Ex-Henderson police officer’s sexual assault trial upcoming

A former Henderson Police Department officer arrested in December on domestic violence charges will go to trial this month in a sexual assault case stemming from charges in 2017, court documents show.

Michael Ray Stevens, 43, was arrested Dec. 21 after his girlfriend told Henderson police that Stevens put her in a chokehold, slapped her multiple times and prevented her from leaving a room, according to his arrest report. Police were called after the woman told two of her friends what happened, the report said.

Stevens’ attorney, Nicholas Wooldridge, said he filed an affidavit in court showing the woman recanted her statements to police, but he declined to provide the affidavit after multiple requests this month.

The Henderson Justice Court said Tuesday that a copy of the document was not available and had to be released by the attorney.

In the arrest report, the officer noted bruising on the woman’s neck and chest, as well as a “laceration or abrasion” on the bridge of her nose. The injuries were “consistent with her account” of what happened, the report said.

The woman also told police that Stevens was “on edge” because he was out on bail for a sexual assault charge, the report said. In November 2017, Stevens was charged with sexual assault, Henderson court records show. Wooldridge said the domestic violence and sexual assault cases are unrelated.

In a March 2018 preliminary hearing in District Court, the woman in the sexual assault case testified that Stevens, who she knew, assaulted her in Henderson in July 2014, when she was 17.

Wooldridge also represented Stevens in the preliminary hearing, arguing that Stevens had consensual sex with her.

“I’m surprised that it even has gone as far as it is,” Wooldridge said about the case, adding that there was a lack of evidence to prosecute the case.

In the same hearing, the woman said she didn’t consent to sex. She didn’t “fight or kick or scream,” she said, because he was a police officer and she didn’t know where she was during the alleged assault.

“In my eyes, he’s a police officer, and I’m in a location I do now know,” she testified, before adding that she “felt defenseless.”

Stevens pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charges. His trial is set for Jan. 22 in District Court.

Attempts to reach others mentioned in court documents regarding the sexual assault case were not successful.

Stevens was arrested in 2010 and accused of soliciting a prostitute while he worked at the Police Department, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time. The result of that case was unclear Wednesday.

Stevens was released from jail in December and remains on house arrest after posting $40,000 bond in the domestic violence case, in which he faces two counts of domestic battery by strangulation and two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery, Henderson court records show.

A preliminary hearing in that case is set for Thursday.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.