Berkeley students remain in uproar over David Cash

The University of California, Berkeley, senior is disgusted that Cash didn't try to stop his friend Jeremy Strohmeyer from killing 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a Nevada casino - and disturbed that officials say there's nothing to be done about it.

"It's an embarrassment that the university isn't doing anything," says Taylor.

Seventeen months after the killing, Nevada prosecutors and UC Berkeley administrators have made it clear they won't move against Cash, who they say has broken no laws.

But some students are furious that Cash is taking up a slot at highly competitive Berkeley. They are carrying out a disciplinary action of their own - a campaign of public denunciation and private snubs they hope will shame Cash from campus.

"I am totally giving him the silent treatment. I don't even want to have contact with him at all," said Candice Blagmon, a freshman who lives in the same dormitory complex as Cash.

"I think he should just leave," agreed Ms. Blagmon's roommate, Kanee, who refused to give her last name. "It's really uncomfortable."

The spotlight on Cash, a 19-year-old nuclear engineering student, grew brighter in August after two radio show hosts from Los Angeles chartered a bus to bring a group of demonstrators to Berkeley.

Protesters were irate over some of the things Cash had told interviewers, for instance that he didn't know the victim so could feel remorse only for Strohmeyer.

"You do not need this guy in your school," Sherrice's mother, Yolanda Manuel, told the ralliers. "You do not need him sitting next to you in class."

Since then, scores of people have sent angry letters to Berkeley administrators and a 24-year-old man spat in Cash's face as he shopped at a convenience store near campus. (An undercover campus policeman who was with Cash at the time- part of an overall effort to ensure his safety - said the student "took it in stride. He didn't fight back or yell or say anything.")

Cash's troubles began May 25, 1997, the night he and Strohmeyer, also 19, went to a Nevada casino.

Cash told investigators he saw Strohmeyer follow Sherrice into a women's restroom and tried to get him to leave her alone. He said he left before the assault took place, although two friends say Cash told them he watched Strohmeyer sexually assault the girl.

Later that night, Strohmeyer told Cash he had killed the girl, but Cash kept silent.

The two eventually were turned in by other classmates who recognized them from surveillance videotapes released to the media.

Cash, a key witness for prosecutors, was not charged. Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said prosecutors don't have a case because it is not illegal to witness a crime.

Strohmeyer pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and murder. He is to be sentenced Oct. 14 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cash, meanwhile, came back to his second year at Berkeley.

Not everyone on campus wants Cash out.

Wednesday night, the student government voted for the second time in favor of a resolution asking Cash to leave. But Irami Osei-Frimpong, president of the Associated Students at the University of California, again stopped the symbolic censure with a veto.

"I do not believe it's the organization's right to cast moral judgments ... without benefits of due process," Osei-Frimpong explained.

The votes outraged several black students who want Cash to pay for his inaction in the black girl's murder, according to a report in today's San Francisco Chronicle.

"What did we elect you for?" student Brandi Barnes yelled at one of the student senators. And student Kelechi Uwaezuoke said, "Basically, you guys are synonymous with David Cash."

The case has spurred public interest in Nevada and elsewhere in laws that require bystanders to call police if they witness a violent crime. It also has prompted federal legislation. U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, has introduced the "Sherrice Iverson Act" that would require states to enact criminal penalties against witnesses who don't report sexual crimes against children.

Taylor said students have been left with few options.

"A lot of students are trying to find ways to express their concerns but there really are none," he said. "What I hear is a lot of people stare at him, give him mean looks, don't talk to him."

Ms. Blagmon said she understands that the university can't expel Cash, but she hopes the scorn of his peers will take a toll.

Her roommate, Kanee, said she recently found herself looking across the dining table at Cash.

"I didn't speak to him," she said.

Cash did not respond to an e-mail request from The Associated Press for an interview.

He told the CBS' "60 Minutes" program in late September that he has no intention of leaving.

Given the chance, would he do things differently?

"I don't feel there is much I could have done differently," he said.

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