Strohmeyer's attorneys fail to delay trial

LAS VEGAS - Attorneys for the teen-ager accused in the sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old girl in a Nevada casino failed to convince a judge to delay next week's trial.

"This case is over 14 months old," District Judge Myron Leavitt said Tuesday. "The state has a right to a speedy trial, too."

Jeremy Strohmeyer, 19, of Long Beach, Calif., is accused of the May 25, 1997, sexual assault and strangulation of Sherrice Iverson in a women's restroom at the Primm Valley Hotel in Primm, 43 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Leavitt also refused to reassign the case to another judge. Defense attorneys suggested the case was not correctly assigned after the original judge, Don Chairez, resigned to run for Congress.

Leavitt, who is running for the Nevada Supreme Court, then inherited the case. Defense attorney Richard Wright argued that the trial should be continued until after the Nov. 3 election because it was a potential conflict of interest for Leavitt.

"It doesn't look right," Wright told the court.

Wright and defense attorney Leslie Abramson also argued that they were not prepared for Monday's trial because of the Nevada Supreme Court's ruling Friday that the jury will be able to see the contents of Strohmeyer's computer. The court reversed an earlier decision by Chairez that the information was not legally admissible.

"We are not stalling," Abramson said during a five-hour hearing. "We've been hit with a very surprising ruling."

The defense said they have not had access to the computer evidence and would need time for their experts to sort through it.

Prosecutors countered that the defense has been given numerous opportunities to look through disks and computer files that apparently contain child pornography and Strohmeyer's correspondence in an Internet chatroom.

Abramson said the presumption was "if people look at certain things, they go out and do violent crimes."

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said the computer evidence suggests "motive, intent, opportunity and premeditation." Prosecutors will argue that Strohmeyer planned to sexually assault a child.

"We've got evidence to show that," Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot said.

Leavitt ruled that the computer evidence is admissible, but can only be used by prosecutors in rebuttal.

Abramson indicated before Leavitt's ruling that if the computer evidence was admitted, she would file a stay of the Nevada Supreme Court's order on Wednesday.

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