Attorney wants big bail reduction in Slender Man stabbing
WAUKESHA, Wis. - The attorney for a 12-year-old Wisconsin girl accused of stabbing a classmate to please the fictional horror character Slender Man has asked that her bail be reduced and she be allowed to move to a residential treatment center.
Anthony Cotton wants his client's $500,000 bail reduced to a signature bond, essentially a promise to appear in court as requested or risk arrest. He also wants her to receive treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders at a Milwaukee facility.
Cotton's client and a 13-year-old Waukesha girl are charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the near-fatal stabbing of Payton Leutner, who was 12 at the time of the attack. Court documents allege the suspects lured Payton to a park in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha on May 31, 2014 and stabbed her 19 times.
Prosecutors have said the defendants plotted to kill Payton for months.
Both CBS News and the Associated Press aren't naming either of the girls charged in case they end up in juvenile court, where proceedings are closed to the public. If tried as adults, they each could be sentenced to up to 65 years in the state prison system.
The girls' attorneys have asked a judge to dismiss the charges, saying they legitimately believed they had to kill their friend to protect their families from Slender Man's wrath. As an alternative, they have also asked for the case to be moved to juvenile court where a conviction could send them to a secure facility until age 25.
Both girls were found competent to stand trial and thus far, a judge has ordered that the case remain in adult court.