Strohmeyer Seeks Trial, Says Guilty Plea Was Coerced

Jeremy Strohmeyer, sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl in a Nevada casino restroom, has asked for a trial, claiming that defense attorney Leslie Abramson coerced him into pleading guilty.

In papers filed last week in Las Vegas District Court, the former Long Beach man requested that his guilty plea in the death of Sherrice Iverson be thrown out and that he be allowed to stand trial.

Now 21, Strohmeyer contended in court papers that he would not have pleaded guilty if it weren’t for “scare tactics and appeals to guilt” used by Abramson to bully him into taking a plea bargain he never wanted.

A woman who answered the phone at Abramson’s Los Angeles office said the prominent defense attorney “was not making herself available to discuss the matter.”

Richard Wright, a Las Vegas defense attorney who served as Abramson’s co-counsel in the Strohmeyer case, declined to comment Tuesday on his former client’s request for a trial. He said he spoke Tuesday with Abramson but neither of them has seen Strohmeyer’s petition.

Strohmeyer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Oct. 14, 1998, after pleading guilty to killing Sherrice in a casino restroom in the border town of Primm, Nev., when her father left her unsupervised in a video arcade. Prosecutors said Strohmeyer made three different confessions.

Accounts of Sherrice’s murder shocked the nation, raising grave questions about parental responsibility and the loyalty of friends after it became apparent that Strohmeyer’s best friend witnessed the struggle that led to Sherrice’s death but did not intervene.

Strohmeyer’s petition contends that after his parents paid Abramson a flat fee of $250,000, she concluded that it was financially advantageous to push her client into a resolution rather than spend several weeks in a trial.

Sherrice’s family members reacted with indignation to Strohmeyer’s request.

“He has to lay there and suffer all the consequences for what he did to my child,” said Yolanda Manuel, Sherrice’s mother. If given the chance to address Strohmeyer, Manuel said she would tell him: “You messed up, not the judge, not the attorney Leslie Abramson. You’re wrong, Jeremy Strohmeyer.”

Earlier this fall, Strohmeyer’s parents announced that they were suing Los Angeles County, alleging that social workers withheld information about their adopted son’s biological mother. They asked to be reimbursed for $500,000 in legal fees and an unspecified amount for pain and suffering.

“It’s bad enough that his parents are trying to sue because he’s an adopted child. Now this,” said Patricia Laird, the victim’s aunt. “I’m a parent too. And none of this makes sense.”

John Strohmeyer said he was surprised to learn of his son’s petition. Although he and his wife, Winnie, visit Jeremy regularly, their discussions of legal matters are “light,” he said.

“Only . . . Jeremy can say clearly what has or has not been done to him in regards to the legal system,” he said. “We were financial bystanders. Any parent would do what they could to make sure their child gets the right counsel or best counsel; but what actually went on we weren’t privy to because of attorney-client privilege.”

Winston Kevin McKesson, the attorney for Sherrice Iverson’s father, Leroy, said he didn’t give Strohmeyer’s legal maneuvering much hope of success.

“The courts take great care to ensure that any plea given is knowingly and voluntarily entered into,” he said. “Strohmeyer agreed to plead guilty. To set it aside is very difficult.” Clark County Dist. Atty. Stewart Bell said his office deals with hundreds of similar filings each year from convicted felons who face hard prison time.

“The fact of life is that people get to prison and find it’s not a pleasant place to be,” Bell said. “And when they’re going to be there an awfully long time, like Strohmeyer, it’s not unusual for them to decide they want to see if there’s any way to avoid it.”

Bell said his office was preparing a response to the petition, which has been assigned a Jan. 10 court date.

Strohmeyer’s new attorney, Carmine Colucci of Las Vegas, did not return phone calls to his office Tuesday.