Man who raped 12-year-old awarded joint custody of her child
'This is insane. Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated,' says victim's lawyer
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Your support makes all the difference.A man who raped a 12-year-old has been awarded joint custody of her child despite being convicted of her rape and another sexual assault on a child.
The convicted rapist assaulted the girl nine years ago and she subsequently became pregnant.
A judge has given Christopher Mirasolo, 27, parenting time and joint legal custody of the eight-year-old boy after a paternity test found he was the father.
Since his conviction for the rape in 2008, Mirasolo, from Brown City, Michigan, has been convicted of another child sex assault, for which he served four years in prison.
As reported by The Detroit News, the victim is now 21-years-old and her attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, is seeking protection under the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act to halt his access.
The custody was granted by Judge Gregory S Ross and Mirasolo was given the victim’s address and his name added to the birth certificate, without the victim’s consent.
“This is insane,” said Ms Kiessling, who filed objections on Friday with the judge. “Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated.
“He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimising my client, who was a child herself when this all happened.”
The matters ordered by the court will be taken up at a hearing later this month.
According to Ms Kiessling, Mirarsolo forcibly raped and threatened to kill her client in September 2008.
Mirasolo was found guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced to one year in jail, but only served six and half months.
In March 2010, Mirasolo committed another offence on a victim aged between 13 and 15 years olf which he served four years in prison for.
“She, her 13-year-old sister and a friend all slipped out of their house one night to meet a boy and the boy’s older friend, Mirasolo, showed up and asked if they wanted to go for a ride,” said Kiessling.
“They thought they were going to McDonald’s or somewhere.
“Instead, he tossed their cellphones away, drove to Detroit where he stole gas from a station and then drove back to Sanilac County, where he kept them captive for two days in a vacant house near a relative, finally releasing the older sister in a park.
“He threatened to kill them if they told anyone what happened.”
Mirasolo was arrested a month later, she said, when her client was pregnant.
The victim decided to keep the child as she did not want the “baby to be a victim too” and left school to live with relatives and worked to support herself.
He was sentenced to one year in prison but only served six and half months before early release to care for his sick mother.
In March 2010, Mirasolo committed a sex assault on a victim between the age of 13 and 15-years-old. He served four years with this second offence.
Barbara Yockey, Mirasolo’s attorney, said it is unclear what her client’s future involvement, if any, will be with the eight-year-old boy and declined to discuss any of his past criminal cases.