Killer's Parents Sue County

They adopted him when he was a toddler, but now they say they would not have taken him in if they'd been told the truth about him, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker.

John and Winnie Strohmeyer wept in court a year ago when their adopted son Jeremy was sentenced to life for killing 7-year old Sherrice Iverson in a Nevada casino. Surveillance video showed him follow the girl into a restroom, where he molested and strangled her.

But his parents are now headed back to court, claiming the Los Angeles County adoption agency deceived them by withholding vital information about the mental health of their son's birth mother. They're seeking more than $50,000 in compensatory damages along with unspecified punitive damages.

The Strohmeyers told CBS News Correspondent Russ Mitchell that they were never told Jeremy's birth mother was schizophrenic. Would they have adopted Jeremy if they had known his mother's history?

"We filled out an application with the county. Our agreement with them was that we would not take any child with a background of mental illness or mental retardation. So, consequently, Jeremy would have never been presented to us as a matched adoptee," said Winnie Strohmeyer.

John said that if they had this information, the murder could have been prevented.

Jeremy Strohmeyer

Their attorney, Gregory W. Smith, says the Strohmeyers want to really shake up the system.

"They want to ensure that any parents that adopt children in the future will have access to medical records so that the parents can prepare and do what is necessary to make sure these children grow up well adjusted," he said.

Some might say that by focusing on the adoption, this may take away any blame that the Strohmeyers feel as parents.

"Unless you have a child, you realize that the first person you really blame is yourself. Parents are probably the worst critics of themselves and their behavior and how they bring their children up. You continually whip yourself psychologically and really task yourself to understand where you went wrong. We're still trying to find out what went wrong," Winnie Strohmeyer said.

She said that they visit Jeremy every other week and that he supports what they are doing.

"Jeremy felt that this is the ight thing to do because as an adoptee, he felt that we were all somewhat left without the right and vital information. We would have seen a lot of different professionals because we would have anticipated and known there were going to be problems," she said.

It seems in this tragedy, there's plenty of blame to go around.