Anissa E. Weier is led into a Waukesha County courtroom Thursday for a hearing on whether she is competent to stand trial on accusations she tried to stab a classmate to death. Bohren said he thought Casimir's report was credible and deemed the girl competent to stand trial. Credit: Michael Sears 
 
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 Waukesha — Two middle school girls charged with trying to kill a classmate to gain favor with Slender Man, a fictional Internet character, were ruled competent Thursday to face their prosecution. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren found Anissa Weier, 13, competent after a three-hour hearing Thursday morning at which mental health experts offered differing conclusions on that issue. But at the start of the hearing, attorney Anthony Cotton announced that her defense team was dropping its objection to the finding by state psychiatrist Kenneth Casimir, and would agree that she is now competent to proceed. The judge set a joint preliminary hearing, the point in the legal process where he will have to decide whether enough evidence exists to proceed to trial, for February. Prosecutors have charged both girls with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the attack in May in Waukesha, a city of 71,000 about 15 miles west of Milwaukee. One was a psychiatrist appointed by the court who said he believed Weier, whom he found extremely intelligent, was competent. One of the psychologists, Michael Caldwell, was concerned that Weier didn't have a meaningful understanding of time frames, including the fact she could go to prison far longer than she has been alive. The Slender Man stabbing 
 
 Geyser and Weier are charged as adults in the May stabbing of Payton Leutner in a Waukesha park after a sleepover to celebrate Geyer's birthday. The pair told investigators they were trying to gain the favor of Slender Man, a fictional online character. The Associated Press isn't naming either defendant because their attorneys have said they may still try to move their cases into juvenile court, where proceedings are secret. The judge ordered the other girl to undergo mental health treatment in August after a psychologist testified that she claimed to see and hear unicorns, Slender Man and Lord Voldemort, the villain from the "Harry Potter" series.
– Two Wisconsin girls who allegedly stabbed a classmate 19 times to please the "Slender Man" fictional online character are competent to stand trial, a judge has decided. Both girls, who were 12 when they allegedly tried to kill another 12-year-old girl after a sleepover, have been charged as adults. Morgan Geyser, who is still 12, was ruled incompetent in August after a psychologist testified that she was delusional, but at a hearing yesterday, her lawyer decided not to dispute a state psychiatrist's finding that she is now fit for trial, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The attorney told the judge that Geyser is being treated for schizophrenia. In a separate hearing, Anissa Weier, now 13, was also deemed competent after the judge decided that "issues of age and maturity do not override her competency," the AP reports. Psychologists who testified for the defense argued that although she is intelligent and articulate, she has trouble making decisions and understanding issues like the risk of turning down a plea bargain. Lawyers for both girls are trying to have the case moved to juvenile court. The judge decided to allow Geyser to remain at the mental health institute where she has been for months after her lawyer argued that returning her to the juvenile detention facility where Weier is still being held could lead to her becoming unfit for trial again. (The sinister Slender Man character was created by an online forum user in 2009.)