Slender Man case goes to trial
Jury will decide if Weier was culpable at time of attack
What made Anissa Weier help her friend Morgan Geyser plot and carry out a near-fatal stabbing of their sixth-grade classmate after a birthday sleepover, and should she be held legally responsible for the shocking crime?
Three years after the crime, which drew worldwide attention and spawned an HBO documentary, a Waukesha jury will begin the process of deciding those questions and whether Weier goes to prison or a mental hospital.
Weier and Geyser, now 15, were only 12 at the time of the May 31, 2014, attack. They told detectives they were trying to either impress or appease Slender Man, a mythical, supernatural, semi-human creature they said they believed could kill them or their families if they did not kill first.
The girls were charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, while armed, and held on $500,000 bails. Their victim survived 19 stab wounds and subsequent surgeries well enough to return for seventh grade that fall.
Starting Monday, Weier’s lawyers will try to convince a jury that at the time of the stab-
bing, she was suffering from a mental disease or defect that prevented her from appreciating what she did was unlawful or from conforming her actions to the law.
If they succeed, Weier would be found not legally responsible for her crime and committed to a state mental hospital for at least three years, under the terms of a deal she made with prosecutors to plead guilty to attempted second-degree homicide.
That same deal says if the jury rejects her insanity defense, prosecutors will recommend she spend 10 years in prison. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren could impose up to 25 years.
At the time the deal was announced, Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Ted Szczu-pakiewicz said the family of the victim, Payton Leutner, supports it.
Madness of two
The defense is expected to call a parade of psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts to discuss the dynamics of adolescent brain development and Weier’s mental state at the time. At prior hearings in the case, some have described her as having a schizotypal personality disorder, a condition on a spectrum that includes schizophrenia.
That more severe condition was formally diagnosed in Geyser during the same post-arrest period when officials were trying to establish the girls’ legal competency to proceed in the case, to understand the charge against them and aid in their defense.
Though untreated for months, Geyser was finally committed in a separate civil proceeding. She has been getting care at a state mental hospital for the past year and a half.
Both girls were extremely bright but had some social challenges in school. Together, they discovered Slender Man on a website called WikiPasta and began pursuing the idea of becoming his proxies, or proving to others that he was real.
Jurors will likely hear how their combined conditions may have led a “folie à deux,” a French term meaning “the madness of two” and used to describe situations where delusional beliefs are transferred, shared or reinforced between two people.
They will also hear that, unlike Geyser, Weier is not currently being treated for any mental condition. She’s not on medication or in therapy. She’s been living at a West Bend juvenile jail since her arrest 31⁄4 years ago and doing well in school there.
No longer the nerdy 12year-old whose booking photo went viral on the internet, she’s developed into a teenager who wears colorful prints, long hair and who has developed a sense of humor. During a conversation with Bohren as he determined whether she was pleading guilty freely, voluntarily and intelligently, he asked about her schooling at the jail. She joked that she’d had “awesome attendance.”
A recently filed motion on behalf of Weier says that a mental disease or defect is defined in Wisconsin as “an abnormal condition of the mind which substantially affects mental or emotional processes.” But science has proven that child and adolescent brains aren’t developed enough to appreciate risks and consequences the same way a normal adult brain could.
If Weier is to be tried as an adult, the defense argues, her undeveloped brain functioning should be considered abnormal, even though for a child it would be normal.
Both Geyser and Weier entered pleas of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect last year after prolonged efforts to have their cases transferred to juvenile court were turned down by Bohren and the Court of Appeals.
Geyser’s trial on both the first and second phases is set for next month. Prosecutors may call her mother, Angie Geyser, to testify at Weier’s trial this week. She served all three girls breakfast after the sleepover, before they left for the park where the stabbing took place.
Jury selection
Because of the intense publicity the case has generated, the defense sought to have the trial moved to another county, or to have jurors from another county brought in. Borhen instead opted to send lengthy questionnaires out to about 900 potential jurors in Waukesha County as an early screening tool and to sequester the jury for the trial.
A few people didn’t return the questionnaires or show up before Bohren to explain why, so he found them in contempt and issued warrants for their arrests.
Many who did answer cited the potential hardship of being sequestered for a week or more. Others revealed what they said were firmly held biases against the defendants or a disbelief in the standard for when the insanity defense applies. Some revealed simple conflicts like refereeing basketball games with one of the prosecutors. Last week, Bohren excused several from being called for duty.
Bohren expects to bring in 75 potential jurors Monday morning, and another 75 in the afternoon, for additional questioning. If 16 jurors can’t be selected (12 plus four alternates), more of those who answered the questionnaires would come to court.
Only 10 of 12 jurors must agree that a defendant is not guilty because of mental disease. A jury can also find a defendant did suffer from a mental disease or defect, but could still follow the law.