Judge allows confessions in Slender Man stabbing case, rejects outside jury request
WAUKESHA - A judge ruled Monday that confessions made to police will be admissible against one of the two girls charged with trying to kill their sixth-grade classmate to please the fictional character Slender Man in 2014.
Circuit Judge Michael Bohren also said that jurors from Waukesha County will hear the case when it finally goes to trial, now set for October — 3 1/2 years after the crime.
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 when they were charged as adults with the attempted first-degree intentional homicide of Payton Leutner, who was stabbed 19 times and left to die near a Waukesha park before she was found by a passing bicyclist. After several surgeries, Leutner recovered and was able to start seventh grade on time that fall.
Arrested later the same day, the girls told detectives how they had plotted the attack because they believed Slender Man, an internet boogeyman, would harm them or their families if they did kill their friend.
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Each has now argued that they were too young to fully understand and give up their rights to remain silent or consult an attorney and that the statements should not be allowed as evidence against them at trial. Geyser's attorney argued that in addition to her young age Geyser was suffering from untreated early onset schizophrenia, a condition discovered months later while doctors evaluated her competency to understand the charges against her and assist in her own defense.
Announcing his decision from the bench, Bohren said the totality of the circumstances suggested that in each of three incidents, Geyser understood and knowingly made incriminating statements. Regarding one instance where Geyser's attorney had questioned the way a sheriff's lieutenant read Geyser her rights, Bohren said the state has long said "substance controls over form" in determining the properness of the so-called Miranda warning.
No change of venue
On the change of venue request, Bohren found that, while there has been extensive and continuing news coverage of the case, it has been largely fair and accurate, not "rabble rousing," and without the "embellishment, exaggeration or outrageousness" that might be expected given the underlying facts.
Bohren said with a lengthy jury panel questionnaire, the jury selection process and careful trial management, he was sure a fair jury could be drawn from Waukesha County residents. Mere knowledge about the case doesn't equate to prejudice, he said.
The defense and prosecutors have until March 17 to submit proposed questions and Bohren will hold a hearing in April to finalize the questionnaire. A trial date was set for Oct. 2.
A hearing on the same motions from Weier — to bar use of her statements and for a non-Waukesha County jury — is scheduled for next week, though a different outcome is not expected.
Both girls have been held on $500,000 bail since their arrests May 31, 2014. Weier, now 15, remains at a West Bend juvenile detention center.
Geyser, 14, has been living at a state mental hospital under a civil commitment order from a different judge, where she has been getting treatment for her condition. She appeared at Monday's hearing with her once long hair cut short and moving in a slower, more withdrawn demeanor than at some of her appearances last year after beginning the treatment her mother said seemed to wake up the Morgan her parents used to know.
Geyser and Weier each have pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
Monday's decision was the latest in Bohren's consistent rejection of defense motions, including two major requests: that the case be transferred to juvenile court, and that bail for the defendants be modified to allow them to await trial out of custody.