SANDUSKY, MI -- All parties involved in the custody battle over a child born from statutory rape agree the attacker should not have custody of the child but disagree about how the rape occurred.

Just hours before 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, Mirasolo's attorney released a court filing from the day before in which she agreed with that ruling.

While all parties agree Mirasolo should not have parental rights over the child conceived nine years ago when he raped a 12-year-old girl, his attorney, Barbara Yockey, refuted that he forcibly raped the girl.

Yockey said in the response filing that Mirasolo and the 12-year-old girl were in a three-month-long "romantic relationship" and that he never used physical force to have sex with her.

The mother's attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, previously said Mirasolo "used physical force" to assault the girl and then "threatened to kill her if she told anyone."

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

In a "Victims' Rights Rally" held outside the courthouse before and after the hearing Tuesday, the girl's mother called for the ouster of Ross, Sanilac County Circuit Court Judge Donald A. Teeple and several prosecutors.

"This county court system was a joke back then and it still is," she said. "My daughter was victimized by this court system."

When Ross made his decision to grant joint custody, he said he did not know the child was born from rape. It was brought to him by prosecutors as a "routine" paternity order where both parties were in agreement, he said.

After finding out Oct. 6, when Kiessling filed her objections, he ordered a stay on the ruling under the objections could be heard.

At the hearing Tuesday, Ross said he acted swiftly in remedying the situation. He also said Kiessling turned the situation into a "media circus."

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 laws in late 2016 that allow for the mother to contest Mirasolo having any rights over the child.

A year in jail and a pregnant 12-year-old

A point of anger in the case wasn't just that Mirasolo was initially granted joint custody, but that he was able to take a plea deal and serve a year in jail after raping a 12-year-old.

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.

But filings by Yockey and the mother's attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, give conflicting accounts of the course of justice.

In Kiessling's objections, she stated the girl did not consent to the plea bargain and was not provided with an opportunity to be heard at sentencing.

Yockey, citing what Mirasolo told her, said neither the victim nor her mother objected at the sentencing.

The victim's mother told the court at sentencing that her daughter "was not innocent in the incident," Yockey wrote.

"In police reports prepared at that time, the (girl) told the police that (Mirasolo) was her boyfriend and that she agreed to have sex with him," Yockey said.

Under Michigan Law, the perpetrator of a rape is denied rights over any child born the incident.

But if the perpetrator is not convicted of violating a law pertaining to penetration, it must be shown that the child was "conceived as a result of nonconsensual sexual penetration."

Mirasolo never sought custody over the child. Instead, the case came about when the mother sought government assistance.

The prosecutor's office is now preparing another paternity order, this time without joint custody and parenting time, for Ross' review.