Wisconsin court: Teens in Slender Man case should be tried as adults

July 27 (Reuters) - A Wisconsin appeals court ruled on Wednesday that two teenage girls should be tried as adults on charges they attempted to kill a classmate by stabbing her repeatedly to please a fictional Internet character named Slender Man.

The girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, have been in custody since they were charged with attempted first-degree homicide in the May 2014 attack in Waukesha, a suburb of Milwaukee.

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All three girls were 12 years old at the time of the stabbing. Weier and Geyser are now 14, according to Wisconsin media.

In a pair of rulings, the 2nd District Court of Appeals determined that the Waukesha County Circuit Court "properly exercised its discretion given the facts presented and made a decision a reasonable judge could make."

The girls can appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

An attorney for Weier could not be immediately reached for comment on the ruling. Geyser's lawyer was not taking any calls from the media.

See photos from the case

The girls' lawyers had argued that they were mentally ill when they stabbed their classmate. A judge ruled Weier and Geyser both were competent to stand trial. Health experts testified that Geyer suffers from schizophrenia, but has refused to take medication. Weier was diagnosed with a delusional disorder that made her believe in Slender Man.

Prosecutors have said the girls lured the classmate into the woods and stabbed her 19 times to impress Slender Man, a fictional supernatural Internet character depicted in stories as stalking and tormenting humans, especially children. The victim survived.

Weier and Geyser could each be sentenced to up to 65 years in prison if convicted as adults. They could be held until the age of 25 if convicted as juveniles.

Wisconsin law requires cases to begin in adult court if they involve juvenile suspects at least 10 years old who are charged with first-degree attempted intentional homicide. (Reporting by Justin Madden in Chicago; editing by Grant McCool)