Strohmeyer now blames Iverson murder on buddy Cash

Bill Gang

Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 | 11:31 a.m.

Although Jeremy Strohmeyer pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl in a Primm casino restroom, newly filed court documents seeking to set aside that plea allege that he didn't do it.

The documents contend that Strohmeyer's buddy, David Cash Jr., was the one responsible for the death of Sherrice Iverson on May 25, 1997, although security videotapes at the Primm Valley hotel-casino would refute the claim.

Documents in the current challenge, filed by Strohmeyer's New York lawyers Thursday, claim that the victim's father, Leroy Iverson, bumped into Cash -- not Strohmeyer -- coming out of the women's restroom where Sherrice Iverson's body was found.

In the court challenge, Strohmeyer stated that he would not have pleaded guilty had he known of Leroy Iverson's account.

District Attorney Stewart Bell today said that surveillance videos show that Strohmeyer and Cash had already left the casino before Leroy Iverson ever showed up at the area by the restrooms.

Bell said Iverson actually bumped into a 13- or 14-year-old boy from Nipton, Calif., who was leaving the men's room adjacent to the women's room.

The boy was pointed out by Iverson to security officers, Bell continued.

"He was interviewed and determined not to have been involved," he said.

Strohmeyer's attorneys are seeking an evidentiary hearing in hopes that Iverson's account will convince District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to toss out the guilty plea and let the defendant stand trial -- even though that would mean risking the possibility of the death penalty.

Bell said his office will present that information in a court brief, but he declined to speculate whether an evidentiary hearing should be arranged.

A Feb. 1 hearing has been scheduled over the issues raised by Strohmeyer and his lawyers.

Strohmeyer already has claimed that he was "bullied" into pleading guilty -- with the requirement that he spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole -- by his prominent Los Angeles attorney Leslie Abramson.

In addition to the video evidence that Cash and Strohmeyer had left the Primm resort before Iverson ever started looking for his daughter, there is other video evidence that links the 21-year-old with the slaying.

There are videotapes showing that Strohmeyer was in the restroom with Iverson for 25 minutes. While Cash had followed them inside, he emerged after less than two minutes.

Cash milled around outside, but once Strohmeyer emerged the videos show they left the casino.

The current court challenge does not address the video evidence, nor the DNA evidence linking Strohmeyer to a cigarette found in the restroom.

Although Cash did not come forward until police were closing in on him and Strohmeyer based on the surveillance evidence, he told how he witnessed part of the attack on the girl but left before the fatal events.

He told authorities that Strohmeyer admitted to him as they walked out of the resort that he had killed the youngster.