On September 15, a jury in the state of Wisconsin found Anissa Weier not guilty, determining that she had been mentally ill at the time of the attack. Weier was one of the two participants in the alleged stabbing and attempted murder of a fellow student back in May 2014.

Andrew Garcia, 12, who is currently taking AP Government and has a better understanding of the law, believes otherwise.  

“I am really confused as to why they would do that,” Garcia said, “because, they are just so young.”

On May 31, 2014 , Weier and Morgan Geyser, her accomplice, lead fellow student Payton Leutner into a wooded area and proceeded to stab her multiple times. The defendants claimed they did it to become followers of Slender Man, an internet horror figure, in order to protect their families from his wrath. The victim was stabbed 19 times and left for dead in the woods while the two girls fled the scene. Leutner was later found by a passing cyclist after she crawled from the woods onto a nearby road.

Downey High’s ASB president, Valeria Corral, 12, gave her opinion on the matter.

“That is very scary to think teens would even try to do that,” Corral said.“She’s a very lucky girl, and those who did try to kill her should face serious charges.”

Weier had pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional homicide in a deal with the prosecutors back in August; however, Weier claimed that she was mentally ill at the time of the stabbing and was not responsible for her actions. Her attorney stated that Weier had grown depressed and lonely after her parents divorced.  

Hector Palma, 12, who believes that all criminals, regardless of age, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, thinks that Weier got off easy.

“I think that’s unjust because they knew what they were doing,” Palma said. “They could have chosen not to do it.”

Weier, along with Geyser, became obsessed with SlenderMan and developed a condition called shared delusional disorder, which means that two or more people share the same delusions over an object or figure. The jury found Weier to be not guilty, and has instead sentenced her to a minimum of three years in a mental hospital for recovery. As for Geyser, she has pleaded not guilty due to mental illness, and awaits trial beginning Oct. 9.