Girls' Lawyers Seek Separate Trials in Slender Man Stabbings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MADISON, Wis. — Oct 18, 2016, 11:45 AM ET

Two Wisconsin girls accused of trying to kill their classmate as a sacrifice to horror character Slender Man want separate trials.

Lawyers for Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser filed motions last week with Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren arguing a joint trial could confuse jurors. Both girls have made statements to investigators implicating the other.

The girls have both pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease to attempted homicide charges in adult court. They're due to appear in court for a status conference on Nov. 11.

Prosecutors say Weier and Geyser lured Payton Leutner into the woods at a park in Waukesha in May 2014 and stabbed her 19 times. Leutner barely survived. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.