Mrs. Cuyler, you've brought
your mother to court in hopes of finally
finding out which of the two men
in these photographs is your biological father. You claim it's been
a lifelong mystery, and you hope it will
end today. Yes, your honor. And Ms. Mills, you argue
that you're certain you know which of
these two cousins is
your daughter's father, but you say her doubts have
torn the entire family apart. Yes. Now, Mrs. Cuyler,
tell the court, how did
your doubts begin? My doubts began as a child,
around five years old, my mother telling me
that Mr. Barros was my father. He lived right
upstairs from us, but he had
another family. He would not
acknowledge me. I did grow up
with a stepfather, up until age 10, but I just knew that
the man upstairs... My mother told me
Mr. Barros was my father. And you see him
almost every day. CUYLER: Every day. And he never
acknowledges you. Right. JUDGE LAKE: Wow. Also, when I was younger,
there was an incident of his girlfriend
going back to her children, where his nieces
and nephews saying that, "Oh, that's not
her father." She said that, and they
came back and told me, "Oh, Eric's not your dad." So, I was very upset
about that. So I ran and took
my best friend to
my mama's room. I remembered she had
court documents about the DNA testing
between Mr. Barros,
my mother, and myself, so I showed that to
my best friend. I was, like, "Look,
he is my father." JUDGE LAKE: Wow. Also, I remember him
taking me to the corner store when I was a little girl. He said, "I want you
to take a walk with me." And he told me,
"I don't know if I'm
your father or not." So, that put doubt
in my head. JUDGE LAKE: He said,
"I don't know if
I'm your father or not." Right. He doesn't know. JUDGE LAKE: And what other
involvement did you have with him? He paid child support. He paid child support? CUYLER: He paid child
support, yeah. For your entire life? My entire life. (COURTROOM MURMURING) Ms. Mills. Yes. So, you told your daughter,
"The man upstairs, "that's your
biological father"? Yeah, I told her,
because we moved
into an area where her dad's
family was living at so I knew when
we moved on there, around her grandmother
and her aunts and them, that she was gonna
run into her dad, because I was always
accepted by his mother
and his siblings. JUDGE LAKE: So, when
you say "her dad," you mean Mr. Barros. MILLS: Yes. You were accepted
by his family. MILLS: Yes. But he never
acknowledged her. I was accepted
by his family as well, but just not him. Wow. Why is that? He was
paying the support. MILLS: When I had Lori,
me and Mr. Barros
were together, and he had an affair
on me when she was
like a few months old. So, I got angry at him,
threw him out of my house, "I want nothing
to do with you," and I took him to court
for child support. When we went to court,
he had a choice, take the test
or not take the test. The judge told him that. The judge looked at
my daughter, looked at me,
looked at him, and the judge says, "From
what I'm seeing right
here with this baby, "this child look
exactly like you. "So, either you gonna
pay for the test or not. "Either way,
if you don't, "we gonna grant her
child support," which the judge did
grant me child support because he never
took the test. CUYLER: Your honor,
I actually went down
to the courthouse earlier this year. I wanted to see if
there's proof if
there's a test done. And they told me
I couldn't see the file,
'cause it was sealed. The only person who
could see it was
Mr. Barros or my mother. When I told my mother
that, she went back
and told my sister, "Why is she doing this?
Why is she bringing this up? "He's dead.
She needs to let it go." Like, how can I let
something like this go? I don't even know
who my father is. Well, why did you
wait till he died
to want to do this? Why did you wait
until I'm 30 years old
and never get it done? (APPLAUSE) Excuse me. Y'all
ain't gotta clap. Y'all ain't
gotta clap. You lied!
Mom, you lied! Lori, Lori, Lori.
You know what... You're a liar!
You didn't have
a relationship with him. You had relations
with him. You're a liar, Mom,
come on! He didn't
live with us. I didn't say
he lived with you! You said you had
a relationship,
you kicked him out. My sister said he never
even lived with us. How would Janie know? You were born in '86,
she was born in '84. She was two years old. She remembers everything. Okay. JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Mills,
when you tell your daughter, "The man upstairs
is your father," and she knew he was
paying child support for at least
a part of her life, was there any other man
that could potentially
be her father, or you know for certain
he was her father? MILLS:
I knew for certain
he was her father. CUYLER: It's hard for me
to believe her story, when there were doubts
and questions about who all of our
fathers were, so... How was that?
How do you know? Hello! I talked to
his family. Who family? Mr. Barros' family. How would they know
who... Because you hang with them.
They were your best friends. They were not
my best friends. They lived with you. I just need to get
a basic understanding. If he was paying
child support, why was their no involvement
in her life at all and he was right upstairs? That's his daughter.
Ain't nothing
to do with me. Well, wait.
Actually, it does. If you made
the child with him, it has something
to do with you. And that's why
I'm asking you why would a man
live upstairs from
a beautiful little girl, pay child support,
but never acknowledge her? And if he was here,
I would ask him. But I can't,
so I need to ask you. You say the family
acknowledged you. The family even
acknowledged her. Why not him? Because I took him
to court for child
support. He was angry
about that. He didn't want them
attach his check. He didn't want to
pay child support
for her. JUDGE LAKE: You feel like
he was angry at you for taking him to court
for the child support. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Now
I'm starting to understand
part of the story. Mrs. Cuyler, you also were
close with his daughter. He had a daughter
living right upstairs. Now, did you two acknowledge
each other as sisters? Not at that point, no. She didn't want to
accept that he might have
had another child. When I was a teenager,
we actually saw each
other again. And since then,
we've really claimed
each other as sisters. You have? So, Jerome, I'd like to
meet this young woman. Please escort Miss Gonzales
into the courtroom. JEROME: Come in. Want to have you
come up here and sit right next
to the judge at
the witness stand. Watch your step. Mm-hmm. JUDGE LAKE: Hello, ma'am. Hello. Please state your name
for the court. Chassidy Gonzales. Miss Gonzales,
you are Mr. Barros'
biological daughter. Yes. When you see
this young woman, do you regard her
as your sister or an acquaintance? No, she's my sister. My father paid child support
for her for 19 years.
She's my sister. And you remember her? Mm-hmm. And growing up,
what did he tell you
about Mrs. Cuyler? I mean, I started
hearing rumors when
I was about six that I had
a potential sister, 'cause we lived
in the same complex. You know, I was
kind of jealous
in the beginning, because I was
his only daughter. So I approached
them about it, and he said
it wasn't true. He always said
it wasn't. He
wasn't the father. JUDGE LAKE: Always told you? Always. Up until the time
of his death, he said, "This was not my child"? Yep. And yet, you knew he was
paying child support... Yep. For her? Mm-hmm. I actually
brought that up to
him again when we ran into
each other again, our teenage years,
and I said,
"Wait a second. "But you're paying
child support for
a child "that's not yours.
I mean, that's
kind of confusing." And he's like,
"Well, you know, "I don't want
you to open up
a can of worms, "because it's gonna
come out that I'm
not the father "and her mother's
gonna have to pay
all that money back." CUYLER: Your honor,
that's another reason
why I think my mother wanted me to keep
this hush-hush. I think she was happy
that he passed away with me not knowing that
he was my father or not, that if he was not
the father, maybe she
had to pay that money back. So, maybe she might be
relieved that he's gone. I can't really
speak about their
relationship, because
I wasn't there. But I knew that
in the neighborhood, Ms. Mills was
very promiscuous, and she had been around
with a lot of people. So I didn't know.
I didn't know. So, maybe your father
wasn't being honest
with you? I did. I did feel
like my father wasn't being honest. So, that's why
it's 50-50 that we feel like maybe we might
be sisters or we
might not be because I feel like the people
that's responsible in this whole situation
is the adults because... I don't think that
they should have
let it go this long. JUDGE LAKE: Do you have
any evidence to share
with the court? Well, the reason
I do think, you know, she might be my sister
is because my whole
family, we all have psoriasis. My father had
psoriasis. You know, we get it,
all spots, all different
kind of spots. JUDGE LAKE: And Mrs. Cuyler,
do you also have psoriasis?
You do? I went to the doctor.
It was just a skin virus. So, when you hear about
Mrs. Cuyler also contending with some type of
skin thing, you like, "That rings
a bell to me!" It did. What else do you have
in terms of evidence
for the court? I don't know. I think
that Mrs. Cuyler
and my father... I think they have
the same eyes. I think that we have
the same eye shape. What else do you
have, ma'am? I also have
his obituary, and her name is not
listed on the obituary. JUDGE LAKE: They did not
list Mrs. Cuyler as a child
that he left behind. CUYLER: That hurt.
That hurt a lot. Even at the funeral,
I felt some type
of resentment from his other kids. Like, "We're his kids
and she's not." I just felt that way. (SNIFFS) JUDGE LAKE: I mean,
that had to feel awful. I just been told
different stories
from his sister that my mother was
sleeping with his cousin. That's why he had doubts,
so that's why
I still have doubts. I don't know. (SNIFFS) JUDGE LAKE:
Did you ask your mom? Earlier this year,
I asked her. I said,
"Why did my father have... "Why did Mr. Barros
have doubts?" And she said she did
sleep with someone
prior to him. And I asked her,
"What's his name?" And she said...
She told me Esteban Tirado. I'm like,
"Esteban Tirado?" And she was best friends
with his wife. She slept with him. I don't under...
It was just so confusing. It was a shocker. I dated Esteban
when I was a teenager. Me and his two sisters
stayed best friends even after me and him
broke up. His mother,
his whole family,
we all stayed friends. His kids' mother
knew I had nothing
to do with him, I knew I had nothing
to do with him, and there is no way
in hell that he's her father. Come on! JUDGE LAKE: You say
there is no way. No way. But, Mrs. Cuyler,
in your mind, you feel like Mr. Tirado
is a possibility... Yeah. ...because of the stories
you've been told. Stories, stories.
Other people... She believe everybody
except for me,
and I'm her mother. I don't believe you.
'Cause her stories
are not valid. Unfortunately,
Mr. Tirado is deceased, but his daughter is here. Jerome, will you please
escort Miss Tirado into
the courtroom? And Miss Gonzales,
you may have a seat. Thank you. JUDGE LAKE: Thank you. All right. Go ahead. (CRYING) I know. I can see
it's just breaking you down. So you feel like when
you look at this picture, you see more of your face? He has a long face.
I have a long face. I don't know.
I just really don't know. Hi, Miss Tirado.
Thank you for joining us. Thank you for
being here today. You are Mr. Tirado's daughter. Daughter, yes. His biological daughter. Yes. You grew up knowing
Ms. Mills? Mills, as my aunt. She was your aunt. Yes. Her and my aunt
was best of friends. My mom, my dad,
everybody all grew up
as brother and sisters. I came because if I was
in her position, I'd want to know
who my dad is, too. But I am so upset
that Mrs. Mills, my dad,
my mom, my aunt... Everyone grew up
as sisters. We're all in our 30s. It should have not
taken to this point. That's what I'm saying. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Mills,
you contend you didn't
sleep with Mr. Tirado. Not since we were
teenagers. So you're saying you did
sleep with him, but... How you gonna sleep
with your own family? He's not my family! But you grew up
knowing us and telling
us we're family. I don't understand
that, Mrs. Mills. Why would you do this? All y'all grew up
as cousins, but that was before
you was born, any of you
was conceived. He treated my kids as
his nieces and nephews, and I treated his
kids the same way. When I dated your father,
we were teenagers. Because we had
a past relationship, that don't mean
we couldn't be friends. Then why y'all
didn't resolve this
a long time ago? Why is it that
he's gone 14 years, and Mr. Barros
is gone I don't know how many
years now, and we're all... Why wasn't this
resolved a long time ago? CUYLER: This wasn't
supposed to be us doing this. And then in all
actuality, I should not have
found this out
on Facebook, my family neither. JUDGE LAKE: Wait. What
do you have here? I have something
that was posted
on Facebook. Mrs. Gonzales inboxed me
on Facebook. GONZALES: Yes, I did.
You're right. Not only that, someone
else in the family post on Facebook... GONZALES: I don't know
who else in the family... I don't know who else in the
family put something up. I inboxed you because
I didn't know what other way
to get in contact with you. That's why.
I'm trying to help her. (BOTH SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) JUDGE LAKE: All right, ladies!
Ladies! Ladies! (BANGS GAVEL) Ladies, I think it's time
to get the results. CUYLER: Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics, and they read as follows... In the case of<i>
Cuyler v. Mills,
Gonzales, Tirano,</i> Mrs. Cuyler, your
29-year-wait is over. The deceased,
Mr. Barros... (CRYING) was not your
biological father. (CRYING) Oh, God! Okay, honey, you need
to sit down before I
go to the next envelope? (HYPERVENTILATING) Shh... You said Mr. Barros
was not my father? JUDGE LAKE: No, ma'am,
he is not. (CRYING) Are you ready
for the next result? CUYLER: I'm ready. Okay. JUDGE LAKE: In light of
this result, I'd like to adjourn
court right now and I'd like to
review them with you in my chambers. Court is adjourned. Ladies, I wanted to
meet you in my chambers to go over this
next set of results, because quite frankly
this is the first time this has ever happened, and I know how emotional
this is for both of you. The results for this
particular testing between you, Miss Tirado,
and yourself, Mrs. Cuyler... The results were inconclusive, and they need to do more
reconstructive work to be able to identify
whether or not you all share
a biological father. And just so you
understand this, I have a statement from
Dr. Baird from DNA Diagnostics that will help you. He's the Chief Science
Officer there. Please look right over here. Regarding the siblingship
analysis between Mrs. Cuyler and Miss Tirado, our
laboratory is still working to determine results. When DNA testing is done
to determine a biological
relationship, sometimes it takes
a long period of time to determine whether or not
there is a biological
relationship, and it requires additional
testing or extended testing. DDC wants both Mrs. Cuyler
and Miss Tirado to know that we will do
everything that we can to determine if there is
a biological relationship and do whatever it takes
to get the results
scientifically. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hollins
you are demanding a DNA test today,
because you say, you are not the father
of Ms. Anderson's
17-month-old daughter, Chloe. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You claim to be
paying support for a child that's not yours. HOLLINS: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Anderson,
you say Mr. Hollins needs to step up
and take responsibility
for his actions and his child. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So,
my first question would be
to you, Mr. Hollins. Now how do you
end up paying child support for a child, that you say, is
definitely not yours? HOLLINS: I failed to
appear to court. 'Cause I didn't wanna
take a DNA test and have to
pay for it all by myself. I offered to go half
with Mr. Hollins, but he wanted me to pay
the whole thing. And he never went to court
to take the DNA test. Four times!
He failed to appear
four times! HOLLINS: Your Honor, that's... Four times,
you failed to appear? No, what happened was, my mother had two
brain aneurysms. That's the reason
why I failed to appear.
You see what I'm saying. Your Honor, the first time
he failed to appear, he said
he was out of town. The second time
he said he overslept. The third time his mom
was in the hospital.
And the fourth time... HOLLINS: That's not right. He overslept and his mom
was in the hospital. <i> And I talked to him
the day before court and
he said that he was coming.</i> Why wasn't it important
for you to show up
for this DNA test? I mean... You want to know,
don't you? HOLLINS: Yes. But it was important,
but my mom went through that. I put everything to this.
I quit my job and everything.
You know... All right, now, have you been
paying this support? Yeah, I've been paying
child support for her child and I don't even know
if it's mine Let me see that, sir. Thank you, Jerome. Yep. So, you shall pay
child support in the amount of
$62 monthly for one child. HOLLINS: <i> Yes, Your Honor.</i> JUDGE LAKE<i> : And then
you have to help</i> <i> pay health care expenses.</i> So the bottom line is
you were ordered
to pay child support and you've been paying it. Yes Ma'am. ANDERSON: No,
Your Honor, all... In all, I received
$100 from Mr. Hollins. No she's lying.
I didn't pay... $400, they take money
out of my check. JUDGE LAKE: Take me back
in this relationship. So, were you
boyfriend and girlfriend?
What is... HOLLINS: At one point of time,
we was in a relationship. I liked her, you feel me,
I was feelin' her... JUDGE LAKE: Was she
your girlfriend? Yes, she was my girlfriend... ANDERSON: Your Honor,
we were in a relationship,
until another young woman wrote me
on Facebook <i> and told me that she was
pregnant by Mr. Hollins.</i> HOLLINS: <i> But it's...</i> (CROWD GASPS) Okay, so you were
boyfriend and girlfriend? ANDERSON: We were boyfriend... And you got a message
on Facebook? ANDERSON: Yes. Somebody told you
"I'm having a child
by Mr. Hollins." Yes, that she was pregnant
by Mr. Hollins, and that, her and Mr. Hollins
was in a relationship. I then called Mr. Hollins
and I asked Mr. Hollins
about it. He thought it was funny.
We were on a three-way
with a girl. He didn't know that
I was on the phone. And he basically said, if he
couldn't have both of us,
he didn't want neither of us. HOLLINS: (LAUGHS)
That is not how it went. He thought it was all a joke,
as if you know, I wasn't
gonna take it serious so... JUDGE LAKE: So you continued
the relationship? Yeah, we continued
the relationship. I had a friend, who was
going out of town.
He said, "Could I go with him
and his mother
and his daughter?" I was telling Mr. Hollins,
you know,
I wanted his approval. He basically gave me
a ultimatum saying that,
if I went, we were over. I don't take
ultimatums very lightly,
so I went anyway. Your Honor,
you're in a relationship
with me, how are you gonna go
out of town, with a guy that
you ain't even told me about? I just... Your Honor, he knew... He knew about this guy
because... Who is this guy? It was literally a friend
nothing more
than a friendship. But Mr. Hollins, he say,
"If you go, then, we're done." You know you're not supposed
to be going out of town
from the beginning. We're in a relationship. I'd like to hear
about your doubts. Why are you doubtful? HOLLINS: <i> 'Cause I told her
to be honest with me
and she didn't.</i> I thought me and Mr. Hollins
was better than this.
We were... When we got together
we were like best friends
almost. The things that,
like has happened
since she was born. Stuff that's been said like,
I never thought that me and Mr. Hollins
would be like this today. HOLLINS: Your Honor. So... We was cool.
We was in a relationship.
Everything was good... When she chose to do
the wrong thing.
You see what I'm saying? We had already talked.
I said, "I don't want
you to go." She went anyway! Your Honor,
I went out of town... She didn't care that much! I dealt with the fact that
a girl told me that she was
pregnant. Why couldn't he,
deal with the fact that
I made a mistake? I feel, I deal with the fact
that he made a mistake. I stepped up to the plate
to a certain extent. To a certain extent. You said that we were done. HOLLINS: Listen,
when you came back I told you, "I don't think
I'm gonna pay for this.
We might need to go half." I knew then,
something ain't right. JUDGE LAKE: All right,
moving on. Mr. Hollins, how do you
find out Ms. Anderson
is pregnant? Facebook. Not lying.
Facebook tells a lot of stuff. I found out on Facebook,
that she had a baby. That she had a baby
or that she was pregnant? That she had a baby,
not pregnant. A pregnancy,
I didn't never know about. JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute, so
from the point she went out
of town with a friend, until she actually
gave birth to the child, you had no idea
she was even pregnant? HOLLINS: No idea. How is that,
how is that the case? ANDERSON: He had no idea, because I had no idea
that I was pregnant
till the day I had her. (CROWD GASP) You what? I did not know I was pregnant
until the day I had her. I went to the Emergency,
due to back pain. When I got in the Emergency,
the lady said, "You have a lot
of fluid around your stomach." So I said,
you know, "Get it out."
And she basically said, um, "Are you pregnant?"
I said, "No." ANDERSON: She then
did an ultrasound
on my stomach... (DRAMATICALLY)
Really, so no idea you were pregnant
until the day you gave birth?
Not a clue? No idea. She didn't kick,
move, I gained no weight.
None of that. ANDERSON: <i> It was no idea,
until the day I had her.</i> I wrote Mr. Hollins
on Facebook.
Mr. Hollins never responded. I then talked to my best
friend and I told her, that I wanted to tell him
about Chloe. So, she called Mr. Hollins.
We put Mr. Hollins
on a three-way, and I told him about the baby. And I asked him,
did he want a DNA test? Because me and Mr. Hollins
had not seen each other
in over six months. And so were there
any other men that
you were intimate with, during the time,
you were also intimate
with Mr. Hollins? Anybody else? Yes, Your Honor. (CROWD JEERS) JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Okay. And that was sex
without protection
or with protection? Without protection,
Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And the name
of that man is? ANDERSON: Mr. Williams. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Williams. And Mr. Williams is here
in our courtroom today. Yes, Your Honor. What made you believe
that Mr. Williams
could also be the father? ANDERSON: <i> I went on the
internet and I found a
conception calendar.</i> And I put in,
"When did I get pregnant?" Because I never
was given a date of
when I conceived. So I put in, "When did I
get pregnant." They asked
for her birthday. When they asked
for her birthday, it then took me back to
Kaleel, when I had sex
with Kaleel. I have a conception calendar
right here. Let me,
let me get these dates. The date you were intimate
with the other man is what? March the 30th. JUDGE LAKE: March the 30th. Now your due date was
December 4th, 2013. <i> So that was the day
they pinpointed.</i> <i> When was your
daughter actually born?</i> ANDERSON: <i> December the 7th.</i> If you go back
to the dates of intimacy, you were also intimate
with Mr. Williams as well. Yes and Mr. Hollins
at the same time, yes. And Mr. Hollins? (SCOFFS) Played both of us. JUDGE LAKE: And so based on
the calculator. Played both of us is
what it sounds like. It's pointing to Mr. Williams. Not Mr. Hollins. I was intimate with
Mr. Hollins, um, maybe like a day or two
before I was intimate
with Mr. Williams. (HUFFING) You see what I'm saying. Oh, we don't need
no calculator for that. JUDGE LAKE: But now,
Mr. Hollins is the one that's actually paying
the child support. ANDERSON: <i> At the time,
Your Honor, I did think that
Mr. Hollins was the father.</i> Jerome, I wanna meet
Mr. Williams.
Can you please escort him in? JEROME: Sure. Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Yes, sir. How can I be the daddy
and you didn't have sex with somebody else
two days after me? That means, clearly
you don't know
who the daddy is. How you just gonna
falsely blame me?
You see what I'm saying? They're taking my money,
everything... This situation could've been dealt with months ago,
if Mr. Hollins would've
showed up for the DNA test. Listen, um, Mr. Hollins
I understand your concern,
I do. But, Ms. Anderson has a point
as well, you had four times
to show up to do the DNA test and you failed to appear. You can't really argue
about a problem
you created for yourself. I created... (APPLAUDING) Mr. Williams. JUDGE LAKE: Thank you
for being here today. We're here,
of course, talking about the paternity as it
relates to baby Chloe. Ms. Anderson has informed
the court that she was
intimate with you, around the same time she was
intimate with Mr. Hollins,
within the same week. You remember being intimate
with Ms. Anderson, right? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. And it was unprotected? Yeah. JUDGE LAKE: All right. JUDGE LAKE: When did you
find out, that you
could be the father? Recently, this year,
after my birthday.
After I had turned uh, 18. Then she uh, finally told me. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) This year? WILLIAMS: Yeah, this year. So, you weren't involved in
the pregnancy or she didn't
even know she was pregnant. I didn't even know
she was pregnant either. HOLLINS: Nobody knew. ANDERSON: I didn't know. HOLLINS: But I get the blame. How can I tell you something
that I don't know? If you would have took
the DNA test then you would've
found out over a year ago. You had already made up
your mind in your head
that I was the daddy. 'Cause you didn't tell me
about him, even being
in the picture. So Mr. Hollins you are saying
she had never told you
about Mr. Williams. Never. I'm hearing this now. HOLLINS: All this is new. (LAUGHING) Didn't know him.
Didn't know he exists.
Not in this. Mr. Williams? Yes, ma'am. When you found out
there was a baby, that could potentially
be yours, how did
you handle that? I kinda thought about it for
a minute, I was like, "No,
I don't think there's no way." And then I was like,
"I don't know.
Maybe so." I was kinda mad though,
'cause she waited so long
after to tell me. Once I found out, I was like,
I dunno, I was kinda mad. ANDERSON: <i> Your Honor,
I waited so long
to tell Mr. Williams,</i> <i> because I thought that
she was Mr. Hollins'.</i> And it never dawned on me that
Mr. Williams was a possibility
until that day. And when I went back
and I did the date
that's when Mr. Williams... Well, you say, you've slept
with him, within one
or two days? ANDERSON: Yes. How did you ever think
that you could pinpoint
which man? That's the answer
I'm looking for.
How did she even know? JUDGE LAKE: <i> No, I'm,
I'm serious.</i> In your mind, how did you
think you could pinpoint it
with one or two... Because I was in
a relationship with
Mr. Hollins. We were always together, like,
Mr. Williams never dawned
on me, until that day. Ms. Anderson,
I have to ask you, did you ever think once
you realized, Mr. Williams
was also a possibility. Did you ever say
"Let me call the court back "and let them know, there's
another potential father," because, if in fact,
they had called Mr. Williams
in for a DNA test, he might have shown up.
And that could have helped
you arrive at your conclusion. Mr. Williams didn't become
a possibility to me,
until maybe a month ago. All right, have either of you
been there for the child? She's 17 months old.
Does anyone spend time
with her? I know Mr. Hollins is ordered
to pay child support. I've seen the baby
four times. No. JUDGE LAKE: You have
a relationship with her? He's seen her four times and that's because
I brought her to him
three of those times. Listen, you went out of town.
You pop up, you have a baby. What else is new?
Is it subject not to
be mine? And now look,
it's subject not to be mine. JUDGE LAKE: And... You see what I'm saying? And now, right you find out
here today about Mr. Williams. You could've told me this
months ago. This is what drives me crazy. Is to see young people,
first of all,
you're all too young. Too young to be in grown
adult situations,
like this, you can't handle. You don't even know
how to handle a simple boyfriend-girlfriend
relationship. Much less,
bring a baby into it. (CROWD APPLAUDES) This is... You know,
children have to know. They deserve to know
and they have a right to
know who their father is. She deserves to know
who her father is
and that's why I'm here today. I grew up without a father
so, I know how it feels and I wouldn't want her
to go through the same thing. At this point in her life,
at 17 months old, she doesn't know anyone
as Daddy. Right, yes. HOLLINS: Your Honor. I'm gonna be truthful,
I don't even know
how to be a father. I'm not even... I'm honestly not even,
I dunno, I'm still
taking care of myself. You see what I'm saying?
I don't even know
how to be a father. My father wasn't there.
But that's not to blame,
nobody. You see what I'm saying?
I just don't know
how to be one. I'm 23. If you would've walked me
through this, like how you was
trying to walk through it, we could have got somewhere.
But you wanted me to just... Okay, I'm 21 and I had to
grow up and be a mother. Pay for someone... I don't even know
if it's mine. So, I'm like tonight,
what's my first step? Why can't he grow up? JUDGE LAKE: Well,
I'll tell you what. The reason, why he didn't
immediately choose to be
a father, right off the bat,
is because he felt like
he had doubts. And now those doubts have
been substantiated here,
in this courtroom. ANDERSON: He didn't find out
about Mr. Williams
until recently. <i> So therefore, he didn't make
an effort at all. Period.</i> <i> No effort was made.</i> But listen, listen,
ultimately, ultimately,
ultimately... The person that's suffering
is Chloe. ANDERSON: Yes. (CROWD APPLAUDES) You all, are running
around here having sex like it's an
extra-curricular activity. Like you gonna go to the
movies, you're gonna
go do this. I'm not laughing,
Mr. Williams. I know, you're right. Producing lifelong
consequences in the form of a beautiful
innocent human being. Does she even say "Dada?"
Who's she gonna say it to? She say "Dada" but... To the air? To nobody. That's a shame. Mr. Williams now,
will you step up to be Chloe's father,
if in fact, it's determined
you are the biological father? I don't got a problem
with that. She ain't got to... JUDGE LAKE: How about you
Mr. Hollins? I'll step up,
but how far? I don't know how to
change a diaper.
I don't know, what to do when she's crying JUDGE LAKE: Those are all things you can learn
and you will learn. If one of you, either of you,
turn out to be
the biological father. JUDGE LAKE: That's something
that I will help you with,
all right? In the case of<i>
Hollins Williams v. Anderson.</i> As to whether
Mr. Hollins or Mr. Williams, is this child's
biological father. It has been determined
by this court
that Mr. Williams, you are not the father. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hollins, you are her father. (CROWD APPLAUDES) JUDGE LAKE: Thank you. I just felt like if she would
have kept it 100 with me
from the beginning, and told me everything, you know,
I could have been there.
I could at least help. I ain't that type of person. I'm gonna have to take it
day by day, step by step, cause I don't even
know what to do first. You know? I feel your concern. And I appreciate your honesty
that you don't know
how to be a father. And you don't know
what to do first, but I will
fill you in on a secret and Jerome can attest to this, no matter how old you are, there's a part of
becoming a parent, where you just not ready.
You don't know
what to do sometimes. But out of love for your child
you learn. And the smartest thing
you said today is, "I guess I'll take it
day by day." JUDGE LAKE: And that's
what you do. You just
show up day after day.
