SANDUSKY, MI -- A Sanilac County judge has reversed his initial decision to grant a rapist joint custody of the child born from the act.

Sanilac County Probate Judge Gregory S. Ross ruled Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 17, that 27-year-old Christopher Mirasolo should not have any custody or parenting time over the child conceived nine years ago when Mirasolo raped a 12-year-old girl.

"I want to emphasize, at the time I signed the (initial order) on Sept. 22, 2017, I did not know that the defendant had raped the plaintiff," Ross told the courtroom.

It wasn't until the mother's attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, filed objections citing the rape that Ross found out about it, he said.

The Sanilac County Prosecutor's Office never presented that information to the judge, he said. The office gave him a "routine" joint custody order consented to by both the mother and Mirasolo, he said.

On the first business day after the objections, Ross ordered a stay on the initial ruling until the Oct. 17 hearing.

In an interview after the ruling, Sanilac County Prosecutor James V. Young called the situation a "paternity case that went horribly wrong."

He said staff errors were due to changes made to sexual assault custody and paternity law in late 2016 that allow for the mother to contest Mirasolo having any rights over the child.

"We should've caught it and we didn't," Young said.

Young said his office will now compile another paternity order, one that follows the judge's orders of not allowing Mirasolo custody or parenting time.

Mirasolo never requested custody over the child. Instead, the case began in July when the mother requested financial assistance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Young said.

While the department said that, because of the rape, there was good cause allowing the mother and child to receive benefits without pursuing paternity action, a miscommunication resulted in the prosecutor's office pursuing the case, Young said.

Young said his office will implement changes to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The child in question is an 8-year-old born from a 2008 rape when the mother was 12 and Mirasolo was 19, according to the objection.

While sexually assaulting a child under 13 is potentially a life offense, Mirasolo pleaded to attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to a year in jail, according to court clerks.

Young declined to comment on why Mirasolo was given a plea deal. Instead, he said that's a topic for another time and doesn't pertain to the paternity case at hand.