
by Dave Waddell
Not long after Myra Micalizio was shot five times in the back and killed last year by a Butte County sheriff’s deputy, District Attorney Mike Ramsey declared before television cameras that Micalizio had tried to attack deputies with her vehicle.
Micalizio’s family never bought that scenario, but Ramsey reaffirmed it many months later when issuing a report clearing deputies Charles Lair and Mary Barker of any criminal wrongdoing in the killing. Micalizio’s three children – Lisa Rutledge, Sean McKelvie and Hali McKelvie – recently settled a wrongful death suit against Butte County for $250,000, said County Counsel Bruce Alpert.
Through many of her 56 years, Micalizio lived with undiagnosed mental illness and was in unprecedented crisis when shot dead on April 26, 2018. On that day, Micalizio was “delusional, depressed, and experiencing hallucinations,” while conversing with what she called her “imaginary friends,” according to her children’s lawsuit.