Spokesman: Judge Didn't Know He Awarded Custody To Mom's Rapist, New Hearing Set
SANDUSKY, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A hearing is scheduled in Michigan on a judge's order that initially gave a convicted sex offender joint legal custody of a child born to a woman who said the man raped her when she was 12.
Attorneys representing the woman and 27-year-old Christopher Mirasolo are to appear Tuesday afternoon before Judge Gregory Ross in Sanilac County.
In September, Ross granted the woman sole physical custody and Mirasolo joint legal custody after DNA tests showed he was the child's father. But a court spokesman has said the judge didn't know Mirasolo had two criminal sexual conduct convictions, including one concerning the woman.
In Michigan, joint legal custody enables both parents to share decision-making authority about a child's welfare.
The case started when the 21-year-old mother sought state assistance for the boy. Mirasolo has been ordered to pay $316 in monthly child support.
Mirasolo's lawyer, Barbara Yockey, says he didn't initiate the case. She said both sides have now reached an agreement in which Mirasolo will give up custody, adding that Mirasolo won't seek a relationship with the child nor have any contact the mother, who is now 21.
"He is complying with the order, because he's paying child support," Yockey added. "I will tell you that the matter is in the process is being resolved privately, which is exactly how it should've been resolved from the very beginning because there is a child involved here. It should've never been in the press."
The victim's attorney Rebecca Kiessling says her client was a child herself when she was raped by Mirasolo, who was 18 at the time. Kiessling called the judge's decision last week "insane," noting that the judge disclosed the rape victim's home address to her rapist, and ordered his name on the child's birth certificate — all without the mother's consent.
© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
