DA: No credible evidence to pursue case against Cash

A prosecutor says he has no credible evidence that could lead to charges against a California teen-ager who witnessed an assault that led to the death of a girl in a Nevada casino.

"We've got a file 17 feet thick, and we don't have any credible evidence that would enable us to pursue a case," Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said of calls for the prosecution of David Cash Jr.

Cash was with Jeremy Strohmeyer the night of May 25, 1997 when Strohmeyer strangled 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a restroom stall at the Primm Valley casino in Primm, Nev.

Strohmeyer, 19, 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, also 19, told investigators he saw Strohmeyer follow the girl into a women's restroom, and tried to get him to leave her alone. Cash told investigators he left before the assault took place.

But two friends, Jeremy Phillips and Justin Ware, said Cash told them he watched Strohmeyer sexually assault the girl.

"This is not a new revelation to us," Bell said of comments by Phillips and Ware.

Bell said investigators from his office interviewed Phillips when it was learned he might be a defense witness for Strohmeyer, who was scheduled to go on trial the day he pleaded guilty.

"We took a statement just to make sure we weren't surprised if Jeremy Phillips was called as a witness for the defense," Bell said Thursday.

Bell said Cash acknowledged to a Clark County grand jury that he "saw Strohmeyer commit a felony ... that he tried to put an end to the incident, but was unable to do so and left the area."

"We don't have any credible evidence that Mr. Cash lied to the grand jury," the prosecutor said.

Bell said even if Cash witnessed the sexual assault, "it doesn't change anything."

"If Cash watched this scenario all the way through the murder of the young lady, he still has not committed a crime under Nevada law," Bell said. "It is not against the law to witness a crime and not intercede."

However, Bell declined to rule out future action against Cash.

"No deal has been made with Cash," Bell said. "If credible evidence was presented tomorrow, we would bring a case against him."

The victim's mother, Yolanda Manuel of Los Angeles, has headed a campaign to have Cash prosecuted as an accessory in the murder.

Cash, a University of California, Berkeley sophomore majoring in nuclear engineering, was to be a key witness in Strohmeyer's trial. He has been the subject of moral indignation for not going to police after Strohmeyer told him he killed the girl.

The incident has prompted a call for a "Good Samaritan" law on the state and national level that would require witnesses to a crime to take action.

Cash has also been criticized for making comments that the notoriety had made him popular.

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