Girl in Slender Man stabbing gets maximum mental commitment

A Wisconsin girl who stabbed a classmate to curry favor with the fictional horror character Slender Man will be committed to a mental hospital for 40 years, a judge ordered Thursday, explaining his decision as "an issue of community protection."

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2017 file photo, Morgan Geyser, left, looks to her attorney Anthony Cotton as she appears in a in a Waukesha County Courtroom in Waukesha, Wis. (Michael Sears /Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Judge Michael Bohren granted the maximum penalty that prosecutors had sought and discounted Morgan Geyser's youth — she was just 12 — at the time of the attack in 2014.

"What we can't forget is this was an attempted murder," Bohren said. Earlier, he heard from four doctors who talked about how Geyser is making progress with her mental illness, to various degrees. But Bohren called the teenager "a fragile person" whose long history suffering from delusions make her a risk to hurt herself and others.

Morgan Geyser, 15, appears for sentencing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 in Waukesha, Wis. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Geyser, now 15, spoke briefly before she was sentenced, breaking down in tears as she apologized to the girl she stabbed, Payton Leutner.

"I just want to let Bella and her family know that I'm sorry," she said, using a nickname for Leutner. "And I hope she's doing well."

Geyser and another girl, Anissa Weier, admitted that they lured Leutner into some woods near a suburban Milwaukee park. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier urged her on, according to investigators. They left Leutner for dead but she crawled out of the woods and got help from a passing bicyclist. All three girls were 12 at the time.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, begins the sentencing phase in the trial of Morgan Geyser, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 in Waukesha, Wis. Geyser is one of two girls who tried to kill a classmate with a knife to appease fictional horror character Slender Man. Prosecutors want Geyser to spend the maximum 40 years in a mental hospital for stabbing Payton Leutner in suburban Milwaukee in 2014. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

"Really judge, it's a miracle that Peyton is still with us, that she survived this," said prosecutor Ted Szczupakiewicz.

Geyser and Weier said they carried out the attack to appease Slender Man, a fictional online horror character who they said they feared would otherwise harm them and their families. Slender Man is often typified by spidery limbs and a blank white face.

Weier was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital in December. She pleaded guilty in August to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide, but she claimed she wasn't responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill. In September, a jury agreed.

At Geyser's sentencing Thursday, doctors who evaluated her gave conflicting opinions about the type of institutional care she needs and the severity of her continued hallucinations.

Prosecutors presented testimony from a doctor who said Geyser reported still hearing voices from someone named "Maggie" as recently as September.

Dr. Brooke Lundbohm acknowledged that Geyser has made significant progress over the last three years, but said she emphatically believes she is still a danger to herself and others.

"This is not a close call," she said.

Geyser's attorneys argued for her to be moved to a less restrictive facility with children her age and the possibility of being able to be on outings with supervision if she's well enough.

"She has a condition she didn't choose to have," said Anthony Cotton, one of Geyser's attorneys.

They argued in court documents that she suffered from schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder, making her prone to delusions and paranoid beliefs. But three doctors the defense called Thursday said she no longer shows psychotic symptoms and would benefit being in a residential facility where she can socialize with other teenagers. She's currently at a state mental facility with adults and doctors said she is the youngest patient there.

"I believe at the present time she is no more dangerous than any adolescent her age," said Dr. Kenneth Robbins.

Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in October in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. She may seek conditional release before the 40 years are up.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and the United Kingdom have expressed concern over convictions imposed by Pakistani military courts to 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over their alleged involvement in riots last year.

The convictions had previously also been criticized by the European Union and domestic human rights activists.

“The United States is deeply concerned that Pakistani civilians have been sentenced by a military tribunal for their involvement in protests on May 9, 2023. These military courts lack judicial independence, transparency, and due process guarantees,” the State Department said in a statement on Monday.

It asked Pakistan to respect the right to a fair trial and due process.

The Foreign Office in London said that while the U.K. respects Pakistan’s sovereignty over its own legal proceedings, “trying civilians in military courts lacks transparency, independent scrutiny and undermines the right to a fair trial.”

It added: "We call on the government of Pakistan to uphold its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

The statements were referring to the violence that erupted after Khan’s arrest in Islamabad in May 2023.

The former premier was ousted through a no-confidence vote in the parliament in 2022, and he was convicted of corruption and sentenced in August 2023. Since then, he has been behind bars. Khan’s popular opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, is in talks with the government to secure his release.

Responding to the growing international criticism, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that the country is "fully committed to fulfilling all its international human rights obligations.”

In a statement, it said Pakistan’s legal system was in consistent with international human rights law, and the verdicts by the military courts had been made under a law enacted by the parliament and in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It said Pakistan will “continue to engage with the international partners, including the European Union to uphold the international human rights law, without any discrimination and double standards.”

The 25 supporters on Monday received prison terms ranging from two years to 10 years, which the army in a statement warned acted as a “stark reminder” for people to never take the law into their own hands.

The PTI has rejected the convictions of civilians, demanding they should be tried in the normal courts if they were involved in the riots.

Without mentioning international criticism of the convictions, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday accused the PTI of “hiring foreign lobbying groups to run campaigns against Pakistan."

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has accused Khan of masterminding the violence, a charge he denies.

Earlier this month, Khan and dozens of others were indicted by a civilian court on charges of inciting people on that day, when demonstrators attacked the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, stormed an air base in Mianwali in the eastern Punjab province and torched a building housing state-run Radio Pakistan in the northwest.

FILE - Paramilitary soldiers from Frontier Corps stand guard outside their headquarters, where supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan protest against the arrest of their leader, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad, File)