The two Wisconsin girls charged with stabbing a schoolmate 19 times to appease the fictional phantasm Slender Man were found competent to stand trial Thursday and were scheduled for an early 2015 court date.
Lawyers for both girls — whom NBC News is not identifying because of their ages, 12 and 13 — had argued that neither was mentally capable of defending herself on adult charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the May attack in Waukesha, near Milwaukee. The lawyers sought to move the case to juvenile court, but Waukesha Circuit Judge Michael Bohren disagreed and ordered a preliminary hearing for Feb. 18.
The 12-year-old victim survived the attack, which investigators said was carried out in homage to "Slender Man," a tall, faceless man in a black suit with black tentacles extending from his back. The character has been a powerful online meme since about 2009.
IN-DEPTH
- Report Finds Slender Man Suspect Competent to Stand Trial
- Slender Man's Seductive Power for Kids: It's in the Brain
- Slender Man: Do Your Kids Know Him, Too?
SOCIAL
— M. Alex Johnson
