Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1997 | 10:12 a.m.
A purported technical violation in a grand jury hearing is being touted as a reason to dismiss murder charges against a Long Beach teenager in the rape and slaying of a 7-year-old girl at a Primm casino.
In court documents filed Monday, the attorneys for 18-year-old Jeremy Stohmeyer complained that prosecutors violated state law by letting the attorney for a key witness appear with him in the July grand jury proceedings.
The key witness was Strohmeyer's buddy at the Primm Valley hotel-casino, David Cash Jr., who told the grand jurors that he saw the defendant struggling with the girl in a stall in a women's restroom.
The Los Angeles girl, Sherrice Iverson, was sexually assaulted and strangled in the late-night incident at the casino on the California border, 50 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
The result of the grand jury session was the Aug. 1 indictment of Strohmeyer on charges that could result in the death penalty should he be convicted of first-degree murder.
In the court documents filed by attorney Karen Winckler, prosecutors are alleged to have "violated the secrecy of the Strohmeyer grand jury by allowing counsel for Cash to be present."
Winckler, law partner with Strohmeyer's trial attorney Richard Wright, said that grand jury witnesses may only have an attorney present if they are a target of the grand jury proceeding.
The court motion notes that prosecutors admitted to the grand jury that insufficient evidence exists to charge Cash with criminal charges for his role in the Memorial Day incident.
"The secrecy of the grand jury is the cornerstone of our justice system," the defense attorney stated. "No violation of this grand jury procedure can be tolerated. This violation must result in a dismissal of the indictment."
Winkler stated that secrecy is necessary to prevent the flight of a suspect, to prevent witness tampering and to minimize the impact on a potential target who the jury chooses not to indict.
The secrecy issue was the only one raised by the defense team in the motion that was filed on the deadline date District Judge Don Chairez set for the filing of motions challenging the sufficiency of the evidence used to indict Strohmeyer.
The next issue will be the defense team's bid to exclude Strohmeyer's alleged confession from being used at the April 20 trial. Police said that confession gives grisly details of the attack and Iverson's death.
Chairez already has rejected a bid to kick out the death penalty as a possible punishment for the teenager because of purportedly prejudicial statements made by prosecutors in violation of a now-defunct gag order.
Strohmeyer has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder charges that resulted from the May 25 incident.
A security videotape showing a 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.
At the grand jury proceedings, Cash identified Strohmeyer as the one on the videotape. The witness said Strohmeyer and Iverson had been playfully throwing wet pieces of paper at each other, but when the girl threw a small "wet floor" sign at the teenager, his mood turned angry.
After the girl was killed, the boys and Cash's father drove to Las Vegas for a brief vacation.
Iverson, her father and her 14-year-brother had been headed back to their Los Angeles home after a Las Vegas visit.
They had stopped at the state-line casino so the father could gamble while the youngsters played video games, as they had done on previous trips.
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