Advertisement Rapist can continue to seek visitation with victim's child, court rules Jamie Melendez can keep trying to obtain visitation rights until child is 18 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

It's been seven years since a Braintree 14-year-old was raped by Jamie Melendez, but Melendez, through the Massachusetts court system, still holds control over her. Now a young woman, the assault survivor has feared for years that Melendez will get visitation rights for the child conceived when he raped her, and a ruling this week by the Massachusetts Court of Appeals only heightens her fear, the Brockton Enterprise reported. The state appeals court denied her petition to dismiss a paternity ruling for Melendez. The decision left Wendy Murphy, the woman's pro-bono attorney, "totally shocked." "This is a case where a man has been convicted of raping a child and causing the birth of a child in that rape," Murphy said. "In a civilized society, we don't describe that man as a father." Her client was equally stunned. "I want nothing more than to raise my child with peace and love," the young woman wrote in an email Friday, "without fear that a convicted sex offender who she does not know will show up one day and not only take her away, but make her call him 'daddy.'" This week's ruling means Melendez, a former Braintree resident, can keep seeking visitation until his victim's child turns 18. "I will live in fear for the next 11 years," she said in the email. She was raped four times by Melendez in 2009, when she was 14 years old and in eighth grade, and he was 20. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to rape of a child, and was sentenced to 16 years probation and ordered to pay child support. Then, in 2014, Melendez sought visitation rights, arguing that if he has to pay child support he should be able to visit the child. Murphy's client asked the Massachusetts Court of Appeals to throw out the paternity ruling that allows Melendez to continue petitioning to see the child. This week, they denied her request, arguing that Melendez's paternity status is what obligates him to pay child support. The ruling says when Melendez was established as the child's biological father and ordered to pay child support, this opened the door for parental rights, including the possibility of visitation rights. Murphy said it is the most irrational decision she's seen by an appellate court in years. If the court had ruled in her favor, Murphy said, "it would stop rapists from leveraging their paternity rights to say, 'don't make me pay.'" Jamie Huff, a criminal justice professor at Bridgewater State University, said the ruling was not surprising to her. "The legal system doesn't provide a lot of support for rape victims," she said, "even in cases that seem quite shocking." Murphy said this ruling could set a precedent for men like former Brockton resident Elbert Richardson, who impregnated the 12-year-old girl he was convicted of raping in March, to seek visitation rights. "(Richardson) now has a right to file papers from prison and ask the girl he raped to bring the child to prison to visit him," Murphy said. "He hasn't tried to seek visitation yet, but why wouldn't he?" Someone like Richardson could file for paternity and seek visitation rights either as a way to possibly gain leverage for a more lenient punishment, she said, or as a way to continue harassing a victim. "Cases like this could certainly provide (convicted rapists) an opportunity to engage in a form of legal harassment against their victims," Huff said. She said the issue of paternity rights of convicted rapists is one being debated in multiple states right now. "A few states have passed legislation simply stating that someone who is convicted of rape does not get the legal claim to request visitation," she said. Under Massachusetts general law, a parent convicted of rape is not allowed visitation with a child conceived during the rape, unless visitation is in the child's best interest. In cases where the parent was convicted of child rape, a judge can independently decide what the child's best interest is. Put simply, child rape is the only kind of rape that can result in a forced relationship between the rapist, the victim, and the child conceived during the rape. Julia Kehoe, the CEO of Brockton community health nonprofit Health Imperatives, said this law, passed in 2014, was intended to limit visitation rights of convicted rapists. The ruling in Melendez's case, though, shows the law is not necessarily working as intended. "This (result) is the kind of thing that's a real setback for rape survivors," Kehoe said. She's concerned that future rape victims who become pregnant might see this case as a disincentive to report rape to the police, out of fear that they'll be forced into Family Court with their rapist. Kehoe also said it's "horrific" that Melendez didn't receive any prison time in his original sentence, and that his victim now "has to be re-traumatized" dealing with the issue of visitation. Melendez has had visitation rights denied to him once already by Family Court. In that August 2014 decision, the judge ruled that Melendez's desire for visitation was insincere, and he was only petitioning for visitation as a bargaining chip to reduce or eliminate his child support obligation, according to court documents. Murphy's client was "relieved" at the time, she said. But because of this most recent ruling by the Court of Appeals, Melendez can file for visitation rights again and again, Murphy said. She called this "court-ordered incarceration" of her client and her child, keeping them from moving on with their lives. "Being in family court means I am constantly reminded of what he did to me, and it shatters me all over again," her client wrote Friday. Murphy said she will now bring the case to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. "I have a strong commitment to this case," she said. "I've been representing the victim for over four years, and I'm not giving up."