One of the two Wisconsin teens accused of stabbing their friend in an attempt to appease the Internet meme known as Slender Man pleaded guilty on Monday to a lesser charge, BuzzFeed News reports.
Anissa Weier, 15, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide after initially facing a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
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In 2014, Weier and her friend Morgan Geyser lured their classmate Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times to appease Slender Man, a horror character created by the Internet. Leutner survived and was able to crawl out of the woods where she was found by a bicyclist. All three girls were 12 at the time.
“I didn’t want to hurt Peyton,” Weier said in court Monday. “I wanted to prove Slender Man existed, but I thought there were other ways.”
The teen said that in the woods, Geyser asked her if she should stab Leutner.
“I wanted it to be over with, so I said ‘Go berserk, do what you have to do,’” Weier said, adding that Geyser then “jumped on top of” Leutner and began stabbing her.
Weier said that she was worried that Geyser and Slender Man would kill her if she did not follow through with the plan to kill Leutner.
“I believed if I didn’t go through with the plan, Slender Man would come and attack and kill myself, my friends, and my family, those that I care about most,” she explained.
Weier is still set to face a trial next month addressing her mental health, and her plea means the trial will focus only on whether she is legally responsible for the crime due to mental illness. If her insanity defense is not accepted, prosecutors are recommending she spend 10 years behind bars with 10 years of extended supervision. If found not guilty, she will spend at least three years in a mental institution.
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