Leslie Abramson is accused of bullying client Jeremy Strohmeyer into pleady guilty to murder. (Court TV)

Discuss Case on Message Board Background Read Habeas Motion To Set Aside Conviction Video Index Feb. 7 Update Feb. 8 Update Abramson Profile

LAS VEGAS (Court TV) — The murder of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a casino bathroom in 1997 set a new standard for outrage and shock in Nevada, a state built on the gaming industry. The Los Angeles native had been sexually molested and strangled in one of the glitzy, busy casinos the state is known for, and the public wanted swift justice.

They got it, it seemed. Eighteen-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer, a casino patron from Long Beach, Calif., confessed to the murder, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But now, Strohmeyer's sentence is in question. With 18 months in jail behind him and a new team of lawyers on his case, Strohmeyer has changed his mind. He now wants a trial, and on Tuesday he will ask a judge to withdraw his guilty plea and set a trial date.

Strohmeyer, who at his 1998 sentencing blamed everything from the casino to L.A. adoption policies for Sherrice's death, now blames his original attorney, famed defense lawyer Leslie Abramson, and the prosecution for misleading him into entering a guilty plea.

While confident the judge will reject Strohmeyer's motion, the prosecution is livid about the attempt itself. District Attorney Stewart Bell, who took the unusual step of personally prosecuting Strohmeyer in 1998, has ridiculed his claims saying the motion to be heard Tuesday is absurd. Furthermore, Bell wants the new defense attorney fined just for filing it.

"The guilty guy was caught. The evidence was overwhelming. He admitted his guilt. He's been held accountable. That is what justice is all about," Bell protested to the judge last month.

Expected witnesses at the Tuesday hearing are Strohmeyer, his mother, Winifred Strohmeyer, a few homicide detectives and his former Las Vegas attorney Richard Wright. Abramson has been called, but few expect her to show.

Strohmeyer maintains Abramson, primarily a California lawyer, based her trial strategy on a misunderstanding of Nevada law When she realized her mistake just before trial, she panicked and bullied Strohmeyer into a plea deal because she did not want to be shown up at trial, he claims.

His mother is expected to testify that Abramson lied to Strohmeyer and his family about his chances at trial, telling them if he went forward he would certainly be executed. Wright, Abramson's Nevada co-counsel, is expected to tell the judge that she abused Strohmeyer emotionally, shouting at her client that he was guilty and deserved a life sentence.

Anger at David Cash, Jr., who admitted walking into the bathroom at the beginning of Sherrice Iverson's assault, led to a 1999 Nevada law requiring citizens to notify police if they saw a child being harmed.

Strohmeyer's attorneys will also assert that the prosecution hid from the defense a critical witness statement implicating another man, his friend David Cash Jr. who was with him in the casino that night. In the statement Sherrice's father, Leroy Iverson, recalled that as he entered the bathroom to look for his daughter, he bumped into Cash. Casino video contradicts Iverson's recollection, but defense lawyers argue that the very existence of the statement would have swayed Strohmeyer to go to trial.

Cash's role in the case is still controversial. He admitted walking into the bathroom at the beginning of Sherrice's assault, but he told police he left before she was killed. Nevada law at the time of the assault did not require someone witnessing a crime to report it. Anger at Cash, called a "bad samaritan" by some, led to a 1999 Nevada law requiring citizens to notify police if they saw a child being harmed.

—Harriet Ryan

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