WAUKESHA, Wis. (CN) — A young woman who was institutionalized at 12 years old for a bloody and headline-grabbing attack on her friend was granted conditional release on Thursday.
Morgan Geyser, 22, has been incarcerated at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for a decade for her part in the premeditated stabbing of her friend, Payton Leutner. The bloody attack drew global attention at the time, as Geyser originally claimed that a murderous and fictional internet character named Slenderman had told her to do it.
In court Thursday, Geyser wore street clothes. She was partially unshackled at her attorney’s request. Judge Michael Bohren presided over the hearing, as he did over her last attempt at conditional release as well as the original hearings.
Weighing Geyser’s hope for freedom against public safety, Bohren said he was “satisfied that Miss Geyser no longer poses a significant threat to herself or to the community.”
“She seems to have a lot of potential,” he said. “I will grant [her] petition for conditional release.”
After more than five hours in the courtroom, which included detailed testimony regarding her mental state, Geyser’s mouth dropped open at the judge’s ruling.
Afterward, her attorney, Anthony Cotton, said that she was in disbelief at the prospect of her freedom.
“I’ve been on this case since the beginning. She’s like a second daughter to me,” Cotton said after the hearing adjourned. “I’ve watched her progress over the last 10 years, and I think she is going to be a good person and she’s going to thrive.”
Geyser and the co-defendant, Anissa Weier, planned to murder their friend for months in advance, court records state. They attacked Leutner in the woods near Geyser’s home after the three friends — all 12 years old at the time — had a sleepover for Geyser’s birthday.
After leaving Leutner bleeding in the woods, the two friends went to a nearby Walmart to wash away her blood and fill their water bottles. They then began a 300-mile hike to the woods where they believed Slenderman lived. The two later told police that Slenderman would kill them and their families if they did not kill Leutner.
Leutner miraculously survived the attack but required several invasive surgeries and a week in the hospital before returning to school. The victim’s family chose not to appear in court on Thursday but asked that the state communicate to the judge that they did not support Geyser’s release.
In his remarks, Assistant District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz argued the brutality of the crime was clear and convincing evidence that Geyser still poses a danger.
To guide the court’s decision making, three doctors familiar with the case were asked to assess Geyser’s previous and current mental state and standing at the Winnebago facility. Their reports unanimously support Geyser’s release, despite having serious doubts just six months ago.
Dr. Brooke Lundbohm, the state’s only witness in Thursday’s hearing, said that growing family bonds, better understanding of her own mental condition and reasonable goals for the future all make her a strong candidate for reintegration with the community.
In fact, Lundbohm added, it might be more dangerous for Geyser to remain institutionalized. “She was institutionalized at 12 years old, and she hasn’t learned many of the lessons required to be an autonomous adult,” Lundbohm explained. “Continued institutionalization poses a risk that she will ever be reintegrated.”
Kenneth Robbins, a consultant for the Winnebago facility who testified for the defense, agreed with that assessment, describing Geyser’s adolescence as “bizarre.”
Geyser’s current therapist, Lisa Portmann, described her as being outgoing, engaging, supporting and inquisitive in group therapy and honest and vulnerable in individual sessions. “She comes in ready to work every session, and we do work hard.”
This was Geyser’s fourth bid at release from the Winnebago facility — but only the second to make it to a hearing. Geyser decided to go to a hearing last April against her doctors’ recommendations to learn more about what her physicians and the court felt she could do to improve herself for the community, according to Dr. Deborah Collins, one of the physicians who compiled a report for the hearing.
Geyser and Weier were both tried as adults in 2014. Both accepted plea deals from the state to avoid trial. Geyser was sentenced to 40 years at the Winnebago facility, while Weier received 25 years. Weier filed for and was granted conditional release to her father’s custody in 2017.
In the coming weeks, the state will create a conditional release plan to best meet Geyser’s physical and psychological needs for ongoing treatment in a group home. She is remanded to the Winnebago facility until that plan is approved by the judge.
“Winnebago can only take a person so far, and then the next step in their rehabilitation is to enter the community under close watch of the state,” Bohren said in his decision on Thursday. “She is able to walk around there and have supervised outings, but to be rehabilitated, she has to be able to grow up.”