Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Coleman v. Bennett.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms. Coleman, you say today
you will be vindicated when the DNA test proves
Mr. Bennett is the father of your four-month-old
daughter, Mar'Leeya. TARYN COLEMAN: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You say
the only reason
he has doubt is because he's been
through this situation
in the past. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Bennett, you say
Ms. Coleman
is a nymphomaniac... (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) ...who will sleep with
just about anyone. Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: In fact, you claim you caught her having sex
with another man, which is exactly why
you don't believe
you are the father. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So Ms. Coleman, you are furious
that Mr. Bennett
is denying Mar'Leeya. Explain. Well, Mr. Bennett
has seven kids, and... (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) ...he treats my baby
like the Cinderella step-child. And that's not
what's going on because he's mistreating her. He doesn't like to keep her. I would ask him
could he watch her
while I do my homework? Ten minutes later,
he's bringing her back. I ask him for some diapers. He sent some fruit
to my granny's house trying to apologize
for being such a bad boyfriend
and all that, and... He just needs to get
his priorities together because at the end of the day, regardless if you're going to
be with me or whatever, my kids are still here
and you still need
to take care of my kids like you try to take care
of the rest of them. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) So, all right. We heard that. MARK BENNETT: Okay. So, Mr. Bennett, are you
treating her baby like she's
a Cinderella step-child? No, I just don't...
I can't get no bond with her 'cause I don't feel
like she's my child. Why am I gonna get a bond
with a child for that
might not be mine? And so, you feel
like the child
may not be yours, and so, you don't want
to establish the bond. No, I don't. What for? Why'd you sign
a birth certificate? 'Cause... At the time,
we was together. COLEMAN:<i> Should say
where you was at.</i> BENNETT:<i> Same time,
we was together...</i> COLEMAN:<i> All right.</i> BENNETT:<i> You know
what I'm sayin'?
But, anyway...</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i> All right.</i> So take me back.
I wanna understand the nature
of this relationship. Ms. Coleman, how'd you meet? I met him at work,
on the aisle. He stopped me, talking,
flirting, making me laugh, swearing he was single, <i> and doing what he do best.</i> <i> He's so friendly.</i> <i> And so...</i> <i> About a month later,
I gave him my number.</i> He came over.
I let him be my booty call, nothing more,
nothing less,
that's it. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) You go home. It wasn't no
a month later though. Yes, it was. No, it went about two weeks... You said you'll let him
be your booty-call. COLEMAN: Yes, and that was it. It wasn't a month. It was about
like two weeks... Stay over there on your side. Come on, be honest. Let it be real. I gave you my number
at the beginning of April. Come on. COLEMAN: Anyway, so... About a month after that,
he... "Can I come
wash my clothes?" And he never left. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Oh! (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) And now, I just
became pregnant
ever since. So, he went from a booty-call
to resident like that? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) He claimed... He claimed
he was trying to go back home
but he "ran out of gas" and his car stopped,
and now he's just been
in my house ever since. I just don't understand. Why didn't you
put me out then? COLEMAN: I did put you out many
times, but you still came back. Why... I'm saying... We've been together
almost three years.
You never put me out. It ain't three years.
It's two. What it is? All right, so bottom line
was the booty-call... Yes. ...became your
live-in boyfriend. Yes. JUDGE LAKE:
Were you all committed? Were you using protection
when you had sex? I was committed.
He wasn't. So it ain't... Committed to what? What you committed to? To our sex life,
not to you. Okay? BENNETT: You were committed
to everybody else too. COLEMAN: No. Well, were you having sex
with anybody else? No, I didn't have sex
with anybody else. Who else was you committed to? You just said it.
Who else were you committed to? I was committed
to our sex life. I'm not interested
in no relationship
unless you don't do right. Oh, I see what you mean.
You were saying you're only
having sex with him but you didn't have feelings
like you all were gonna be
in this committed relationship, <i> boyfriend and girlfriend,
because you felt like</i> <i> he was still having sex
with other people.</i> COLEMAN:<i> He was. Yes.</i> BENNETT: And you was
havin' that too. No, I wasn't. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Bennett, we're here in<i> Paternity Court,</i> so, at some point in time, you believe
she was cheating on you. Yes, ma'am, she was. When did you
come to that conclusion? What made you believe that? BENNETT: We moved
to our apartment. Um, the dude that lived
on top of us, that she never communicated
with him at all at first, like no communication appeared. We get into it,
and then all of a sudden
I come back home, y'all, they "buddy-buddy." Like, they real friendly
that he knows my kids' names
and everything else, like, what's up with that?
You feel me? So I asked the about it 'cause see, they made me
suspicious about the guy, like, "How all of a sudden
y'all talking at first? "Y'all weren't talking
back then." You know
what I'm sayin'? And then, she calm. And till the time I was home,
"Oh, he cool." That's it.
That's all and... He was playing games. Y'all weren't cool then. So you thought she had gotten
real buddy-buddy
with the neighbor... BENNETT: Yeah. ...a neighbor she didn't
even talk to before. Yeah, no. JUDGE LAKE: But all of
a sudden, after you were gone you came back,
now they buddy-buddies? So you thought she was
sleeping with the neighbor? COLEMAN: He's only
saying it because my baby's dark skinned
and that man dark skinned. I'm talking about
the hairline and all that. But the man's not
as dark as him, and my baby
is as dark as him. BENNETT: So what, the hairline and all,
just alike. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Well,
you know, in this courtroom... I promise. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) They look just alike. We don't go by skin color
in this court room 'cause we know
it doesn't add up. My first kid has light skin. JUDGE LAKE: We know
it doesn't add up. My baby looks just like,
a little more like him
than the other ones he claimed, that don't even know
if they're his. (AUDIENCE MEMBER LAUGHS) How about that? Hey, I'm looking at her... COLEMAN: Okay. JUDGE LAKE:<i> So, Mr. Bennett,
what other reasons
do you have...</i> You feel like she was cheating. Okay, look,
like, one time, um, she went out with a friend,
she went to the club, right? Okay, the friend sent me
a picture of her car
being outside, when she supposed to be
spending the night
at somebody else's house. Okay, when I looked
at the picture,
it was, like, four... It was about five o'clock
in the morning. So I went to go get a homie,
you know what I'm saying?
I went to go get a homie, boom, we go over
to the house. Can I show you
where the house is, so I can finish explaining
where it's at? Yes, you may. BENNETT: Yeah, yeah. Cross over to the exhibit. Let me show you. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) (SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. BENNETT: Okay, this is
our apartment building.
Her car was out here. I told my homie
to stay right here, all right? 'Cause right, in that alley, you can't...
This is our front door
and this is our side door. You can't get out,
you can't go nowhere. So I came right here,
to this window right here, put my ear to the window, I could hear something,
I don't know
if they was doing it, or if they was
finished doing it, 'cause, you know, you laugh
after you get through
having sex. Or whatever. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Oh. Just saying, yeah. I'm just saying,
'cause when we get through
having sex, she fall out of stuff,
like that, we laugh. You laugh? COLEMAN: That ain't even funny. We talk and everything. So you heard a man
inside the apartment... He lying, 'cause I was
in the closet when he was
beating on my window. (AUDIENCE GASPS) She claims
she was in the closet, but I don't think
she was in the closet,
'cause I could hear her. So you were
beating on the window, too? Yeah, I knocked on the window,
nobody came out. So, after, when nobody
didn't come out, I got in the car and I left,
I called her phone. Well, when, uh...
Yeah, that's it. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I went... I called the phone.
I called the phone. I called the phone.
I kept, kept
constantly calling the phone. She wouldn't answer the phone. So I feel like
she got caught up. So the next day,
she gonna hit me up with, "Good morning,
what are you doing?" So I was like, "What did
you do last night? "'Cause you ain't answering
my phone calls or texts." She was also
talking about some, um... "I went to go spend the night
at my friend's house." So I sent her the picture. <i>I send her the picture, like,
"This is your car
at 5:00, 6:00 in the morning,</i> <i> "so how you
go to a friend's house..."</i> <i> She talking about some,
"Oh, I can get around,
I don't need my car."</i> "You don't go nowhere
without your car." You feeling me? COLEMAN: Okay, he's a liar. But you just said
you was at home... I'm a liar, but you just said
you was at the house
in the closet. Let me tell you
what really went on. Did you not just say that? Be quiet. He's a liar. Did you not just say that? Let me tell you what happened. Come on, now. I went to work that day.
we was already not
on good terms. I got off at 8 o'clock. And I tell him,
"Well, I'm going out." Ain't telling him
where I was going,
I'm going out. So anyways, I go out
or whatever...
JUDGE LAKE: Mmm. ...and I go back home. Now he was the one up there,
messing around
with that little bitty girl. That's two different things. Now look, know that they're a little younger
and she stay in the same
apartment complex as me. Same building. He was out there with her,
in the car, doing whatever
they supposed to be doing. That's how he knew
I wasn't at home. So he came back
at 6:09 in the morning, came beating
on all of my windows
in my bedroom. So when he beat the first time,
I thought it was somebody here,
trying something upstairs, I was like,
"Dang, what they doing?" Window's on the side. Did it again and again...
That's 'cause I was sleeping. You was sleeping? (COLEMAN SIGHS) So he beat again,
so I went
and got in the closet, 'cause I just thought he was
gonna go ahead and beat the front door in
once he got around there. But he thought
you were in there
with a man. But then he thought wrong,
'cause if I was
in there with one, I would've opened the door
and let him beat him up. Okay? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I'm not gonna mess with nobody
that can't whoop you, okay? You would've
let me beat him up? No, no, no, baby,
I 'm not gonna mess with nobody
that can't beat you up. That's stupid, okay? You gonna have
a hard time finding him. I told you you couldn't mess with people
that can't beat me up. And he be wanting to know
why I be fooling around, okay?
Like, that's crazy. So you admit
you be pulling up... Yes, 'cause you stupid. (CHUCKLES) JUDGE LAKE: So... Can't make this up. ...you went and hid
in the closet? Yes, 'cause I thought
he was gonna
beat my front door in. But you knew it was him. Yeah... So why not just open the door
and say, "What's your problem?" No, because he crazy. That's my point. I've been trying
to find that answer forever. No, 'cause he like
to argue and stuff. He like to argue
and come in
and walk through your house. You were on one... I thought there was
someone else in. You don't stay there, baby,
that's my house. No, I stayed there
two months... No, no, no, you haven't
been there since May,
let's get this understood. Yeah, well, okay,
that's three months. Okay. Okay, so... (SIGHS) Take me to the time
you found out you were pregnant
with Mar'Leeya. Okay, so... What happened? We were working
at the same job, JUDGE LAKE: Mmm-hmm. and we worked the Sunday
through Wednesday schedule,
so it was a Saturday night. And, okay,
we're getting bored here,
it's going down, okay, and he was like,
"It's about to happen." And I said, "Two more minutes." And he was like,
"I don't have
two more minutes," then there,
I got pregnant. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) Oh, Jesus. (BENNETT LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: Oh, Lord. For real. JUDGE LAKE: I...
I do want the truth. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I do want that. But the explicit truth, um... Got the visual. So the bottom line is, you don't do
the withdrawal method and you come up pregnant. COLEMAN:<i> Yes.</i> <i> JUDGE LAKE: And tell me
how you told him.</i> Well, he told me.
So, I didn't have to tell him. So when I went to the doctor... BENNETT: Who else was involved? He was there
throughout the pregnancy. He will go to the doctor
and stuff. Until he got mad at me, when he gets mad at me,
he won't show up. And then, every time
he gets mad at me, that's when the baby's not his. And he always say,
my baby don't look like him. But the little girl
that he do have <i> that don't look like him,
be like, "Well, that baby
looks like me."</i> <i> He always throws that
in my face.</i> BENNETT:<i> See,
you do that all the time.</i> Okay. So, other than believing she slept with a neighbor or someone else
at 4:00 am, what other reason, Mr. Bennett, do you have to doubt? She done told me
plenty of times
I ain't the father. Just like yesterday. She told me yesterday,
"Don't worry about my kids. "You worry about
the other five you got. "These two ain't yours." No, no. I said, "You should
never see these two." I didn't say
they weren't yours. You don't have to see kids
you don't pay for. BENNETT: You say
that all the time. COLEMAN:<i> How you gonna
change the diaper</i> <i> if you can't even buy none?</i> BENNETT:<i> The same way
I've been doing it.</i> COLEMAN:<i> No.</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i> So, wait a minute.</i> <i> Are you saying, Mr. Bennett,</i> that Ms. Coleman
has said to you,
"These are not your kids"? BENNETT: She done said it
multiple times. She even like... even... She don't even
click with my other
baby mamas. They wouldn't laugh
about me. You know what I'm saying,
this is how terrible she is. He wakes up everyday
and humiliates me
on Facebook. He gets online,
I'm a bad mom, he gonna turn me in
to the people. I don't do this.
I don't do that. He'll go live for like
25 minutes at a time, and like dog me
like I ain't never did
nothing for him, to him,
took care of them kids. What kids you talking about? They come to the house
looking like nobody cares
about them. I don't ever send
'em home hungry. Off my ticket. BENNETT: You don't have
somebody, get grandma
to take care of you. I'm a full-time student. When I was pregnant, I started
savings and everything for my baby. He sat on the couch
and didn't do nothing. He didn't do nothing! I've made a life
for my own kids. He didn't do nothing. People be telling him
to go get him
a little temporary job. He'll be like,
"Nah, I'm straight,
I'm chilling." No, you not straight.
You not chilling. You got seven kids
and you got me messed up. <i>That's what's really going on.</i> <i>Tell him about that.</i> Tell me, "Can I get
some damn money
for cigarettes and stuff?" You can't even
support your habits. So why are you smoking? What do you mean? What do you mean?
Like, I'm sick of this. I like how you acted it out. What do you mean?
You can't even... You can't even get up
and go buy you nothing to eat. So then I'm buying you
something to eat, no. I'm only 22 years old
and he's 30. You should have
more to your name besides that damn car
that barely even work. What do you mean? Come on, baby. You can't pipe up on me. It don't matter where I work. You don't have a job. She just worked one day. You don't even have a job! You get hand outs. JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute!
Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
Let's get some order. You don't do nothing for me. COLEMAN: No, I didn't. JUDGE LAKE:
Let's get some order. Let's get some order. Let's be honest. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Coleman
and Mr. Bennett, this doesn't help us. It doesn't help us. We're here for Mar'leeya. It doesn't help us. I wish all this arguing
and fussing and fighting and back and forth could
go back and change time and we could just know who Mar'Leeya's
biological father is and you all be supporting her <i> and raising her together.</i> <i> I wish that...</i> <i> we could do that.</i> But we can't. We're here. This is it. And it doesn't matter
how much you bash her or Ms. Coleman,
how much you bash him. It doesn't change the fact that both of you
all had a part to play in why you arrived here today. You do. And Mar'Leeya is now
four months old. COLEMAN:<i> Yes.</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i>
She's a beautiful little girl.</i> <i> You say, Mr. Bennett
is not treating her</i> the way a father
should treat a daughter. COLEMAN: No. He's not providing for her? COLEMAN: No. Lying again. JUDGE LAKE: And not stepping up
to the plate. COLEMAN: No. I have to ask you,
Ms. Coleman, can you tell the court that there was just not one other person you were intimate with
during that time where there would be a question about Mar'Leeya's paternity? I was not with nobody at all. Absolutely no surprises? COLEMAN: None. Jerome,
I'm ready for the results. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and
they read as follows. <i> In the case of
Coleman v. Bennett...</i> <i> when it comes to
four-month-old Mar'Leeya,</i> <i> Bennett...</i> It has been determined
by this Court... Mr. Bennett... you... are the father. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) You are the father. That's your baby. Beautiful little girl. COLEMAN: Pretty silent now,
ain't we? (SCOFFS) JUDGE LAKE: That's exactly
what I was thinking. BENNETT: I'm just ready to go. So much to say,
until now. BENNETT: Yeah. It still don't change the fact that you did
everything that you did. And you still ain't got
to ever worry about seeing her. JUDGE LAKE: Listen... Don't care. No, we're not going there. We're not doing that. BENNETT: I gotta deal with it. We're not doing that. I gotta deal
with it every day.
Every day. JUDGE LAKE:
We're not doing that. Gotta learn how to... JUDGE LAKE: But you know what,
Mr. Bennett? No, no.
'Cause this is a good moment for me to have you
understand this. You, and every other man, that decide they gonna sleep
with a young girl, but then, you go on and expect
once you get her pregnant, she's gonna all of a sudden
get maturity. But you want maturity from her
that you don't show. You can't get
what you don't give. You've had a child... <i> with a young woman...</i> who just, last year, got to have
first drink in a bar
or go to a night club. But now, all of a sudden,
it's like, "This is what
I gotta deal with." I mean, sometimes
you men kill me with this, that, "This is what
I gotta deal with." Yeah, you slept with it,
you deal with it. (CROWD APPLAUDS) That's it. Shoot, Mar'Leeya
be laying like, "I gotta deal
with both of them." (CROWD APPLAUDS AND CHEERS) Okay? "What am I gonna do?" I'm speaking for her. You all gotta
get this thing together. I want you all
to go talk to Dr. Jeff and I wish you all
the very, very best. Court is adjourned.
