Second ‘Slender Man’ Stabbing Suspect Pleads Guilty, Avoids Prison
Morgan Geyser, the second suspect in Wisconsin’s infamous and controversial “Slender Man” trial, has reached a plea deal that will allow her to avoid prison for the 2014 stabbing of a 12-year-old friend.
Under the terms of the agreement, 15-year-old Geyser will plead guilty to attempted first-degree murder of her classmate; the stabbing was a sacrifice to the viral urban legend known as the Slender Man.
The bizarre case was documented in the film Beware the Slenderman. Geyser, who initially pleaded not guilty, was set to go to trial for the stabbing in October. The plea deal establishes that Geyser wasn’t criminally responsible for her actions due to mental illness.
Doctors at a mental hospital operated by the state Department of Health Services will evaluate Geyser to determine how long she should remain in treatment, WUWM Milwaukee reports.
CNN adds that Geyser faces up to 40 years in a mental hospital, but no minimum sentence was established; it will be up to the judge to determine the length of the sentence.
In August, now-15-year-old Anissa Weier similarly pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree homicide but argued she wasn’t responsible for her actions due to mental illness. A jury ultimately sided with Weier, who was sentenced to a minimum three-year sentence in a mental hospital, the Associated Press reported.
The then-12-year-old victim, who was stabbed 19 times and left for a dead in a Wisconsin forest, recovered from her wounds following a hospital stay.