Girl pleads insanity in Slender Man stabbing case

Anissa Weier, a defendant in the Slender Man stabbing case, pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Judge Michael Bohren ordered that Weier be evaluated by two doctors by Oct. 6. The next hearing in the case for both Weier and her co-defendant, Morgan Geyser, is set for Oct. 13.

Geyser entered the same plea, often referred to as NGI, at a hearing last month.

Weier and Geyser, both 14, were 12 when prosecutors say they plotted and attempted to kill their sixth-grade classmate and friend Payton Leutner in May 2014.

Leutner was stabbed 19 times and left for dead in a Waukesha park the morning after a sleepover party for Geyser's 12th birthday, but managed to crawl near a path, where she was found by a passing bicyclist.

Both defendants later told police they were trying to either impress or avoid the wrath of Slender Man, a fictional internet boogeyman the girls said they believed would harm them or their families if they didn't kill their friend.

They remain charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, after efforts to have their cases transferred to juvenile court were denied.

A defendant entering an NGI plea contends that at the time she committed a crime, a mental disease or defect prevented her from appreciating the wrongfulness of her action, or from conforming her conduct to the law.

Someone found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect is typically committed to a state mental hospital for treatment.

Geyser, who has been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia, has already spent months at Winnebago Mental Health Institute under a separate civil commitment.

During earlier hearings, mental health experts testified that Weier was competent to proceed with the case, but had not done more extensive evaluations required for an NGI review.  She is being held at a juvenile detention center.

No trial date has been set in the case.