Doctors differ on preteen suspect’s mental state

Published 9:51 am Wednesday, October 22, 2014

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Doctors disagree over whether the second of two 12-year-old girls charged with stabbing a classmate to please the fictional horror character Slender Man is fit to stand trial, a judge and attorneys said Wednesday.

A state psychiatrist filed a report saying he found the girl mentally capable of helping with her defense, but defense attorney Joseph Smith Jr. questioned the state doctor’s qualifications and said he had a report from another doctor who disagreed.

Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren scheduled another hearing for Dec. 18 because the state’s doctor was not in court to testify Wednesday. Both sides are expected to call witnesses to testify then.

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Prosecutors say the two girls plotted for months to kill their classmate before luring the child to a wooded park after a sleepover in Waukesha, west of Milwaukee, and stabbing her 19 times. Payton Leutner survived by crawling from the woods to a sidewalk where a bicyclist found her and called 911.

Wisconsin law requires suspects who are at least 10 years old to be charged as adults in severe crimes. Attorneys for the girls arrested in the stabbing have said they will try to get their clients’ cases moved back to juvenile court. The Associated Press is not naming the girls while their cases could still be moved.