Please be seated. -Hello, Your Honor.
-Hello. This is the case
of<i> Elston v. Elston.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. [audience] Good day. Mr. and Ms. Elston, you previously appeared
in this courtroom with concerns surrounding the paternity of
two-year-old Carson. Let's take a look. We started sleeping together
two weeks after we met. Well, who else
did you have sex with? My friend's boyfriend. [audience exclaiming] It was on Valentine's day,
we had a threesome, -she knew about it.
-[audience exclaiming] The baby don't look
like me, he don't have my nose,
my ears and my eyes,
or nothing. My unborn child
and Carson deserves
their father, so I felt that we need
to get this all cleared up. When it comes to
20-month-old
Carson Gregory, Mr. Elston, you... -are not the father.
-[audience exclaiming
sadly] Ms. Elston, you are now here
hoping to save your marriage by proving your husband
is the biological father of your newborn son
Caeson. Mr. Elston, you recently
moved out of your home due to paternity doubts
and you are convinced you are not
Caeson's father either. Ms. Elston,
I'll start with you. You're in desperate need
to save your marriage. -Yes, Your Honor.
-Explain. Because Ladarian moved out, like shorty after
Caeson was born. He's been having
paternity issues since we found out
Carson was not his. <i> He started saying
that this baby
doesn't look like me.</i> <i> He's not mine and questions
about the conception</i> and he wants to leave
his family all of a sudden just because of
paternity issues
pertaining to Carson. Wow, it has really
taken a turn for the worse. Mr. Elston, you felt like
you had no other choice
but to leave the home? Yes, Your Honor,
because I can't keep,
you know, going through
the same cycle with babies not being mine
with the same person, and when Carson
came back not mine, it did, you know,
it hurt my feelings, but I still stepped up
and was a father to him, <i> so I'm just trying
to get the honest truth today</i> <i> before I, you know,
move on.</i> [Judge Lake] So how does this
doubt make you feel? I mean, you've packed up
and moved out of your own home. Left your wife. Carson, Caeson, I mean-- How do you feel
when you look at this baby? I mean, I don't have
a bond with him <i> and I don't feel like
he's mine.</i> <i> They look alike to me,
so they must have
the same father</i> <i> and the baby names
are yet identical
and it's...</i> -[Carli] You named him.
-Something here that
she's not telling me. We agreed on the name,
I tried changing it
plenty of times. He told me he didn't
wanna change the name. No, her friend chose
the name, Your Honor. [Judge Lake]
So, the truth is, even the name triggers you. -[Ladarian] Yes.
-Because it's so close
to Carson, Caeson. <i> Then you look at him,</i> <i> you think they look alike,
in your mind,</i> and then you just revisit what you went
through the last time
you were here when we determined
you were not Carson's
biological father. -Yes, ma'am.
-So, Mrs. Elston, how does your husband's doubt
affect you and the family? It's affected us a lot
because we're arguing, because you already know
Carson's not yours, <i> but you stepped up
and I'm glad,</i> <i> so I don't understand
how you think Caeson
is not yours.</i> So, Mr. Elston,
what was your initial doubt? How did you start
doubting? Well, Your Honor,
[clears throat] when I was at work,
I was three hours away. She texts me,
talkin' about she pregnant. So I was like,
"I can't leave work just to take you
to the hospital." So she said,
"I'll call my cousin and see if he can
take me." So when I get home, like we just started
arguing because I thought
this just don't seem right. And she was like,
"That wasn't even my cousin, they took me
to the hospital anyways, -it was my ex."
-[audience exclaiming] -So...
-No, Your Honor, that's not what happened. What happened was
he was at work, so I had a friend
come get me, but we already had,
you know,
issues from the past of me cheating
and all this stuff. So I didn't tell him
it was my ex, 'cause I didn't want him
to think I was sleeping
with him or anything. I told him,
"That was not my cousin
that took me, it was a friend." And he asked who,
and I told him who it was
and I was honest about it. I just did not want
no problems in our relationship
at that point. [Judge Lake] So you felt like
you were just being honest. [Carli]<i> Yeah, at the end.</i> <i> -At first, I was...</i>
-[Ladarian]<i> She could've
told me that in the beginning</i> -instead of hiding it from me.
-Oh, so she hid it at first. Yeah, I'm not finna
keep doing this. [Judge Lake] Ah. [audience clapping] So, throughout
the pregnancy, were you doubting then? Yes, ma'am,
'cause one day we got to arguing bad
and I left the house and she text me
and she was like, "That's why Carson
wasn't yours, Caeson's not yours either." And she said,
"I married you, just so I could
put you on child support just in case
you tried to leave me." And you know,
we're separated now -and I'm trying to file
for a divorce, so...
-[audience exclaiming] -[Judge Lake] Really?
-Now, we're separated when you come
over to the house... I have proof of
the text messages. Do you have any evidence of...
I'd like to see that. Jerome, will you hand me
that evidence, please? -Thank you.
-You're welcome. These are text messages
between you, Mr. Elston, and your wife, Ms. Elston. You write, "Why do you
say that, Carli?" <i> She responds...</i> <i> "He's not even your baby
just like Carson wasn't."</i> -[audience exclaiming]
-Whoa. Mr. Elston, you say,
"Blank, then don't ask me
to do nothing for them." <i> Ms. Elston, you say,
"Okay, bet, Ladarian."</i> [reading] [audience exclaiming] Whoa, that's a mouthful
right there. Ms. Elston, how could you expect him
to think Caeson was his
biological son after that exchange? I just know how
to push his buttons. Like, I wasn't trying
to like, I already know
what to say to him. He had stayed gone
the whole night, and he was out cheating
and doing him, and he wants to sit up
and say that Caeson
is not his, but... So you just said it
this one time out of anger? You were just
really angry. It happened
multiple times. -So...
-[audience exclaiming] -This is not the first--
-I've said it like three times
in my pregnancy, yes. [audience exclaiming] Well, Mr. Elston, you submitted
another text message. Ms. Elston said, <i> "Caeson is not yours anyways,
I blanked your homeboy."</i> [audience exclaiming] Mr. Elston said,
"Blank, you dirty dog." And then Ms. Elston
responded, <i> I'm-a still put you
on child support
because we married.</i> <i> That's the only reason
I married you. Blank.</i> [audience exclaiming] What kind of
conversation is this? I know how to push his buttons,
I know how to make him mad. So that's what I was sayin'. This is not button-pushing.
This is bomb-dropping. [Carli] No. [audience clapping] I mean, these exchanges
are designed to destroy. [audience murmuring
in agreement] You already said you had
one child that was his. Came back not his.
Now you doing this again? Yes. This is toxic. [audience] Yes. So, if you're
so quick to say
he's not yours, "That's what I'm-a do
is put you on child support,"
and-- Why do you stand here
so convinced that he is Caeson's
biological father? When I, um,
got pregnant with Carson, I was not in
a relationship with Ladarian and we already
established that on the
last time we was here. This time, we was engaged,
we was living together, and that's the only person
I was with when I conceived Caeson. So I'm pretty sure, he... Well, I'm actually
100% positive. -She was sleeping
with another guy.
-He is the dad. She was sleeping
with another guy. She conceived,
she got pregnant and during,
she was sleeping
with him and me, so... She admitted
to my friend that
she was cheating too. [audience exclaiming] I don't understand
how you think Caeson
is not yours. She admitted to... a friend? Yes, ma'am, my friend
came to the house
one weekend, it's a female, and she pulled me downstairs
when Carli was asleep and told me that Carli
had vented to her that she's been cheating,
she's been, you know, going to see
other people and... Your Honor, this is
the same friend
that he's sleeping with, so, no, she wants
to break us up. So she wants to break us up and the only reason
she's here today is because she wants
to say that, um, that he's not the dad and all this stuff
which she doesn't know
nothin' about. All right, I would like
to hear from her directly. -[Carli] I would, too.
-Jerome, would you
please escort -Ms. Stanfield
into the courtroom?
-[audience clapping] [Jerome] Go right up to
the witness stand up here? [Judge Lake] Ms. Stanfield,
thank you for joining us. -Yes, ma'am.
-We're here today
talking about the paternity of baby Caeson. Uh, during the testimony,
it has been brought out that you potentially
have a sexual relationship with Mr. Elston now. No, Your Honor. -[Carli] A married man...
-You deny that? I have not spoke
to either one of them -other than to argue.
-[Carli] But she was sleeping
with him a week ago. This was two weeks ago. [audience exclaiming] When you invited me over there. -knowing he wanted
to sleep with me.
-I didn't invite you nowhere. No, I did not know this. [Ladarian] See, I don't know
what to believe, they're going back
and forth and it's... So, Ms. Stanfield, what do you know about
the paternity of Caeson? From what I have
heard from both of them, Carli admitting to me
that she was sleeping-- [Carli] You don't know,
and you have nothing
to say here. -Be real. Be real.
-...admitting to me that she was sleeping
with other men around the time
that she got pregnant. -That her and Ladarian
were not together--
-[Judge Lake] Wait a minute. Tell me specifically. What happened
and what did she tell you? The day that I arrived
at their house to spend the weekend
with them, Ladarian had left
because they were
already arguing. She started talking to me
saying he's just a dog, he doesn't do anything
for her or the kids. That she was sleeping
with other men, that she... You just wanna break up
our relationship. He does do for me
and my kids. -Stop lying.
-I don't want anything
to do with you guys. -Stop lying.
-[audience laughing] So, wait.
Answer my question. Answer my question.
I asked, what did you know about this?
What did she tell you? Basically saying that
Caeson was not Ladarian's, that she was sleeping
with other men, that Ladarian and Caeson
look nothing alike. Just saying that... They look just alike,
you know that. [Stanfield]<i> No, they don't.</i> <i> Every time,
that you would ask me,</i> <i> I admitted that Caeson
looked just like you.</i> What did you do with this
information, Ms. Stanfield? I told Ladarian. [Carli] She just wants
to break us up 'cause the [bleep]
wants to come
and get what I have. You have no car,
you have no house,
you're homeless. Baby, stay where
you're at. He pays all my bills
and the car that
you all was [bleep] in -was mine, remember that.
-[audience exclaiming] Remember that.
You're just... No. Are you proving something? No, she's trying
to lie and break up us. Like, I already told you
I want my family back. She's over here
trying to tell him that
my son is not his. I know my son is his. I'm 100% positive. Ladarian even told me
he didn't believe-- [Judge Lake] But he's moved out
of the house. [Carli] He still comes over... And you've also told him
he's not the father. Because I was making him mad. I know how to push his buttons
as I said before, but he will go
and and be with
[bleep] like this and then come back to me
and act like
everything is okay. That's the problem.
[bleep] like this
is the problem. Our son is his,
I'm 100% positive. [Judge Lake] No, Ms. Elston, I, uh, I hate to
break it to you, but the problem is,
you already had one child and you told him
he was the father only to come to this courtroom <i> and find out that he wasn't.</i> <i> That's the problem.</i> [audience clapping] And then you have
a second child, and instead of having
enough sense to figure out another way
to have a conversation, you go right
for the low blow and say,
"You're not the father, and I slept with your boy and now I'm just gonna
put you on child support," and then expect that
that's not going to negatively affect
your marriage and your relationship. Because what I read
on these text messages amounts to
emotional abuse. [audience murmuring
in agreement] He already hung in there
after last hearing when Carson ended up
not being his son, and said he was gonna
step up to the plate. Now, and look,
I'm gonna just tell you
the truth. He's a young,
handsome, young guy. That baby wasn't his. He could've exited
stage left, and been gone. And made a full-on family
with somebody else. I-I mean, there's no reason
for him to entertain you
unless he loved you. [audience murmuring
in agreement] You all just sabotaging
your lives so early. We got another baby now. <i> And a marriage on the line.</i> <i> Baby's last name
is Elston.</i> That's your family name,
that's your name, Mr. Elston. But you don't know
if it's yours. That's correct. You know what, Jerome,
I'm ready for the results. [audience cheering] These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. And a marriage
on the line. In the case of<i>
Elston v. Elston,</i> when it comes to
one-month-old
Caeson Elston... it has been determined
by this Court... Mr. Elston, you... are the father. [audience cheering] Caeson is your
little boy. But I'm, you know,
I still treat Carson
like he's mine too, so I don't show him
no different attention. You're doing an amazing job
and thank you for everything. I appreciate it. Thank you.
That's good, honey. That's a good start. I accept your apology,
but still there's some... things we got to work on. [Judge Lake] We can't
wrap it up in a bow today. That's for sure. It's been too much water
under this bridge. Y'all gonna float
the whole house away. [audience laughing] No, really. And I hope this has been
a lesson learned for you. We have counseling and
resources for you all because you all gotta
start figuring this out. Ms. Elston. [audience clapping] You gotta get yourself
together, babe. Yes, ma'am. There's an old saying,
I can't say it all the way,
but... Always says,
"Don't let your mouth
write a check that your...can't cash." I'm serious. Yes, Your Honor. All right. I want you all
to go talk to Dr. Jeff, I want you all to start
sorting this thing out. I really hope that
you can save your marriage. -Yes, ma'am.
-You have two beautiful,
beautiful children and I wish you all
the very best. Court is adjourned.
