Convicted Murderer Given Visitation of Child

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Pennsylvania
I have a 7 year old with a man that has been in and out of prison since he was 19 years old and has never been out for longer than 2 consecutive years since. He is 14 years my senior and I knew none of this when we began to date until he was arrested again after I had already become pregnant for being a convicted felon with a gun. He became both emmotionally and physically abusive to me both during and after my pregnancy and I was afraid to leave him and anxiously waited for him to plead guilty in his upcoming case and to be imprisoned. When my son turned one this happened and life was great for once. He was released from prison in June right before my child's 4th birthday. By this time I had moved on gotten married and was now carrying my second child. He was only out for 3 weeks before I had to get a pfa against him do to his violent threats and displeasure with me moving on with my life (I allowed him visitation up until this, it just had to be monitored by my grandmother) He then took me to custody court where I agreed to visitation due to his hired attorney and my court ordered attorney advising me that I had no choice but to. When it was his first weekend to pick up our child he was already reincarcerated for a slew of charges including aggravated assault, a few gun violations, and a few fleeing the crime scene charges. He was again out of our life for another close to 4 years. Now he has been released again and back to threatening me. He's even mailed me a bullet in the mail and the police know but can't prove that it was from him. He is now suing me for partial custody again and stating that I violated the initial order because as soon as he was released he wanted me to honor the initial agreement. My son hasn't seen him since he was 3 and only for about a month then. Is there any way that I can prevent him from getting any visitation or any rights. I forgot to mention that he is a muslim extremist now who hates "blue eyed devils". How can I prevent him from corrupting my son? Oh, and his mother who is a drug addict (even receives ssi for habitual drug use) is suing me for grandparents rights. I need help and guidance please!!!!

If you're already headed back to court over "grandparents rights", that would normally be in the original custody court. It sounds like a good time to bring a motion to modify his parenting time based upon his long-term absence from the child's life and his poor conduct. From what you've told us so far, if it were me I would likely ask that parenting time be suspended pending the completion of a full psychological examination, at his expense, to be reviewed by the court, and that any subsequent parenting time awarded by the court be phased in, and be supervised by an appropriate professional (also at his expense) until such time that the court believed that supervision was no longer appropriate. I would also argue that grandma can see the child during any parenting time the court grants to the father, and that any further award of grandparenting time is not in the best interest of the child.

What contact, if any, has grandma had with the child over the past several years? How is grandma able to afford legal representation? Do you have a lawyer yet? (You should.)

Quote:

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Quoting 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5325. Standing for partial physical custody and supervised physical custody

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In addition to situations set forth in section 5324 (relating to standing for any form of physical custody or legal custody), grandparents and great-grandparents may file an action under this chapter for partial physical custody or supervised physical custody in the following situations:

(1) where the parent of the child is deceased, a parent or grandparent of the deceased parent may file an action under this section;

(2) where the parents of the child have been separated for a period of at least six months or have commenced and continued a proceeding to dissolve their marriage; or

(3) when the child has, for a period of at least 12 consecutive months, resided with the grandparent or great-grandparent, excluding brief temporary absences of the child from the home, and is removed from the home by the parents, an action must be filed within six months after the removal of the child from the home.

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Quote:

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Quoting 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5328(c) - Factors to consider when awarding custody

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(c) Grandparents and great-grandparents. --
[indent]
(1) In ordering partial physical custody or supervised physical custody to a party who has standing under section 5325(1) or (2) (relating to standing for partial physical custody and supervised physical custody), the court shall consider the following:

(i) the amount of personal contact between the child and the party prior to the filing of the action;

(ii) whether the award interferes with any parent-child relationship; and

(iii) whether the award is in the best interest of the child.

(2) In ordering partial physical custody or supervised physical custody to a parent's parent or grandparent who has standing under section 5325(3), the court shall consider whether the award:

(i) interferes with any parent-child relationship; and

(ii) is in the best interest of the child.

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