You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor.
This is the case of<i>
Clark versus Propst.</i> JUDGE LAKE:
Thank you, Jerome. You're welcome. Good day, everyone. Mr. Clark, you have petitioned
for a paternity test... Yes, Your Honor. ...for your
four-year-old daughter,
Jay Leona. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You question
whether you are her biological father because of
her mother's sexually
promiscuous lifestyle. Yes, that's true. You say that her job
as an exotic dancer... CLARK: Stripper. ...has torn
your relationship apart, and if the results today
prove the child is yours you are planning to
seek sole custody. Yes, I am. JUDGE LAKE: Now, Miss Propst,
you admit to cheating on
Mr. Clark... Yes. ...but state your job does not
make you a bad mother. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You admit that
you are unsure who Jay Leona's father is because you had
an affair around the time
of conception. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Now you say
you're hoping today's results will somehow put
your fractured family
back together. That's correct. So, Mr. Clark, what is the hardest part about
the possibility you may not be
Jay Leona's father? Well, Your Honor, I honestly
and truly believe, for the last four years
of my life, I've been
living a complete lie. You're not living a lie. CLARK: Yes, I am. I don't believe she has a clue
or idea who the father's
name is. JUDGE LAKE: So take me back
a little bit. How did this relationship
get to this point? You're together
and you're happy. Well this is how it happened.
I was in Job Corps. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. I was working to get my CNA,
nursing license. Okay. CLARK: I met her at a party. CLARK: She's a very fun,
you know, loving girl at that
particular time. Took it easy, fell back.
I went to school. Now, I came back for
a New Year's party, that was the first time
we had sex. CLARK: That was three months
prior to when we had sex,
everything was cool. Throughout this course
and this time, she became
a totally different person. So, when you met her
she was one way. Yes, and afterwards
she was something else. She was just a complete liar,
that's how I see it. How was I a liar? That's why we're here today.
She's already admitted
to cheating, she knows this. That's not being a liar.
I admitted to cheating... CLARK: Cheating is lying... ...which means you asked
and I admitted it. ...and lying is cheating. That's not being a liar. It's the same thing. I don't even have to look
at you to say that. All right, so, Miss Propst,
let me ask you. Now, you admit you were
in a relationship
with Mr. Clark, but then, at some point,
you cheated. CLARK: And lied. Yes, Your Honor.
I did not lie. You cheat and you lie,
it's the same thing. Yes, Your Honor.
Basically how this happened, you know, I had went
to a party with a friend
that I was working with at the time, and I had seen
this guy that I like. He got my number
and I slept with him
that same night and I found out I was pregnant. And this was, admittedly,
around the time
of conception. Yes, Honor, I have a calendar.
Can I show you? I have submitted it
to the court. Around Labor Day weekend
I slept with this guy,
and Anthony. So, right there on the first
is where I slept with
the other guy. JUDGE LAKE: Okay, so,
on September first,
indicated in green, you slept with the other guy
at the party. Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: In yellow
are the dates that you slept
with Anthony. Yes, ma'am. They told me my
conception date was
around that time. So, Jay Leona was born
in June. PROPST: Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: So, as we
count back, that first week
in September would be the week of conception... PROPST: Yes. ...during which time
you slept with both guys? Yes, Your Honor. When did you learn that she
had slept with someone else
during the time of conception? Well actually, I'm going
to give you an example. You know, we had intercourse
one time. She took a shower. I went through, you know,
her phone. I found
texts to men. I found pictures of herself,
texting photos, sending those
to other men, and even... That was made up. CLARK: No, it wasn't made up. Your Honor, I even have
proof right here, right now. I sent the photos... But, like I was saying, I even
know that she has texted men
for sexual favors for money. Those are things
I know for a fact. That is not true. CLARK: Your Honor,
I have pictures right here.
I have evidence. Jerome, can you hand me
these photos please? Here you go, Your Honor. So these are photos that,
while you were in
a relationship, she was texting out
to other men? Yes. PROPST: Your Honor,
if I may say, those photos
that he found in my phone, I had put those in my phone
and sent them just to see if
he was going through my phone, are a couple months
before that we had... So you had set him up
with these photos? Yes, ma'am, but
a couple of months... CLARK: That's a lie. ...before that, I was texting
a guy from a club that would
come out who was one of my money men
and he had seen some tapes... One of your money men? Yes, ma'am. One of the guys
that come and see me
frequently at the club, that pay me good money.
So he had seen where I
had been texting this guy and he took it upon himself
to call this guy back and tell him, "She has a man,"
and all this, and I lost
that client. And we had agreed he's not
going to go through my phone,
I won't go through his phone. And when I was in the shower
that day, that's how he had
found those pictures. There was cheating
and you admit to it. Yes. Mr. Clark, you stated to
the court that you have
a close relationship with Jay Leona. Yes, I have a special bond
with my daughter. Whenever she goes to school
she speaks proudly of me. She talks about her dad
to everyone. When she goes to church,
she speaks about her father. I'm the last person who gives
her a kiss and a hug. Her mother can't be there
to do that because she's quote-unquote, having
the time of her life. I'm not having the time of
my life. I'm supporting my daughter the way I believe
you should have to. I'm trying to work, Your Honor and support me
and my children which... I have to do on my own anyway. CLARK: You don't have to
do that. I have to do that to support
me and my children. He doesn't
know what it's like. CLARK: Like I was saying,
Your Honor... He doesn't know what it's like to be passed around family
member to family member. No, you don't. You have
a great family. Yes, I do. Like I was saying, I have
deceased parents. What she has to understand is
I would never rob my child
of the opportunity to have an open household or a healthy
family, period. Doesn't matter
what your job is. You can get a healthy job
and not do the things you do. That's just how I see it. If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. We've established
that she's cheated. JUDGE LAKE: We've established
that the paternity
is at issue. Now, Miss Propst,
is exotic dancing just
the career of your choice? Stripper. I'm an exotic dancer. No, Your Honor.
I had a rough childhood. Me and my family never
got along. My father was
never around. I just want for my daughter
to have the father that I
never had. I had to do what I have to do
to provide for me
and my children. The money's going
to be spent the same way. JUDGE LAKE: Wait, now how many
children do you have together? BOTH: Two. JUDGE LAKE: So he's
already helping to support and take care of
your other child? CLARK: Yes. Until recently, what you have
to understand is that whenever
I was... From the beginning, you know,
when I was doing this, I did
lie to him about dancing. I told him I was going
to be stripping and I had
to do what I had to do, like I said, to make a better
way for me and my kids
because, at the time, he was not helping me pay any
bills. He was not helping me
with anything in my apartment. He had so much to say
about it but did not have
a problem helping me spend the money that I was making. That's not the point. Oh, okay. Now, are you reaping
the benefits from
Miss Propst's work? Yes. Yes. Yes. It's not about the benefits.
You can do so much. It's about the benefits! I don't know anybody
that just exotic dances
for their health. You exotic dance, usually,
to make money. Thank you! First off, when she takes
her money and she spends it
on clothing. You know, that's one thing. For the kids,
and myself, yes. But she also pleasures
herself. I do a lot
of self-sacrifices. I put schooling on hold,
once upon a time, while she
put her career of stripping on a pole, that's so healthy
for her, for providing for
her kids, but at the same time I put education on hold
to work a nine to five. I put my education
on hold every day! I put my education on hold to bring in a hard earned
check that I can benefit from
my taxes and one day have some
insurance for my child.
Healthcare? She gets none of those from
stripping. Those men can't
take my kids to the doctor. They can't run them from
daycare to daycare. I can, and I have to provide
for those things.
Not those men! You've never partaken in any
of the proceeds from this job? Well, maybe a sandwich. A sandwich. He's lying. I never went out shopping
with her money at all! Yes, he has. No, I haven't! I bought him clothes just like
I bought myself clothes. I provided for my children,
Your Honor, I have. So Mr. Clark, as soon as she
got this job you said, "No way". You don't want her
doing this. She knew I didn't like it. Out of my love out of her,
and her disrespect for me,
I still allowed it to go on, because I truly loved her.
I never had a family.
My parents are deceased. So, therefore, with my parents
being deceased, I want to have
a family. It's something I earned.
You know, I earned for this,
I want it. Every day I wake up,
I see my daughter,
I'm proud of her. Just knowing the fact
that she could or could not be
mine, yeah, it hurts me, but
I still go on every day. Why has it taken you
four years to get
to this point? I wanted to be to a point
where I can tell my daughter, you know, face to face,
she's still not at that
age yet, and this has been an issue
since day one. When she was born I had
a feeling. She told me she was
pregnant when she was three months along.
I feel if you was comfortable,
and you knew that I was the father, you would
have told me day one. He already knew. You ruined the best day
of my life, my opportunity
to be happy for myself, and my family by keeping
this secret. Therefore I knew something
was up for the beginning. I could have just been like,
"Yay," you know,
"I'm pregnant." No. You could have told me
when it happened,
at the same time. I could have told him I was
pregnant without saying
there's a possibility of this not being his child. At what point did you tell him
that he may not be the father? I did not tell him right away,
which I should have,
but I was confused. Like I told you, I did
not know who was the father
of my child. I did not want to ruin
the relationship that we had. But whenever he asked,
like you know, "Your stomach
is getting bigger, "do you have something
that you want to tell me?" I told him, "I'm pregnant
and there's a possibility you
might not even be the father." So I told him. He knew that
when our child was born that he may not be
the father of our child. Should have told me
from the beginning. It's not like she's one
or three and I'm dropping
this bomb that you may
not be the father. He knew.
He wasn't even there to sign
the birth certificate. He was not even with her until
she was, like, six months old. So, Mr. Clark, you have known
this from birth. You've been
aware that, potentially, Jay Leona may not
be your child. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And yet you still
went ahead and established this beautiful relationship
with her. Yes, I have. I think that's wonderful. CLARK: Thank you. I think that's admirable.
Tell me a little about
your relationship. She's special to me.
She's a joy in my life.
When I see her, you know, I get a glimpse of what
I could possibly leave here
as a legacy of myself behind. To know that I could raise her
the right way,
it makes me proud. It makes me proud to be
a father. I always wanted
to be a family guy anyway. I call myself a proud dad.
I even got a specialized
T-shirt made at home. The results of this test
are very important to you. Yes, they are.
They're critical. He is a great father.
There's no doubt in my mind
that he is a good father. Which, you know, I pray every
night that he is the father
of my child because I want my daughter to have
her father in her life. I've never had my father
in my life. He was never
around, you know, and this other guy,
like I told you,
it's very embarrassing... JUDGE LAKE: Where is he? Like I told you before,
I met him at a party, you know, I tried to look
for him a couple of times
and he lied about his name. I found out through a friend
that he's deceased. Okay. She originally told me that
it was a one night stand, and this is how the lies
build up. That's what she originally
told me, that it was
a one night stand. PROPST: I did not tell him
that it was a one night stand. Yes, she did. Why are you lying? Whenever she first broke
it down to me, it was supposed to be,
"Oh, I made a mistake.
Oh, it was an accident. "I really love you." PROPST: Because I did make
a mistake. People make mistakes
all the time. CLARK: Then I found out that she'd actually been
seeing this guy. I didn't know about this
calendar thing until today. That's not true. To see those just proves
it's all in the pudding,
you know. You're a liar. Mr. Clark, I can't get past
the fact that you've known
from the beginning that there was doubt. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And yet,
for four years you've been
a good man, a good father. You obviously love this woman. Yes, I do.
I love my child more. And, if I get these results
today and the child is mine,
I want sole custody. Your Honor, he took my kids
away, we've basically... I didn't take your kids away. ...not been together
for two months,
and the agreement was, "I'm gonna take them till...
I want you to find
a better job because "I feel like you're making
a bad example for our kids." Have you been looking
for a better job? And since he's been gone, I've enrolled in school to go
to dental assistant school, so
I start school in two weeks. I just want to save
our relationship and find out if he is
the father of my child. So Mr. Clark, she's saying
that she's making strides to change her life because
you've asked her to do so, and probably on her
own accord, she wants
to make sure... Yes, Your Honor. She's told so many lies
I don't believe that. You don't have to. Until that day actually starts
that's when it begins. And just because you
a month in school or you had
a job for two weeks doesn't mean it's gonna be
all gravy then. This goes on
for four years. Your Honor, he always acts
like he's better than me. She's the type of person, she
lies to get what she wants. But Mr. Clark, you've gotta
admit, she has to start
somewhere. I mean, she does. JUDGE LAKE: If she's gonna try
and enroll in school, find another job,
be a dental assistant, you gotta decide that you're
going to support her,
encourage her, for your children's sake
at least. She obviously wants
to change. If not for your sake, then
for the sake of your family
as a whole. Isn't that a start? Yes it is.
It's just to the point where my mind, my feelings,
my emotions are exhausted. It's been four years
of nonsense. It's not about you, though. And after that you get fed up.
You're right, it's not
about me. This is a paternity court.
It's about my child.
I will be there as a dad, and I will support her,
and with Jay Leona,
speaking of. But, as far as maintaining
a relationship with her
and knowing that that's something that
she betrayed of me.
I couldn't do that. PROPST: I don't agree. CLARK: It is a mistake
you made and you're gonna be paying
for it for a long time. There's a 50/50 chance
of you being or not being
the father, and that's why
we're here today. I pray that he's the dad. All right, well, let's go to
the results. Jerome, do you have
the envelope? Well, let's go to the results. Jerome, do you have
the envelope? JEROME: I certainly do. There you go, Judge. Thank you. These results were prepared by
DNA Diagnostics. In the case of<i>
Clark versus Propst,</i> Mr. Clark, when it comes to
four-year-old Jay Leona, you are not her father. PROPST: I'm sorry. Don't come over here. I'm sorry, but you already
knew before we came that you might
not be her father. It doesn't matter. I'm going to continue
providing for my child. She will always be
my daughter, you know,
through thick and thin, no matter what the results. If I wasn't her father,
obviously we all know,
she doesn't have one. She doesn't have one.
Without me she doesn't
have one. I will not allow some guy from
the club, or some guy from
the street, you know, to pick up where I left off,
'cause nobody can do that. So I'm gonna remain being
the father I need to be. Mr. Clark, not only is that
commendable, that's what real men do. I've listened to many cases
before this court and sometimes there's a pause
before a man steps up and says, "I'm still going
to step in and be her father." But with you there was
no pause. And I have to acknowledge that
because it speaks to the love
you have for her. I have deep love for her.
Well, that's my baby. And now I have to
keep it real with you. That apology you gave,
you're gonna have to do
better than that. Because you are one lucky
young lady. Despite your missteps, you still have a man
that stands there and says, without a shadow of a doubt,
that he's gonna raise
your baby girl as his own, to make sure she's okay.
And regardless of what
you two do as parents, the important thing,
to this court, are those kids. And you have all got to learn
how to co-parent together. The kids are counting on you,
all right? BOTH: Yes, ma'am. Court is adjourned. (GAVEL BANGS) I believe what Judge Lake had
to say was very strong. She was absolutely right.
We do have to maintain
a relationship, but I can't be with her. I think what Judge Lake had
to say to me today was
good advice and I'm gonna use that
to become a better mother
to my children, and continue school.
