Juvenile-court decision due in Slender Man case

Associated Press

MADISON, WIS.

A pivotal decision is due this week in the case of two 13-year-old Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing a classmate to please online horror character Slender Man – keep them in adult court or move them into the juvenile system.

The stakes are enormous: Each girl faces a charge of attempted first-degree homicide in adult court and could spend up to 65 years in the state prison system if convicted. Should Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren move them into the juvenile system, they could be held for only five years and all records of the proceedings would be sealed, giving them a chance to restart their lives.

Defense attorneys for both girls argue their clients are mentally ill – one attorney says his client is a schizophrenic who still believes fictional characters such as Slender Man and Harry Potter truly exist – and will receive better treatment in the juvenile system. Prosecutors say transferring them out of adult court would depreciate the seriousness of the crime.

Prosecutors allege the girls, who are both from Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb, had plotted for months to kill classmate Payton Leutner in hopes of pleasing Slender Man.

They planned to live with the horror character as his servants after the slaying, according to investigators.

They lured Payton into woods at a park in May 2014 and stabbed her 19 times before fleeing, according to court documents.

A passing bicyclist found Payton, who survived. Police captured the two girls later that day as they were walking to the Nicolet National Forest, 300 miles away, where they believed Slender Man lived in a mansion.

All three girls were 12 years old at the time.