Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of
Lee v. Lee. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Lee, you say your wife, Miss Lee,
conceived a child after cheating numerous times
during your marriage. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Now, you claim
your family disowned you
because of her infidelity, and now, your marriage
is on the brink of divorce. That is... Yes, Your Honor. You petitioned the court
for a DNA test to prove that you
are not the father
of Miss Lee's eleven-month-old daughter,
Carolyn Lee. Miss Lee, you admit
to cheating on your
husband, however, you say, "The paternity test
will prove that
he is the father." Yes, Your Honor. You're hoping
that these results
will save your marriage. Yes, Your Honor. So, Miss Lee, how did you
and Mr. Lee meet?
Tell me that. Um, I was actually
getting ready to go
on a date with somebody,
and I got a phone call
from a friend of mine to come to
this hotel party to meet somebody else
that actually wasn't
even Mr. Lee. And I get there,
and our eyes met, and we kinda
fell in love
at first sight. We started
talking that night. I heard him
speaking a little
bit of Spanish. And we started
making out
the whole night. We actually
kissed heavily
that whole night. We did not
have sex, though,
we just made out. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) The next morning, we exchanged
numbers that night. We actually had to
exchange our names,
as well, because we made out
the whole night, didn't even remember
each other's names. The next day,
I called him,
went picked him up, and he took
my grandmother out
with us on our first
date, and that
was it for me, I knew that he
was the one. So, that night we went
back to the room...
Back to my house. We had sex. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I figured he took
my grandmother out, you know. That's all you need? MISS LEE: Yeah. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Might as well
give it up then,
right, Jerome? Um, Mr. Lee, you knew she was
the one, too? Yes, Your Honor. But you also say
she cheated. Yes, Your Honor. We met like she said. We got engaged
about a week later
on Valentine's Day. I was trying to be
a little romantic. I'd been lonely
for a long time, not really able to find
a woman that I can really
communicate with very well. So, we got engaged
that night. The distance was starting
to get to her 'cause I, at the time,
I was living over
an hour away, Your Honor. She went ahead
and moved in
with me. I mean, she stayed there
with me for a few days, and then, like,
the following week, she, uh, started
cheating on me with a guy she claimed
looked like Bon Jovi. AUDIENCE: Ooh! She has... JUDGE LAKE:
The following week? Yeah, well, she says he looks
like Bon Jovi, I said he looks
more like the Wolfman. The dude slept on a cot. JUDGE LAKE: Miss Lee?
You cheated a week later? MISS LEE: I have
a celebrity obsession... Yes, I have a celebrity
obsession and this guy,
he looked like Bon Jovi. He's just jealous because,
you know, I've cheated on him. The man lived on a cot, and played a guitar,
and listens to Phish. JUDGE LAKE: But wait a minute you just said you were
in love with Mr. Lee.
He was the one. He took your
grandmother out, and that's all you needed,
so you had sex with him
without protection, and he's the one,
you're engaged,
and then one week later? (STAMMERING) Well, I did,
like I said, he looked
like Bon Jovi, and he was flirting
with me. I have... I really
do have a big
celebrity obsession. But Miss Lee,
you do understand. I figured if I cheated on him, he would break up with me. I'd been staying
at his house,
and his family was just... It was a really
close environment,
and I didn't come from that. MR. LEE: There was easier ways
to break up with me. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) JUDGE LAKE: Oh, wait,
no, no, hold on. You could've just said,
"Okay, yeah... MISS LEE: But he didn't
break up with me. JUDGE LAKE: I wanna
understand this. You had a celebrity
obsession, so you said, if you cheated
on him, he would
break up with you? Why did you wanna
break up? He had a really
close family life, and I didn't think
I was the right
person for him, but I don't like to be
the one breaking up. Had a real close family life. That kinda ended when
you cheated on me. JUDGE LAKE: How did that end
when she cheated, Mr. Lee? Well, she cheated on me,
and I'm, like, well, you know,
we're engaged... Mistakes happen, and so I loved her, too,
so we worked it out, but the next night, after she was supposed
to pick me up from work
and didn't, my cousin, his wife
did instead.
They told me, "Well, you know,
we kinda caught her
cheating on you." JUDGE LAKE: What did
they tell you
specifically? MR. LEE: They told me
that they found
her naked in his trailer
with him. MISS LEE:
Oh, but I wasn't
cheating that day. I was just hanging out
with him and his sister. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) MISS LEE: I do admit
to cheating twice
with this guy. What I did was not
that time. That's cheating prep. No, this was after
I already cheated.
I wasn't cheating anymore. Oh, so then that
was just post. Yes, I had left... So, it's the same guy... Yes. But you were just
hanging out that day. But you know
that's not right. JUDGE LAKE:
So wait a minute,
you all started this off like you were
star-crossed lovers
that found each other. Now... It turned sour
real quick. I just... And so how much cheating
has there been? MISS LEE: I've only
cheated on him
with two men. I got a little
pissed off 'cause,
I mean, at the time, you know, my family
disowned me,
I had no friends, she was a co-worker. JUDGE LAKE: Why did your
family disown you? Because she cheated
on me and I chose her
over them, and they didn't
like that, so it burned
a lot of bridges. So she cheated on you, they told you, "We don't want
you to be with her anymore." Yes, and I didn't do
what they wanted, so they threw me out. Just because
you went back
to somebody, they threw you out? It's messed up,
I know, but... You know she's cheated
on you with two guys, then you find out she's pregnant. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: All right,
when you find out
she's pregnant, do you believe
the child is yours? Yeah, at first,
she's my wife. When, I mean,
if you were
in my shoes, wouldn't you
believe that? I don't know. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I mean... I'm not gonna
sit up here and lie.
After what she said, no, no. I mean, she's cheated
on me before, but I figured,
why not stick around? JUDGE LAKE:
Things had gotten
a little better... Yeah, things got better. So you felt
like you could trust? MR. LEE: I felt like I could
trust her. I felt like
that this was my kid. JUDGE LAKE: But now,
you're standing in court with a marriage
on the brink
of divorce. This is correct. And now, you have doubts. MR. LEE: Yeah, I have doubts
because she revealed
to me that... He was there for me,
but never acknowledged
the baby, really. He never sang to her,
he never talked to her, going for ultrasounds. He was either asleep
in the room, or he
wouldn't even go. I worked late nights... JUDGE LAKE: He was
emotionally absent. So yeah, I was
kinda sleepy. Yes. And you were emotionally
absent, Mr. Lee, because you didn't
believe the child was yours? Well, after about
a week later, after we find out
she's pregnant, she told me
she cheated on me again, and that's where this
whole allegation came on. (AUDIENCE GASPING) So, it's like,
"Oh, by the way,
I slept with another guy." JUDGE LAKE: So... I was like, "Oh, man." So one month into
the pregnancy... One week
into the pregnancy. And then the third one
started jumping. JUDGE LAKE: So, wait a minute. because at first they said... Wait a minute, wait a minute,
wait a minute. One week into
the pregnancy, she tells you
she cheated on you? That is correct. Yes. For the third time? MISS LEE: Where was I
during this
conversation? JUDGE LAKE: Oh, you didn't...
You say it didn't happen. I mean serious... No, no! The last time
I cheated was
in Montana when I was told he was cheating on me
with a co-worker. MR. LEE: She told me. So, wait,
explain to me,
Mr. Lee, how did this go down?
What happened? MR. LEE: Well, she found out
she was pregnant.
We went to verify it. She told you,
"You may not
be the father?" Yeah, she told me
I may not be the father 'cause she slept with
another guy once. And you say you didn't
tell him that? MISS LEE: No. Well, now, that's not
a conversation
you forget. So, Mr. Lee, what?
Did she sit you down? She told you
on the phone?
She told you where? MR. LEE: Told me
after we left
the OB/GYN, and then, she's like,
"Well, you may not
be the father." And then what
did you say? I said,
"Well, we'll just
kinda ride it out, "and see what's gonna
happen here." 'Cause, I mean, there's still
a chance I could have
been the father, so I didn't want to
just abandon her
during pregnancy with what she might
be my kid. I mean, what kind of
father would I be
if I didn't at least see? She cheats on you
the first time... Yes. You take her back,
your family disowned you. Yeah. She cheats on you again, you take her back. Yeah. Then one week
into the pregnancy, she tells you
it may not be yours because she slept
with somebody else? Yes, Your Honor. And you stay with her. Yes, Your Honor. Despite her courts,
and despite everything,
I do love her. (AUDIENCE CHATTERING) I mean, I realize people...
People have problems. People do things
that they're not proud of. I mean, who among us
has not. Now, you stand here,
after saying you love her,
and you don't leave her, but now you're saying
you're going to divorce her. Yeah. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I've had enough of it. MR. LEE: We just can't
live with it, you know... A love's still there... We just, if the baby's
not his, we can't
stay together. We decided that if the baby isn't mine, we're just not gonna
stay together. If it is, we're gonna
try to patch things up, work things out,
try to move on from
this whole experience. Is that the agreement
of what's gonna happen? Yes, yes, Your Honor. MR. LEE: That is the agreement
of what's gonna happen. I mean, I have
the divorce papers right here. You do? Jerome, let me
see those please. So, you actually have
started the process
of filing for divorce. Yeah, we went ahead
and got the papers,
and we agreed upon this. So, these DNA results,
they really do
mean everything. They make or break
at this point. I mean, it's like you said,
you know, I put up
with a lot, and why didn't I leave her
years ago was because, I mean,
I was always hoping to, uh, make things right. And when you throw a kid
into the mix, it complicates
a lot of things. So, Miss Lee,
why do you cheat
on him so much? I wasn't... I never really saw
a good relationship. I love my mom to death,
but nobody in my family really showed me
how to be
in a relationship. My grandfather died
when I was six, and he was only...
Him and my grandmother were the only
decent ones
I really saw. So, you basically were
flying by the seat
of your pants. Yes, Your Honor. Literally. Yeah, literally. So, instead of working
on a relationship, you'd go outside of it
to look for your answers. Yes. What did you say, Mr. Lee? We really haven't even
had sex in about two years. Since I found out
I was pregnant, we haven't
had any intimacy. So, this has
really affected. It's really affected us. I mean, in my family, I mean, my biological family
is just... The relationship
is so strained. My family, doesn't even
call me on my birthday... Your family disowned you... Yes. And after all
of that, all you've
been through, now, the marriage
that you gave it up. You gave everything up
for this relationship. Which is why
I've worked so hard
to try to fix things. I've given
everything up
for this woman, I can't just
abandon ship. I mean, I've given...
It's all or nothing
with me. You know,
I put everything
I had into it, and the cheating continued,
but I still tried
to mend things simply because of
how much time, effort, how many bridges
I had to burn
just to build this castle. Wow. If you find out
today that... Carolyn is not
your child, then this
is all for nothing. That is correct,
but like I said, it's complicated
when you put
a child in the mix. You're right, sir. I mean, I just...
I was... (SIGHS) That's all right. (SOBBING) (SIGHS) I... JUDGE LAKE: Take your time. MR. LEE: I was there
when she was born. I signed the birth certificate
and everything. JUDGE LAKE: I'd like
to see that, Jerome. You were there
from the beginning, and I can see
that you love her. So, you sign
the birth certificate... I just don't want
to live a lie. I wanna know if this
is my daughter or not. So, Miss Lee, if he is not Carolyn's
biological father, do you know who is? No, Your Honor. I'd like to hear
from your witness.
Ma'am, please stand. State your name. Patricia Peterson. Miss Peterson, you are
Miss Lee's mother. Mother. What do you make
of your daughter's
infidelity? I mean, she's been
very honest. And just basically saying,
"I really was clueless." She never saw, really,
any happiness
in my household. I feel bad for that. Um, I was not
a great mother to her, but also, she got kinda
taken by my mother
and my stepfather. They had her
most of the time. But she did not see
good things going on
in the household. She saw a lot of fighting, she saw a lot of dishonesty, and so she got into
the dishonesty herself. So, she lived what she saw. When you look at
the state of her marriage, and what she has
done to that marriage, what are you thinking? I'm really surprised
he stuck around. I'm really
proud of him
that he has. That takes
a lot of guts. But now we've got a young, innocent
little girl,
your granddaughter, and we're in a situation
where we're not sure if Mr. Lee, your daughter's
husband is in fact
the child's father. I believe that's his,
and I've talked to her
many times. I've given her
opportunities
to tell me... Cause you've asked,
"Tell me the truth." Oh, I've asked many times 'cause I said I'm not
doing any of this.
I'm not if you cheated on him, I'm not having
anything to
do with this. She swears she didn't,
and I honestly believe that that little angel
right there belongs
to Brian. She admitted to cheating
three times... Yes. ...in this courtroom,
and Mr. Lee says that one week into
the pregnancy, she says,
"I cheated. I slept
with somebody else." Unfortunately,
I don't know
about that part. I know about
the other cheating. I don't know about
the one when
she was pregnant. We were kind of, um... MISS LEE: At odds. MISS PETERSON:
We were at odds.
We go back and forth. We've had rough times
'cause we were
a lot of alike. So, Miss Lee, I need to give you
this opportunity, because, you know,
it seems like you're
at a point in your life, where you just wanna
lay it on the line. Got this beautiful
little girl. So you wanna
tell the truth,
get it done. Is there anything
you haven't told us? Is there anyone else
you haven't admitted to? MISS LEE: No, Your Honor. Okay, I think it's time
for the results, family.
Do you agree? MR. LEE: Yeah. Let's have 'em. Jerome, thank you. You're welcome. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Lee v. Lee.</i> Pertaining to eleven-month-old... Carolyn Lee. It has been determined
by this court... Mr. Lee, you are Carolyn's father. Yes. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) MISS LEE: I told you. I told you. MISS PETERSON:
Told you. I'm so glad. MISS PETERSON: Sorry. I tried to tell him
I've been faithful to him. I made some mistakes. I did, but I've been
doing a lot better. I just want us
to be a family
and just start over. What do you think, Mr. Lee?
Can you try that? I think I won't have
any problems
trying that. I'm very happy
for you both.
I really am. Mostly I'm happy
for Carolyn because she has
her mom and her dad, and you guys
are willing
to give it a shot, but this is
gonna take
some work. You too have
a lot of water
under the bridge. You have a lot
that has transpired, trust issues, and you, Miss Lee,
have admitted that you have
some issues
with understanding, processing, and being
able to operate
in relationships because you don't have
a point of reference. Yes, Your Honor. You gotta be able
to do the work
to change that. I've started therapy recently, and they're going to start
doing family therapy so he and I
can live together. JUDGE LAKE: That's fantastic. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) That's what I want to hear. And this court also
has resources for you that I want you
to take advantage of, and I want you just
to figure out how
to get this right. It's never too late
for a brand new start. So, put the past
in the past, and I wish you both
and Carolyn an
amazing future, all right? Court is adjourned. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
