Nevada’s ‘Sherrice Iverson’ bill OK’d by Assembly panel

Kiley Russell

Thursday, April 8, 1999 | 4:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's "Sherrice Iverson" bill, requiring people to tell police if they know a child is being violently or sexually abused, won Assembly Judiciary Committee approval Thursday.

AB267, inspired by the 7-year-old's rape and murder in a casino bathroom, would impose six-month jail terms on anyone 16 or older who doesn't tell police after learning of such abuse.

Witnesses who don't act as "Good Samaritans" and alert police as soon as possible about such crimes also could face civil lawsuits.

The original bill would have eliminated attorney-client, doctor-patient, reporter-source and husband-wife legal privileges in cases where people had a reasonable belief that someone younger than 18 was being abused.

But that wording was deleted because of constitutional concerns raised by public defenders and defense lawyers.

Left in the bill were exemptions for blood relatives and anyone related by marriage, despite concerns that such exemptions effectively gut the bill.

"Why would we be doing that? I think in a lot of situations they should be the ones who know about these things and should report them," said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko.

"If something was happening to my grandchild and I didn't report it, I think that's a pretty bad deal the way I see it," Carpenter added.

There was also some concern that the bill unfairly targets minors who may not understand how to handle themselves in such situations. But Carpenter questioned the logic of leaving 16- and 17-year-olds out of the bill.

"I think it's the responsibility of the minors to report these things. The more people we cut from this law, the less effective it's going to be," he said.

Assemblyman Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, a police officer, introduced the bill two years after Sherrice Iverson was raped and strangled in a Primm casino bathroom by Jeremy Strohmeyer, who ultimately was sentenced to life in prison.

Strohmeyer's friend, UC-Berkeley student David Cash, was criticized because he saw the start of the attack but didn't report it. He also wasn't prosecuted, because Nevada doesn't have a law requiring him to do inform police.

While the bill won unanimous committee approval, Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, questioned its effectiveness.

"The people who will be prosecuted for this will have to incriminate themselves," she said. "There's no way we can know if someone witnesses something unless they tell us."