Teenager is arraigned in Primm death

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, July 15, 1997 | 2:19 a.m.

JEAN -- Los Angeles attorney Leslie Abramson and Las Vegas attorney Richard Wright will represent a teenager accused of raping and killing a 7-year-old girl at the Primm Valley hotel-casino.

Justice of the Peace Janet Smith today approved the two attorneys to represent 18-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer of Long Beach., Calif.

A preliminary hearing date was not set at today's arraignment because Wright said he doesn't have enough information yet on the case and doesn't know what Abramson's schedule is.

Smith responded: "If you are expecting that this court is going to continue this matter for an out-of-state counsel's convenience, it won't."

Smith said she will decide next week if Strohmeyer's preliminary hearing will be July 30 as previously planned.

She asked District Attorney Stewart Bell and Wright to return in a week along with Assistant District Attorney Charles Thompson and Metro Police homicide Sgt. Bill Keeton to answer claims that they've been talking too much to the media.

Smith previously issued a partial gag order in the case, preventing officials from talking about specifics of the investigation.

Wright asked the court to sanction Thompson and Keeton. Also, Wright said he's "baffled that the district attorney has no ability to rein in these police officers."

Bell, in response, accused Wright of displaying "histrionics" in trying to delay the case.

Wright, however, said he was trying "to present a fair and impartial trial" for Strohmeyer. He accused police and the district attorney's office of trying the case in the media.

"I am the only person gagged in this case," Wright said. "The police say what they want. Mr. Bell says what he wants. I am the only one not talking to the media, at the detriment of my client."

Strohmeyer is accused of kidnapping, raping and strangling Sherrice Iverson on May 25 in a restroom near the video arcade at the Primm Valley hotel-casino, formerly called Primadonna, at the Nevada-California border, 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Police say Strohmeyer appears to be the man seen on a surveillance camera following the girl into a women's restroom.

If the defense isn't ready by July 30, Bell, who is the lead prosecutor in the case, said the district attorney's office is prepared to have it go to a grand jury, which Smith tentatively set for July 31.