February 20, 1998
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Case takes bad turn for police

Caren Benjamin
By Caren Benjamin
Review-Journal

Michael Healy says he's been a victim of police more than once.
In late 1996, Healy and his girlfriend at the time claimed one-time Las Vegas police officer Michael Ramirez forced them to perform oral sex while he watched. Ramirez has been fired and is facing criminal charges as a result. Nearly a year later, Healy was arrested on drug charges.
But in January, a grand jury refused to indict him, and transcripts from those hearings show major contradictions between police versions of the events leading up to his arrest and the story of a key witness.
That witness is Kristina Elliott, an ex-girlfriend of Healy's who said she was coerced into lying so police officers - one of whom was her ex-husband - could come up with a reason to arrest the man who caused the downfall of a fellow officer.
The story began on Oct. 4, 1996, when Ramirez approached Healy and Norma McKee, his girlfriend at the time, in their car, which was parked near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Healy and McKee claim Ramirez displayed a badge and gun and subtly threatened them with a trumped-up arrest if they did not comply with his wish to watch them engage in a sex act.
The couple told police the story and Ramirez was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of oppression under the color of office and a single count of open and gross lewdness.
In September, Ramirez pleaded guilty to a single felony count of oppression under the color of office. He withdrew his plea in January of this year when he learned of Healy's Aug. 26 arrest on drug trafficking and possession charges.
Ramirez claimed Healy's subsequent legal problems bolstered his version of the events on the night in question: the couple voluntarily performed the sex act because they had drugs in the car and were trying to distract him from conducting a search.
Just a few weeks after Ramirez withdrew his plea, Healy's case came before a grand jury and the panel - which has to find only probable cause to issue an indictment - refused to do so.
Healy's attorney, Karen Connolly, said the grand jury's decision was vindication for her client as well as a sad commentary that 'there are members of Metro who are more concerned with protecting their own than with the rights of citizens we entrust them to protect.'
In the hearing, officer Prokopois 'Ike' Ziros told the grand jury he was called to Healy's home at 7729 Intero Circle because Elliott was moving out, was scared of her boyfriend and needed police protection.
Four officers showed up at the home, a response that Ziros described as standard practice in such cases.
Ziros said shortly after police arrived, Elliott told him that Healy was the victim in the Ramirez case and that Healy kept drugs, guns with the serial numbers scratched off and Cuban cigars in the home. Ziros testified he knew Ramirez only slightly and that he didn't know Healy had any connection with Ramirez until Elliott told him.
The officer said he then obtained a search warrant, called a sergeant to the scene and searched the house. He and the other three officers, who told the grand jury similar versions of the conversation he had with Elliott, found cocaine in Healy's home. Healy was arrested on charges of drug possession and trafficking.
Elliott's testimony contradicted all the police officers. She also admitted that the cocaine police found was hers, saying she had never seen any drug use by Healy, whom she had not spoken to in months.
Elliott said she never even planned to call police and was not afraid of Healy.