Strohmeyer pleads not guilty; April trial set

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997 | 10:27 a.m.

Jeremy Strohmeyer, sporting a new spiked haircut, pleaded not guilty today to charges of raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl in a Primm hotel-casino restroom.

District Judge Don Chairez set an April 20 trial date after defense attorneys complained that their schedules before then were full and they also couldn't complete their investigations in time for the speedy trial prosecutors sought.

"There are many mysteries in this case that need solution ... not the least of which is the mystery of my client," said Strohmeyer's Los Angeles attorney, Leslie Abramson.

The defense lawyers have said they are seeking the adopted 18-year-old's birth parents and are "close" to finding them.

That may indicate the defense hopes to use fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal drug syndrome as explanations for Strohmeyer's behavioral problems leading to the early-morning May 25 killing at the Primm Valley hotel-casino at the California-Nevada border.

In addition to a trial date, Chairez also set strict guidelines for the defense to file legal challenges to the grand jury indictment of the teen.

The intent, the judge said, is to ensure that there are no last-minute issues that will force a delay in the high-profile trial.

There also will be monthly status checks, and Abramson asked if Strohmeyer can appear at all the hearings in civilian clothes and without the belly chains and shackles that jail inmates routinely wear.

Abramson said Strohmeyer poses no security risk and argued that news coverage of the proceedings would taint the jury pool if he is forced to appear in jail garb and chains.

Chairez postponed a decision on that issue.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Strohmeyer over the death of Sherrice Iverson, who was sexually assaulted and killed after she was followed into a restroom near the video arcade at the resort.

A security videotape showing the body-pierced attacker was broadcast on Los Angeles television stations and led to Strohmeyer's arrest at his parents' Long Beach home just days later.

Police contend that in addition to admitting to friends that he killed the girl, Strohmeyer gave a confession to homicide detectives detailing the act.

Her father had stopped at the Primm casino to gamble while she and her 14-year-old brother played video games.