Testimony of girl’s father may stall Strohmeyer bid for new trial

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

The potentially dynamite testimony from the ailing father of murder victim Sherrice Iverson fizzled -- and so may have Jeremy Strohmeyer's claim that he should be able to withdraw his guilty plea because the prosecution withheld vital evidence.

LeRoy Iverson gave unsworn testimony during a telephone hookup Tuesday to District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom regarding reports that he bumped into Strohmeyer's friend, David Cash, before his daughter's body was found in a Primm casino restroom in 1997.

"I don't know David Cash," LeRoy Iverson said in one of his few answers that could be understood. Iverson spoke quickly and with a deep Southern drawl, prompting Strohmeyer's attorney, Camille Abate, to ask him to repeat many of his answers.

Asked whether Cash bumped into him outside the restroom, Iverson responded: "He did not."

Defense attorneys had hoped that Iverson's testimony would show that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and that someone other than Strohmeyer was in the restroom and could have raped and killed the 7-year-old girl.

The defense, entitled to all evidence that might cast doubts on Strohmeyer's guilt, said it was never told of Iverson's claim of having encountered Cash. Withholding such information prevented Strohmeyer from making an informed decision on his chances at a trial, the defense contends.

Sixteen months after the slaying, Strohmeyer pleaded guilty to murder, sexual assault and kidnapping and is in prison for life without the possibility of parole. He is seeking a new trial.

Iverson, who is suffering from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and heart problems, could not come to Las Vegas from California for Tuesday's hearing. As a result, Bonaventure allowed Iverson to say what he knew in a phone call.

At one point Iverson called New York attorney Abate a "Yankee" and said she had lied to him -- about what, was not clear. At one point Iverson asked her where his $9,000 in compensation for his dead daughter was.

"If I give you $9,000, will you tell the truth?" Abate asked. She received no reply.

Earlier Strohmeyer's former attorney, Leslie Abramson, testified that she was aware of Iverson's alleged statement about Cash but said, "I looked at the (security) videotapes and (saw) no one running out of the ladies room bumping into him (Iverson)."