Sherrice Iverson bill stalled for now

CARSON CITY -- Final passage of the so-called Sherrice Iverson bill has stalled but its chief sponsor says it will be approved after some minor amendments.

The Assembly Tuesday refused to accept Senate amendments added to Assembly Bill 267 which requires anyone who witnesses crimes against children or the elderly to report them to authorities.

Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said the House was concerned about a section added by the Senate that family members, without exception, must report these crimes.

Anderson said his Judiciary Committee, which initially processed the bill, wanted exclusions for family members who may be intimidated.

He said the committee wants to see the "reasoning of the Senate in having other family members who are at risk and then have them (criminally) charged for not saying something about their child or their brother or their sister."

He said the Assembly also wanted to exclude some professionals who gained the knowledge of the crime through a confidential communication with the assailant.

The Senate, he said agreed with an Assembly exclusion for priests who hear about the crimes in the confessional from reporting. But he said there are other professionals who also should be exempted.

The bill will go to a conference committee.

"I'm confident we can work this out," Perkins said.

Iverson, 7, was raped and murdered in May 1997 at the Primm Valley hotel-casino in Primm, 45 miles south of Las Vegas. She was lured into the restroom by Jeremy Strohmeyer who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

His companion, David Cash, knew about the assault, but never reported it to authorities. Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said there was no law that allowed him to prosecute Cash.

The bill requires a person to report within 24 hours any knowledge he or she may have about a crime against a child under 12 years old. Failure to report is a misdemeanor.

The Assembly also refused to agree to Senate amendments on the concealed weapons bill. Assembly Bill 166, as originally introduced by Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, would have expanded the locations where a person with a concealed weapons permit, could carry a gun.

Anderson said Hettrick objected to a Senate amendment that would allow a person only to carry a concealed weapon into a public facility if it had a signed post indicating firearms were allowed.

Anderson said this turns around the intent of the bill. He doubted any public facility, such as a shopping mall, would put up a sign that weapons are welcome. "I just can't see Meadowood Mall with a big sign, 'Bring in your AK47."'

There's also a second objection, Anderson said. The Senate included an amendment that people, from other states who have permits, would automatically receive one in Nevada. "Some states give them to anybody who wants one, like New Hampshire," he said.

And there is concern about a Senate amendment that a person who came into Nevada for only three days would be exempt from the weapons permit law. This measure is also headed for a conference committee.

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