WAUKESHA, Wis (WSAU-Wheeler News) Two Waukesha girls will finally have preliminary hearings in court today, eight-and-a-half months after adult felony charges were filed in their attempted homicide case. Twelve-year-old Morgan Geyser and 13-year-old Anissa Weier are accused of stabbing fellow middle-school classmate Peyton Leutner 19 times at a sleep-over last May. The defendants told authorities they acted in allegiance to the fictional online horror character Slender Man.
Mental competency hearings and treatments have delayed the court proceedings. Normally, preliminary hearings for felony suspects only require a law enforcement officer to provide indirect investigative testimony, to show probable cause that a crime was committed. However, prosecutors are held to a more exact standard when the defendants are juveniles. They need to show more proof that the youngsters actually committed the crimes for which they’re accused. As a result, the state expects to introduce four witnesses today. Any defense witnesses will be heard tomorrow before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren decides if there’s enough evidence to order trials against the two youngsters. After that, defense lawyers are expected to try and move the defendants to juvenile court. The victim returned to school last fall.
