Mom asked judge to end rapist’s parental rights in ’08

Sandusky — The 12-year-old victim of a Sanilac County rapist informed the court she was pregnant and her mother requested the attacker’s parental rights be terminated as part of his sentence, according to letters released Monday.

The girl and her mother’s 2008 letters were written before Christopher Mirasolo was sentenced for attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct for the attack in which the girl said she was raped and held captive for two days.

Judge holds hearing on custody case involving rapist

Their release came on the eve of a Tuesday court hearing before a Sanilac County judge who recently granted Mirasolo joint custody of the child conceived in the attack. He later put that order on hold pending the hearing.

“As part of his sentence I wish that he be made to sign off his rights to this baby and his rights be terminated,” the victim’s mother wrote to the court on Dec. 29, 2008.

Despite the known pregnancy, Mirasolo was sentenced on lesser charges of attempted sexual assault and served less than seven months behind bars. Had he been convicted of the sexual assault of a minor, as the pregnancy would have confirmed, he would have faced a sentence of 25 years to life.

The unusual case was sparked by the victim’s request for government assistance, which prompted a review of paternity. When paternity was established, the court ordered joint custody for the rapist. But outrage has continued over the handling of Mirasolo’s two sexual assaults in this county of just over 40,000 people along Lake Huron in Michigan’s Thumb region.

“I cannot understand how he can plead guilty to attempted third degree,” his first victim’s mother wrote Judge Donald A. Teeple on Dec. 29, 2008, two weeks before sentencing, adding that she wanted Mirasolo of Brown City sentenced “to the fullest extent of the law” so no one else would be victimized.

“He has stolen my 12-year-old’s innocence, trust and robbed her of her teenage years,” she wrote. “I feel justice has not been served and no punishment he gets will be enough.”

The child’s mother and the second woman assaulted byMirasolo, now 27, are expected to speak Tuesday at a rally before the hearing in Sandusky before Sanilac County Judge Gregory Ross, who triggered the firestorm when he granted Mirasolo partial custody of the now 8-year-old boy.

The Detroit News generally does not identify sexual assault victims and is not disclosing the name of the mother or the child.

Her daughter wrote Teeple, saying: “I have found out I am pregnant and will be giving birth on or about June 12, 2009. This will forever change my life in ways that I can’t begin to imagine. My childhood and teenage years will never be just mine I will have the consequences of that one time with me forever.

“Chris knows that I am only 12 years old and still he did this to me. Whatever he gets for this will not be enough to make up for what I will be going through,” the victim wrote.

In March 2010, while on probation, Mirasolo committed another assault on a 14-year-old Deckerville girl who said he armed himself with brass knuckles and threatened to kill her. He pleaded no contest to a lesser offense of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and served four years of a five-year minimum sentence, also issued by Teeple.

Mirasolo has declined to be interviewed. His attorney, Barbara Yockey, declined to discuss the criminal cases but said she and the first victim’s attorney have been working on resolving matters. “My client never sought or asked for any custody or visitation,” Yockey stressed.

Sanilac County officials could not be reached for comment. Since the case became public, the assistant prosecutor, prosecutor and judge have been unavailable for comment. A statement from Ross said he was unaware of Mirasolo’s criminal convictions when he granted custody.

In a news release, the office of county Prosecutor James Young said the custody case “should never have been sent to the Prosecutor’s Office because the (Michigan) Department of Health and Human Services was aware that this child was a product of a nonconsensual sexual act.”

DHHS declined to respond specifically to the prosecutor’s statement but a spokesman said decisions on parental rights are made by local, not state, officials.

The victim’s attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, said her client was never consulted in the custody decision and her signature does not appear on the consent agreement.

Ross, who initially granted joint custody to Mirasolo last month, stayed his earlier ruling last week. He is expected to hear legal objections from Kiessling and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which asked to intervene in the case.

Kiessling said the letters are a “smoking gun” that show that the prosecutor’s office and judge knew her client was pregnant yet, for unknown reasons, approved a plea bargain for a lesser offense and sentences that made the sexual assault of the second victim possible.

mmartindale@detroitnews.com

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