As the legal proceedings in the Slender Man stabbing case has played out over the past 14 months, the attorneys for Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier have had a primary goal: getting their clients out of the adult system and into the juvenile system.
Now, more than a year after the girls nearly stabbed their former middle school classmate to death, Geyser and Weier, now both 13, will learn their fate on Monday, Aug. 10.
Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren will make his oral ruling at 1:30 p.m.
Juvenile vs. adult
Geyser and Weier, charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, could face a punishment of up to 65 years in prison if they remain in the adult system. In the juvenile system, they would spend three years in custody.
In deciding where this case will eventually be tried, Bohren must decide whether the defense teams proved that their clients could not receive adequate treatment in the adult criminal system; that transferring the case to the juvenile system would not depreciate the seriousness of the offense; and that retaining the case in adult court is not necessary to deter the juvenile or other children from committing similar offenses.
Bohren's decision on the transfer will come four days after he denied both girls' attorney's request to have the adult criminal jurisdiction complaint dismissed.
Both Geyser's and Weier's attorneys filed a motion in recent months saying that trying the cases in adult court is "unconstitutional."
Revisiting incident
During the last year, the case has received national and international coverage after Geyser and Weier told officers they committed the offense to please Slender Man, a fictitious Internet horror character.
They also told officers that after stabbing then 12-year-old Payton Leutner in a wooded area in Waukesha the morning after a sleepover to celebrate Geyser's 12th birthday they left her to die and planned to walk to a mansion in the Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin. They believed Slender Man lived there.
Leutner, who survived the attack, told an officer that Geyser is the one who stabbed her 19 times as Weier stood by.
The girls' attorneys told the court their clients also had a belief that Slender Man would harm them or their families if they didn't kill someone, thus claiming mitigating factors should have dismissed the charged offense.
Geyser's outlook
Medical professionals have said Geyser, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, still believes in Slender Man and talks with other fantasy characters.
Kenneth Casimir, a psychologist who testified on behalf of the state during a hearing in June, said because of Geyser's beliefs and willingness to cooperate with Slender Man, including engaging in violent behavior, he views her as "an ongoing risk for others around her" and that she should remain in the adult system.
Psychologists have said Geyser will require ongoing treatment throughout her life and her condition will only worsen if it continues to go untreated. Geyser's attorneys and other psychologists have said she can only receive this treatment in the juvenile system.
Geyser hasn't received any medication while being confined to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center in West Bend.
For a few months last fall, Geyser was transferred to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh after being deemed legally incompetent. However, once a judge found her competent to proceed last December, Geyser was not allowed to return to the mental health center.
Moreover, a request by Geyser's attorney, Anthony Cotton, to have her transferred to the Wauwatosa-based Milwaukee Academy, a residential treatment facility for girls, was denied this spring after Bohren agreed with the state that Geyser was seen as a flight risk.
Examining Weier
Medical experts have said Weier was suffering from a shared delusional disorder with Geyser and that her belief in fantasy has dissipated after ending contact with Geyser.
They have not had any contact at the detention center.
A psychologist who testified during Weier's reverse waiver hearing said intensive treatment wouldn't take any longer than two years and that Weier wants to heal and is a good candidate for therapy due to her verbal skills.