You may be seated. Yes, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Kelly v. Duncan and Anthony.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day everyone! Miss Kelly, you are here
to determine if one of two men
we've tested for paternity is your biological father. You hope to leave
this courtroom today knowing
your father's identity, so he can walk you down
the aisle at your wedding. Yes, Your Honor. Now, Mr. Duncan,
you argue that Miss Kelly's mother was in a
relationship with you and another man,
during the time you dated. Now, while there are
paternity questions you hope you are
her biological father. Yes, Your Honor. Now, we'll also hear from
a second possible
father, Mr. Anthony. He claims he was shocked. <i> Just a few months ago
Miss Kelly showed up
at his doorstep</i> <i> and broke the news to him</i> <i> that he could also
be her father.</i> (AUDIENCE GASPS) Talk to us about the
journey you've been on trying to find out
who your biological father is. When I was two,
my grandparents started
raising me and I noticed
that I was different because they're white
and I was brown. My grandmother used
to get awkward looks and she would say stuff
to people. And sometimes
kids gave me trouble
at school. And when my grandfather,
he got killed when I was 10. So not having that male
influence in my life, I started to act out. Get in trouble at school
and all kind of stuff. And that's when Larriette
thought it would be
a good idea to let me meet my father. And she told me
that there was a chance
of two guys. Um, she took me to meet
her ex-boyfriend, and it was kind of awkward. He was quiet,
showed no emotion and I also met Mr. Duncan. And he's always
opened his doors to me, him and his wife,
he always wanted me to be his. And so, Mr. Duncan,
when you were contacted, were you surprised,
in disbelief? What were your thoughts? Oh, I was happy,
I was proud. I was proud, you know,
to have a, you know,
to have a child. Did you question it?
Did you have doubts? CHARLES: I might have
had a little doubt
because at that time she was living with a guy. JUDGE LAKE: Hmm... She was living
with a guy but she was
a nice looking girl and I was a little
bit older and... Maybe it might have
been wrong but, uh,
she was real pretty. And I was...
I, I didn't look
that bad myself, back then and, uh... (AUDIENCE CHUCKLE) I'm trying to bring her
over to my side. But she's living with
another guy. She was in a relationship
with somebody else and even living with them. Yes, Your Honor. But, she was dating you
on the side. CHARLES: Yes, Your Honor. And you wanted her
to be with you? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. So, when you got the call you said to yourself,
"I remember "who this is, of course, "and you would be happy if "this young woman
is my daughter." Every day I've been hoping... 24 years, I've been hoping,
the same thing and I've been... Only had one mustard seed... That's all I got
is one mustard seed about this little girl
right here. But I tell you this
right now, I hope to God
this is my child. AUDIENCE: Aw. I do. That's beautiful,
that's beautiful to hear, sir. Miss Kelly,
you remember, of course,
the relationship because you introduced
your daughter. Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: And you... Wanted to help her.
You knew that it was time. JUDGE LAKE:
Take me back a little bit. Like I say,
I was young
when I had her and I made some mistakes, and my mom wound up
wanting to step to the
plate and raise her. So, my mom and my dad
raised her, and, like I say,
when my dad got killed,
it really disturbed her. She seen everything happen. So, she started being
rebellious towards my mom, not showing
up to school and all. And I knew it was time. My mom never
wanted her to know
who her father was. And I knew I had to. She's mine, regardless. And I went to her house
one day to pick her up. And I told her. I said,
"Destiney, you have two
possibilities for fathers." I said, "It's time
you meet both." I never hid this from her, I hated that happened. I really do. But she met the ex... Then she went
and met Mr. Duncan. And from then on,
like I say, Mr. Duncan's always
accepted her. The ex is just... When I told him I was
pregnant and everything,
it was just sort of just... "Blah."
He didn't care. JUDGE LAKE: Hmm. It was the opposite
with Charlie. And I want closure for her. She's been through
enough in her life. JUDGE LAKE: Yes. And it's time
she gets her closure. Now, Mr. Duncan, take me back. Once you were
in a relationship
with Miss Kelly, <i> you found out
she was pregnant...</i> CHARLES: <i> Yes, Your Honor.</i> And then what point
did she start living
with you? Because you said
she was living with
another man. CHARLES: Yes, she was. All right, so how did that come to be that she
was living with you? CHARLES: Me and Miss Kelly
had spent some time together and I took her
and Destiney home. And, uh, her father come out
and me and him had some words. And I ain't gonna say
what the words was, but they weren't
no good words. Understood. CHARLES: So, I told him,
I said, "Well, uh, they can
come and stay with me." I had my own house,
I had my own land, I had a good job,
I had a good car, and I wasn't that bad looking. (ALL CHUCKLE) JUDGE LAKE: That's you? That's me right there. No, you weren't. I wasn't that bad at all.
I wasn't that bad looking. You wasn't that bad at all. JUDGE LAKE:<i>
You did the right thing.</i> What I wanna understand is when you decided
to take her in and say they could
come live with you, what were you thinking? Did you doubt even then
Destiney was yours? CHARLES: It might
come out today
that she ain't my child because all them years,
all them years, people would say, uh, "That ain't your child." She said, "That ain't...
That ain't your child." But deep in my heart,
every time they
would say that, it's like somebody
dukin' at me. It's like somebody,
just dukin', dukin',
dukin', you know. Never once, not even one time
did I ever turn my
back on that child. I always knew
that this little girl
right now, was mine. Always knew that. So, after they came
and lived with you you all fell out,
you got into a disagreement and then you left. Right. She chose to leave. Sometimes people, they get mad and, uh,
the truth will come out. Mmm-hmm. CHARLES: You know, but, uh, people would come up to
me and say, "She said that ain't
your little girl." I understand.
Miss Kelly, I have to ask you. You started telling people
that's not his child. Yes, ma'am. You said you told other people she wasn't his child.
Did you tell him directly? Well, Your Honor,
it's been so long
I mean, I really can't recall. Do you ever recall her
telling you directly? Yes, Your Honor. That it's not your child? Yes, yes, Your Honor.
I do recall her telling me to my face. What happened? And, uh, I knew that, uh, she could be
telling the truth. And so then people would
come up to you on
the street and say, "She said
that's not your child." Even though she told you
to your face Destiney may not be yours,
you had the doubt,
but you still were hoping. But you always believed
in your heart after spending that
time with her that
that was your baby. It might come out today
that this ain't my child, but not once
did I ever have doubt
that she wasn't. JUDGE LAKE: All right. So, at what point did you lose
contact then, if you believed this was your child,
knew this was your child, even though
you two had broken up, how'd you lose contact
with Destiney? CHARLES: I didn't know
what to do. The same pain that she
was going through by people saying,
"This is your daddy," and, "That's your daddy,"
and stuff like that, I went through the same
pain of them telling me
that that ain't my child. I know you don't know how it
would feel for somebody
to say that to you. But it really do hurt. Every time they say it,
every time you hear it. I mean, it just breaks you
down with a... What could I do? I'm not sure
that I'm her father. So, so should I go
and start trouble? Should I start trouble
or should I just love her
from afar? All them years,
I watched her grow up, I loved her from afar
and I love her
just as much today as I did the day that she took that picture. That's so beautiful.
Thank you for that, sir. Now, Miss Kelly,
I have to ask you.
This is difficult and it's wonderful to hear,
you know, a man be so passionate about
a young girl that he
believes is his daughter, despite what people tell him. I want to know
from you, when did you hear
that there were
other possibilities? JUDGE LAKE: When did you
hear that there were
other possibilities? Your mom says,
she told you she was gonna take you
to the two possibilities. Tell me what happened
when you met Mr. Anthony? That was probably
the most awkward situation I've ever been in in my life. (AUDIENCE CHUCKLE) We... JUDGE LAKE: What happened? Go to knock on this man's door and tell him after 25 years
later I might be his child. No phone call first? DESTINEY: No. Wow! I was ready... You knock on the door
and what happens? Larriette introduced us, and she just wanted
to let him know
there might be a chance, to see how he felt about it.
If he would be willing
to take a test with me to give me that closure. And he was willing. At first, it was strange.
He was very quiet. We just kind of sat there
and looked at each other
and not much was said. I just looked at his
pictures of his kids. He has seven children
and I would be eight. Eight's my favorite number. Did you feel
any connection? I can see some resemblance in,
I think, one or two
of his kids. And then he's got his certificates and stuff
from school hanging on
his living room wall. And I have my
living room wall
the same way. So, Miss Kelly, do you remember
the relationship
with Mr. Anthony? Yes, Your Honor.
It was not even what you
want to call a relationship. It was a two-minute thing. We never seen each other
again or nothing. JUDGE LAKE:
So, it was more
of a one-night stand. Yup, pretty much. And you never saw him again. No. I mean, I seen him
as far as like, around town
or whatever, but... But you never were intimate
with him again? Relationship-wise, nothing. And so, when you found out
you were pregnant, did you ever tell him, right from the beginning? No. 'Cause I think
I was already pregnant
when that occurred. You, you think
you were already pregnant? Yeah. So, you're doubtful
as to whether or not he's Destiney's father.
You don't feel he is? I don't feel he is. But, when you knew
your daughter needed
that connection, that father figure, you said it could be
one of two people,
why did you include him? He was the only other
possibility that it could be. Now, let's get
to the point where you've now met Mr. Anthony,
and you've met Mr. Duncan. Yes. JUDGE LAKE:
When you finish meeting
both of them, what are you thinking?
Have you decided, "No, I think this one
is my father." I compare lots of things like, Mr. Duncan's very outspoken. Depending on the situation,
I could be outspoken. <i> Um, Mr. Anthony, he's kind of
quiet and laid-back,</i> <i> which I can be like this
sometimes, too.</i> <i> Um, I compare
the looks between</i> Mr. Duncan's kids,
Mr. Anthony's kids, just always looking for that
one connection that would just make me think,
"Yeah, this is it." All right, well, Mr. Anthony
has prepared a video
statement for the court. We can take a look
at that now. <i> Hi, my name is Sam Anthony.</i> <i> I just finished
taking a DNA test
to find out</i> <i> if 25-year-old
Destiney is my daughter.</i> When I first found out
I could be Destiney's father,
I was shocked. I never knew
Miss Kelly was pregnant. I mean, this was
the first I was hearing of it about a month ago,
when they approached me and said that I could
possibly be the father. But now,
I don't think she looks like me or any of my other kids. It's just hard after,
you know, finding out
something like this
after 25 years. You really don't know
how to feel. JUDGE LAKE:
So, after you see that,
do you feel like his feelings about this,
his emotions about this,
is it fair? Yeah. Because if somebody
came to my door and said I might have
a 25-year-old child,
I would be in shock also. And Mr. Duncan,
when the video was playing you seemed to, kind of,
look down or disregard it. What did you feel?
Do you feel like
you want to honor the fact that this man
potentially could be
Destiney's father? I know this man and
I don't have nothing
against this man. If this is
this man's daughter, then I'm proud for him
to have this child,
because this... If you ever had a child, and you were glad
to have a child, this would be one of 'em. So, if this is his child then I know, I know he'll
be more than proud for
her to be his daughter. So, Destiney.
What are your hopes today? I hope to find out that
one of these two is the
father and get some closure. We can hopefully form
a relationship. They can
get to know my kids. How many children do you have? Three. And what are your hopes
today, Mr. Duncan? I knew that one day
that all this might,
might happen. And I'm glad that it is. I hope that that mustard seed
that I got, (CHUCKLES) has come to be so. Good. Well, Mr. Anthony also submitted a statement
and outlined his hopes. <i> It's important for</i>
Paternity Court <i> to
give me these</i> uh, results, because
ever since her and her
mother approached me, I've been wondering,
"Am I the father?" So, if it turns out
that I am, I will love to have a
relationship with her. But of course,
that will be up to her. JUDGE LAKE: Miss Kelly,
what are your hopes? Deep down inside, I'll be glad when the
results are revealed. And I pray that
Charlie is her father. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Jerome, the results, please. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Kelly v. Duncan/Anthony,</i> when it comes to
Destiney Kelly, Mr. Anthony... Is not her father. (AUDIENCE GASPS) In the case of<i>
Kelly v. Duncan/Anthony,</i> when it comes to
Destiney Kelly, Mr. Duncan... You... Mr. Anthony is not her father. In the case of<i>
Kelly v. Duncan/Anthony,</i> when it comes to
Destiney Kelly, Mr. Duncan... You are not her father. I'm sorry to you both. I know how much you wanted it. Miss Kelly,
how are you feeling? Confused still. JUDGE LAKE:
That's understandable. DESTINEY: I'm just confused
and anxious to find out
who it is. I just want to know. Absolutely.
And you deserve to know. Because you are a beautiful,
smart young lady, and any man should
feel blessed and honored
to have you as a daughter. We'll be back. Absolutely. And I was just about to say, he marched in right
in the nick of time. We'll be back. Because I was about to say,
in this court room we say all the time,
that it takes DNA
to be a father, but it takes love
to be a daddy. And you are so, so loved
by Mr. Duncan. You came to this courtroom
for the truth, right? Mmm-hmm. But the truth, the most amazing truth
you got today, was the fact that you
are loved by this man. He just loves you to pieces. And, sir,
I hope you keep doing that. And I hope
you keep your search going. Because you deserve to know.
It's your right. If you need this courtroom,
you need us again,
we'll be there for you, and we'll also have some
resources for you, to help you process this
and figure out how to make
your next steps. All right? Okay. I wish you the best of luck.
Keep being a strong,
strong girl. Remember, you're not just
doing it for yourself, but for those
beautiful children. All right? Thank you. Good luck to you.
Court is adjourned.
