Thursday, Sept. 17, 1998 | 10:37 a.m.
The so-called good Samaritan law scheduled for consideration by the 1999 Legislature could jeopardize innocent people and pose enforcement problems, lawmakers and other officials say.
Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell points out that the law could have unintended consequences, such as a grandmother facing charges for not reporting that her daughter disciplined her child, perhaps excessively.
To report the discipline could make a felon of the daughter and destroy a family relationship. Not to report could make a felon of the grandmother.
"You can come up with a number of scenarios where the law would be conceptually difficult to enforce," he said.
The state law is being proposed by Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson. While Perkins is the one who submitted a bill draft for the 1999 Legislature, the law has been hailed by others as well in the wake of the Sherrice Iverson killing at a Primm casino over the Memorial Day weekend in 1997.
Jeremy Strohmeyer, the Long Beach, Calif., teenager who killed Iverson, recently pleaded guilty to the crime during a high-profile trial and will be sentenced Oct. 14, presumably to life in prison without parole. The impetus for the proposed Good Samaritan law came from the inaction of Strohmeyer's friend, David Cash Jr., who witnessed the beginning of the attack on the 7-year-old girl but left the restroom where it occurred without intervening or calling for help. His friends are reporting that Cash told them he witnessed Strohmeyer molesting the girl as well.
"No one is quarreling with the desire to have some legal pressure that might have saved Sherrice's life, but we have to make sure we are killing the mosquito with a flyswatter and not a shotgun," Bell said.
The bill draft submitted by Perkins would expand the current law, which requires police, teachers, counselors, doctors, child-care workers, clergymen and lawyers to report any incidents of child abuse or neglect.
A Good Samaritan law that would make it a federal crime not to report the sexual assault of a child also is being mulled by Congress.
Bell is not the only Nevada official to offer cautions about such a law.
Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she expects vigorous debate in the Legislature because "people are justifiably outraged by Cash."
But she said she worries about ensuring protection for innocent witnesses who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and may have to place their lives in danger to follow a Good Samaritan law.
"If we can craft a solution, I think the Legislature will do it, but if we can't find a balance it's likely we wouldn't pass one," Buckley said.
Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said, "The public is outraged that this Cash is unaccountable in any way. But I know you have to be careful. You can't make everybody responsible for looking over every shoulder."
Sen. Ernie Adler, D-Carson City, said he "strongly supports" a law that would require "affirmative action to stop sexual assaults or murder. You have a duty to either call authorities or physically intervene." But he said there would be exceptions for the elderly or those physically unable to personally jump in to stop the crime.
"In serious crimes there should be a duty to respond right away," said Adler, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will process the legislation.
Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wants any law limited to crimes against children. He supports requiring the witness to report the crime but does not support the notion that a witness also has the responsibility to intervene.
Citizens, James said, should not be put "in harm's way" if they are required by law to stop a crime.
Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, believes there will be several versions of the proposed law introduced and he predicted "some version will pass due to that (Cash) incident.
"People don't want to get involved. It's your own privilege. You may hurt yourself," Dini said.
As a longtime bar owner, he said he's seen a lot of instances where people don't want to get involved. "It's a delicate area," he said.
Washoe District Attorney Richard Gammick said it's taken years to get results from the current law requiring professionals and others to report child abuse.
He said there was a case in which his office charged former Reno Mayor Peter Sferrazza with not reporting the crime immediately. Sferrazza took the case to the Nevada Supreme Court and beat the charge.
Gammick questioned what "immediately" means. Can the witness wait until the next day to notify authorities? Or if he waits, would he be violating the proposed new law and be charged with a crime?
Gammick doesn't want citizens intervening to stop crimes. These "are untrained and unequipped people and you would put them in a position dangerous to their lives. Are we going to require them to jump in the middle?"
James says it won't be easy drafting a new law. The Nevada Constitution, he said, requires that a person have a criminal intent to commit a crime. Is there criminal intent involved by a person who sees a crime and does nothing?
"This has got to be carefully crafted legislation so it doesn't entrap or ensnare innocent people," he said.
Still to be worked out are the penalties for those who don't report or possibly stop a crime. James said they could be pegged to the seriousness of the offense.
Gammick is worried that such a law would do more to hinder prosecutions than help. In many cases, law enforcement officials find witnesses and persuade them to testify. But what happens if witnesses are threatened with arrest?
"We can't prosecute witnesses because they didn't report anything. Then we don't have any witnesses," Gammick said. "How are you going to enforce this?"
Despite the problems, legislators predict the proposed law will easily pass the 1999 session. Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said, "I think it will pass but I don't know in what form." He suggested it was not much different than the child-abuse reporting laws Nevada now has.
Titus predicts, "It will sail through."
James said he has been talking to Perkins about his bill and that this legislation will be "very popular."
Adler said, "I think it will pass easily. People are really outraged by what happened in this case. It should make it through the Legislature very, very quickly."
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