Former soldier seeks custody of child born to 14-year-old

[debrand]

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? We are all operating on the assumption that this man is guilty when he was found innocent. (Devil's ad here - I don't have a lot of faith in a military court when it comes to charging a soldier with rape).

I think it's quite the opposite really - knowing that if you do not charge a rapist that he might be entitled to custody should be an encouragement to charge.

For a variety of reasons, rapists are not always found guilty. That doesn't mean that the rape didn't occur.

The man might be innocent but my point was that the case might influence future victims

Once you charge the rapists, he knows that the child is his. As long as the woman doesn't bring charges, she can claim the child is someone else's or that she doesn't know who the father is. If the rapist doesn't have contact with her, he might not even know she is pregnant

[Mama Mia]

Wow. All the horrors of dealing with police (you've seen testified in this very thread) and the legal system, and you think victims should face leaving their child with the monster who attacked them out they aren't okay to go through that hell? What about if he's acquitted, which is INCREDIBLY common? I bet my arse they'd say "that means he's innocent, so he should see the baby" or "she's a malicious harpy who made up rape charges, OF COURSE we should give him rights and disbelieve any resultant claims she may make in the future".

What's difficult though is that since he was found innocent - where do you draw the line for denying custody or visitation based on parental claims ? I think most people have heard of cases where one or the other parent makes things up in order to deny parental rights. It can happen both ways. I've worked with several women who lost their children due to false claims made by the father.

[RandomTrivia]

Today's paper had an update - petition rejected on a technicality, and will probably be re-filed as two separate petitions.

Apparently, the child's father has never seen him and has denied paternity until a DNA test for the court martial proved otherwise - which sort of (to me) makes his claim about wanting to be a responsible father a load of crap.

And the reasoning for the misdemeanor charge is given:

Missouri's law governing statutory rape has provisions designed to protect teen couples from felony convictions for consensual sex. If one of the parties is too young to give consent — younger than 17 — and the other is not yet 21, sexual activity can only be charged as a misdemeanor. For that reason, the Groggs agreed to allow the case to be tried in a military court.

[tropaka]

Geeze, I did say I was playing Devil's advocate, right? I've been the victim of two rapes, btw, and fortunately no pregnancies.

I'm talking about law...if someone's found not guilty what prevents them from going after custody etc? That was my point/question.

I do see the point of not reporting a rape to prevent this kind of situation.

[Patsy]

What's difficult though is that since he was found innocent - where do you draw the line for denying custody or visitation based on parental claims ? I think most people have heard of cases where one or the other parent makes things up in order to deny parental rights. It can happen both ways. I've worked with several women who lost their children due to false claims made by the father.

Yeah, it's hard. I don't know. But my burden of proof is not as stringent as "has to be convicted in a court of law". There can be different standards for different applications in law, so I see that as being fair. I do have to say for the record that I have seen more fathers successfully using parenting orders to force mothers to change their schedules, move house and see their children suffer (by having to go through repeatedly forcing sobbing children to go back to him) as an indirect form of attack against the mother, than I have seen mothers making things up to successfully keep their kids away from the father. But both definitely occur (as well as vv) and I don't think any amount of legal tweaking could ensure their end, sadly.

[debrand]

Geeze, I did say I was playing Devil's advocate, right? I've been the victim of two rapes, btw, and fortunately no pregnancies.

I'm talking about law...if someone's found not guilty what prevents them from going after custody etc? That was my point/question.

I do see the point of not reporting a rape to prevent this kind of situation.

My post wasn't meant to sound as if I was attacking you, so I hope it didn't come off that way. These cases worry me because of my daughters. I immediately imagine how my family would handle the same situation. Although I'd support my daughters' decision, I have to admit, cases like these make it more likely that I'd encourage them to have an abortion.

.