(CNN) A Wisconsin teenager accused of stabbing a classmate in 2014 to win favor with a fictional internet character named "Slenderman" has been ordered to spend 40 years in a mental institution instead of serving jail time.
Morgan Geyser, 15, pleaded guilty in October to a charge of attempted first-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time.
Geyser's sentence was handed down after a day of testimony from expert witnesses about the teenager's progress in psychological treatment. While she has made progress, according to the experts, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren determined she needed further treatment.
"We can't forget what we are dealing with. And we can't forget that this was an attempted murder," Bohren said when announcing his decision. He also noted the crime was premeditated.
Geyser's defense attorneys had argued the teenager was a first-time offender who needs treatment but could be reintegrated into the community.
FlyUnder_TheRadar on February 2nd, 2018 at 03:12 UTC »
This is interesting from a legal standpoint. I am not sure if people realize how rare it is for a person to be found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The insanity defense is really high burden for a defense attorney to meet. I wish I could have observed the trial. I think an argument could be made for imprisoning the girls, but of course they are still impressionable children. If they are indeed mentally ill then this was the best possible outcome for them and I hope they get the help that they need.
Edit: It looks like they took a plea so there was no trial to watch. My bad, thank you all for letting me know!
tdogg88 on February 2nd, 2018 at 02:08 UTC »
There's a podcast called Timesuck, by Dan Cummins that covers this fairly well.
red_4 on February 1st, 2018 at 23:17 UTC »
I assume that, on top of being mentally unstable from the outset, these idiotic kids are seduced by a sense of mystique that surrounds the Slenderman "myth". This is the part that bothers me most, because Slenderman is just a stupid creepypasta meme that was created as a challenge by some random schmuck on the internet. There is absolutely zero mystique about Slenderman. Tomorrow we'll be hearing about Somalian Knuckles stabbings.