One of the two girls involved in the “Slender Man” stabbing was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in a mental hospital, the maximum punishment she could have received, AP reported.
In September, a jury found Anissa Weier, 16, not guilty of attempted second-degree intentional homicide and that she wasn’t responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill. Her 25-year sentence is retroactive to the date of the crime, meaning she will be institutionalized until she is 37.
When they were 12, Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend to a wooded area in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier encouraged her, investigators said. Leutner survived.
Weier and Geyser, who were tried as adults, said the fictional Internet horror figure Slender Man ordered them to kill Leutner to protect their families.
Before her sentencing, Weier apologized for her actions.
“I do hold myself accountable for this and that I will do whatever I have to do to make sure I don’t get any sort of delusion or whatever again,” Weier told the judge. “I want everybody involved to know I deeply regret everything that happened that day. I know that nothing I say is going to make this right and nothing I say is going to fix what I broke.”
Geyser, the 16-year-old who did the stabbing, also pleaded guilty under the terms that she isn’t criminally responsible due to mental illness. Prosecutors have asked that she receive at least 40 years in a mental hospital. She will be sentenced in February.
H/T NBC Chicago