Teen Pleads Guilty To Casino Killing

Minutes before his trial was to begin, Jeremy Strohmeyer pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and sexual assault for killing a 7-year-old girl in a casino restroom stall. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

Strohmeyer, 19, appearing clean-cut, standing with his hands folded and his head bowed most of the time, said he kidnapped, molested and killed Sherrice Iverson on May 27, 1997, in what was then the Prima Donna Casino in Stateline, Nev.

"Did you kill Sherrice Iverson with premeditation and deliberation?" Clark County Superior Court Judge Myron Leavitt asked.

"Yes, sir," Strohmeyer said.

Strohmeyer also pleaded guilty to attempting to sexually assaulting and attempting to kidnap the girl.

Leavitt asked several times if Strohmeyer understood the consequences of his plea, that he would never be released from prison. The defendant said he did.

Strohmeyer faced the death penalty if convicted, although during jury selection, several jurors said they would be reluctant to impose the death penalty.

Strohmeyer said he had talked his decision over with his parents and attorneys and decided to change his previous innocent plea.

Leavitt accepted the pleas and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 14.

The prosecution contended Strohmeyer is a killer who hoarded pornography and admitted fantasizing about sex with young girls.

Strohmeyer's defense, on the other hand, has protrayed the former high school honors student as a troubled youth whose father is in prison and whose biological mother is in a mental hospital.

The case has drawn national attention by focusing on the safety of children in casinos and on the fact that Strohmeyer's friend, David Cash Jr., said he saw the crime in progress but did nothing to stop it.

Cash told investigators he entered the restroom and found Strohmeyer holding the child in a stall and muffling her screams. Cash said he told Strohmeyer to let the girl go and then left the restroom.

When the teens met up a short time later, Strohmeyer told Cash he had killed Sherrice, authorities said. The Los Angeles girl had been left in the casino arcade with her older brother while their father, LeRoy Iverson, gambled in the casino.

Three times, security guards said they found the girl alone and told her father to come get her. Video surveillance cameras captured Sherrice meeting Strohmeyer and Cash in the arcade and much of what followed.

Last week, prosecutors alleged that 30 hours before he allegedly molested and strangled the girl, Strohmeyer admitted in an Internet chat room that "I fantasize about having sex with 5- and 6-year-old girls all the time."

Defense attorney Leslie Abramson said prosecutors could not prove the message came from her client. The defense also is expected to argue that hundreds of pornographic pictures found on Strohmeyer's computer were sent to him unsoicited.

Jurors faced lengthy questions about their feelings on the death penalty, racism, and adoption. Strohmeyer was adopted when he was young. He is white and the victim is black.

Cash has not been charged because Nevada has no "Good Samaritan" law dictating that a person witnessing a crime must take action to stop it.