconsin girl accused of helping stab a classmate to please horror character Slender Man was mentally competent during the attack.
According to investigators, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser stabbed Payton Leutner in a suburban Milwaukee park in 2014, nearly killing her. All three were 12 at the time.
Weier and Geyser told detectives they believed they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man’s servants and protect their families from him. Weier’s attorneys are trying to convince jurors she was mentally ill during the attack and should be committed to an institution rather than prison.
Jurors began deliberations a little after 10 a.m. and have worked throughout the day. Wisconsin law requires that only 10 of the 12 jurors agree on a verdict in a mental competency case but there were no indications the panel was close to a decision as the clock ticked toward 7 p.m.
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10:15 a.m.
Prosecutors say a Wisconsin girl accused of helping stab a classmate to appease online horror character Slender Man participated in a cold and calculated attack.
According to investigators, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser stabbed Payton Leutner in a suburban Milwaukee park in 2014, nearly killing her. All three were 12 at the time.
Weier and Geyser told detectives they believed they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man’s servants and protect their families from him.
Weier’s attorneys are trying to convince jurors she was mentally ill during the attack and should be committed to an institution rather than prison. Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz told the jury during his closing arguments Friday that the girls had planned the attack for months and that they were not in a “kill or be killed situation.”
Jurors are now deliberating.
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9:30 a.m.
An attorney for a girl accused of stabbing a classmate to appease online horror character Slender Man is telling a jury that her mind was “broken” during the attack.
Attorneys for Anissa Weier are trying to convince a jury that she was suffering from a mental illness when she and Morgan Geyser attacked Payton Leutner in a suburban Milwaukee park in 2014. All the girls were 12 at the time. Leutner survived. Weier and Geyser told police they had to kill Leutner so they could become Slender Man’s servants and protect their families from him.
In closing arguments Friday, Weier’s attorney, Maura McMahon insisted that Weier and Geyser suffered a shared delusion that Slender Man was real. She added that Geyser is schizophrenic and Weier clung to her because she was lonely and depressed.
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12:15 a.m.
The case of a Wisconsin girl who admitted stabbing a classmate to appease an online horror character called Slender Man will soon go to a jury.
Closing arguments are scheduled Friday for Anissa Weier (ah-NEE’-sah WY’-ur). She argues she was mentally ill and should be sent to a mental institution rather than prison.
Weier and co-defendant Morgan Geyser (GY’-zur) were accused of luring classmate Payton Leutner (LYT’-nur) to a wooded area in a suburban Milwaukee park and then attacking her. All three girls were 12 at the time.
Leutner survived.
Weier’s attorneys say she and Geyser shared a delusion about Slender Man that made them fear he could kill their families. Prosecutors have argued Weier, now 15, knew what she was doing was wrong and just wanted to preserve her friendship with Geyser.
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