The Milwaukee Post

By Lauren Anderson Conley News Service WAUKESHA — Morgan Geyser, one of the girls accused in the Slender Man stabbing case, is pleading not guilty by reason of men- tal disease or defect while attorneys for her co-defen- dant say they have not ruled out doing so. Geyser, who is currently receiving treatment for early onset schizophrenia, appeared in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Aug. 19 along with Anissa Weier — their first appear- ance since an appellate court ruled last month that the two girls, now 14 years old, should remain in adult court. Each faces one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Geyser and Weier are accused of stabbing their friend 19 times and leaving her to die in the woods off Big Bend Road nearly two years ago in an attempt to appease the fictional online horror character known as Slender Man. They were 12 years old at the time. Weier's attorneys said they don't plan to enter an insanity plea, but they haven't ruled it out. "It's a big decision to make," Weier's attorney Maura McMahon said. "Our client is a very young child still. And the decision whether or not to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect is a decision that must be made by the client, not the attorneys." The girls are expected to be tried separately. Geyser's attorney Anthony Cotton said he will also seek to move the trial to a different county. McMahon said she is requesting to have a jury selected from outside the area, rather than moving the trial. "Frankly, with the amount of publicity there's been, I don't know where we could go that someone hasn't heard of it, but there may be places where people have less intense coverage," McMahon said. She said the goal is not to find jurors who haven't heard anything about the case but rather those who haven't yet made up their minds and will listen to the evidence presented. Judge Michael Bohren on Aug. 19 said he expects the trials to be set for March or April of next year, which would be nearly three years since the stabbing took place. Geyser will receive a men- tal evaluation as part of her insanity plea. Her attorneys argued it should be conduct- ed by Deborah Collins, a psy- chiatrist with whom Geyser interacted just days after the stabbing. Prosecutors, however, said that because Collins had been previously retained by the defense, it would be a conflict of interest for her to perform the evaluation. Bohren agreed, and instead appointed a differ- ent doctor, Kent Berney of Madison. Cotton argued that a sec- ond doctor should be appointed, one who had interacted with Geyser around the time of the inci- dent. "We thought the best per- son to do this evaluation would be somebody who's seen her, has some historical relationship with her, some- body who understands her functioning in the days after the incident," Cotton said. Bohren then appointed a second doctor, Brooke Lundbohm, who has worked with Geyser in the past, to work on the report as well. The report is to be complet- ed in 45 days. Geyser has been held at the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center and the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for more than two years since her arrest. August 26, 2016 • Milwaukee County Post • 3 Michael Sears/Pool photo Morgan Geyser is led into court by a sheriff's deputy for a hearing Aug. 19. Geyser, accused with Anissa Weier of attacking a classmate to appease the fictional Internet character Slender Man, is planning to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, her attorneys announced Aug. 19. Suspect in Slender Man case to plead insanity PACKARD PLAZA MALL - In Cudahy 5656 S. 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