WAUKESHA, Wis. — Questions arise about why the second so-called Slender Man defendant is allowed out of a mental health facility. On Thursday, a Waukesha County judge decided to release Morgan Geyser to a group home.
This comes after she was originally given a 40-year commitment to a mental health facility. Legal experts say a commitment is not the same as a prison sentence.
Morgan Geyser was found "not guilty due to mental disease or defect" for nearly stabbing her friend to death in 2014. She was committed to a mental health facility.
Those exact words are why a legal expert says Morgan's case looks much different from most criminal cases.
“To me, in order for someone to really be rehabilitated, they have to be in the community somehow,” said Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren.
When Geyser stabbed her classmate Payton Leutner 19 times, doctors say she was hearing voices and couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake. That eventually led Geyser to be placed in a mental health facility.
In this May 31, 2014 file photo, rescue workers take 12-year-old stabbing victim Payton Leutner to an ambulance in Waukesha, Wis. A Wisconsin state appeals court ruled July 27, 2016, that the two girls accused of trying to kill Leutner in an attempt to please the fictional horror character Slender Man should be tried as adults. The 2nd District Appeals court, in a pair of rulings, affirmed a lower court's determination that it was reasonable to try both girls as adults. The girls could appeal the rulings to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Abe Van Dyke)
“When the jury found her not guilty by mental disease or defect she wasn’t technically sentenced, she was committed which is a different terminology,” said Jonathon LaVoy, defense attorney at Kim & LeVoy.
But many people wondered if she was given a 40-year commitment why was Geyser being released.
“When you are committed, you are not assumed to serve the entire time in custody. The goal when you are in a mental health case is for release. The goal is to try to rehabilitate, treat the underlying mental health issue, and get the person back to a point where they are safe to return to the community,” said Leroy.
Watch: Legal expert weighs in on why Morgan Geyser was released after 10 years
On Thursday, we never heard from Geyser, but her attorney read a statement she wrote to a doctor about how she is ready to do that.
“I acknowledge and understand the gravity of my past actions. Nothing will undo what I did to get here. I can only try in the present and future to do better things,” said Anthony Cotton, reading Morgan Geyser’s words.
The state now has 60 days to find a group home for Morgan Geyser and present it to the judge.
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