Protest Follows Accused Accomplice

A busload of Los Angeles protesters intent on making a pariah out of David Cash called on his fellow UC Berkeley students Wednesday to turn Cash’s life into “a living hell”--only to find a more measured response from the students who watched the demonstration.

Cash, a Cal sophomore majoring in nuclear engineering, has been something of a national symbol of moral indifference since The Times last month described his refusal to tell police that his friend, alleged Nevada casino child killer Jeremy Strohmeyer of Long Beach, confessed to him.

Shouting “Expel him!” the 75 out-of-town demonstrators--the majority bused to the university by two Los Angeles radio talk-show hosts--raised a thicket of placards with inscriptions such “We are here because you--David Cash--showed no remorse, no regret to the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.”

Authorities say that Strohmeyer killed Sherrice Iverson in the restroom of a casino arcade in the predawn hours in May 1997. The girl had been left in the arcade by her father, who was on a gambling trip.

The demonstrators passed out leaflets with Cash’s smiling photo and encouraged about 400 milling lunch-hour students in Sproul Plaza to reject him, shun him or even spit in his face.

“Wherever you are, we are, David Cash. You’re not going to rest,” vowed Felicia Deshone, a Compton activist. “We are going to make his life a living hell. Everywhere he turns, he’ll see Sherrice.”

While a few students carried placards, most simply watched the latest episode of a drama that was already the talk of the campus.

Many said they were sickened and outraged by Cash’s much-publicized statement to The Times that his notoriety had helped him get dates, that his sympathies were with jailed friend Strohmeyer and that he was not going to “lose sleep over somebody’s problems”--a reference to Sherrice’s death.

“He feels sorry for his friend but no remorse--nothing--for the girl and her family,” said Tammy Holmes, 24, a junior. “He thought a little girl getting strangled was her problem and he wasn’t compelled to do or say anything. And that stuff about scoring with women--he’s obviously a very sick person.”

Other students said they agreed, but weren’t sure that Cash ought to be branded an enemy of the people.

“Everybody knows about him and hates him. The whole thing really disturbs me,” said freshman Jessica Borelli. “But I don’t agree with the scarlet-letter principle. Because he made a mistake I don’t think we should maim his whole stay here.”

Cash told The Times that he saw Strohmeyer force Sherrice into a restroom stall and saw her struggle to free herself, but did not witness the molestation or murder. He said despite Strohmeyer’s confession, he did not turn in his friend because he didn’t want to deprive him of “his last day, his last night of freedom.”

Nevada authorities have not charged Cash with a crime, saying he broke no law. UC officials have said there are no grounds to expel Cash since he has not been criminally charged or violated any student-conduct laws.

As the midday sun beat down on Sproul Plaza, an angry young man argued heatedly with a resolute-looking young female student holding a sign calling for Cash to be expelled.

“He was never charged!” said the tattooed young man.

“He should have been charged,” the protesting student retorted.

Senior Adrian Guzman, a sociology major from the impoverished Pico-Union district west of downtown Los Angeles, saw Cash as an example of how the UC admissions system relies too heavily on grades and SAT scores in the post-affirmative action era.

“Those numbers are very arbitrary and overlook many character qualities the university claims it wants in its students,” said Guzman, the son of a Mexican immigrant single mother who supported her children as a maid.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Las Vegas in the sexual assault and strangulation case against Strohmeyer, 19.

Sherrice’s mother, Yolanda Manuel, told the demonstrators she wants Cash expelled. And Marc Klaas, the father of 12-year-old kidnap-murder victim Polly Klaas, was among the demonstrators who circulated petitions urging Nevada to charge Cash and adopt a law that would make it a crime to witness a sexual attack on a minor and not report it.

“David could have stopped my baby being killed, and what did he do?” Manuel said in a voice choked with tears. “We will get justice.”

Some students were troubled by what freshman Rachel Mullis, 17, described as “this whole mob mentality. I think a lot of people are like, ‘Let’s kick the s--- out of him . . . But if the protest sends a message to Nevada to change their laws, it’s a good thing.”

Jason Insalacio, a producer of the KLSX-FM show that organized the protest, said marchers deliberately refrained from doing anything to provoke a confrontation.

“We did not want to harass or physically hurt David Cash,” Insalacio said.

But some, like Sam Castaneda, a longtime university administrator, found the mood “pretty lynch mob.” He said the crowd was “huge for us, much larger than our usual protest size. I’ve never seen such interest from staff and students.”

Students said Cash was already being ostracized at his dorm a few blocks away. A university spokesman said Cash was recently confronted at a fraternity party by an angry fraternity member who ordered him to leave and, with several other fraternity brothers, chased Cash home. “It scared him,” the spokesman said.

A young man who answered Cash’s phone Wednesday said he was there, but hung up when he realized the caller was a reporter. In an electronic mail message to the San Francisco Chronicle, Cash said he was “completely ignorant” of the circumstances of the slaying. “Most people seem to be under the impression that I was in a position to stop the heinous crime,” the newspaper quoted Cash in a story published Wednesday. “I did not witness the alleged molestation and murder.”

An in-depth report on Jeremy Strohmeyer and the killing of Sherrice Iverson is on The Times’ Web site. Go to: https://www.latimes.com/jeremy

* SHAWN HUBLER: The case of David Cash has unleashed a carnival of protests. B1