Please, be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case
of<i> Smith v. Jones.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Smith, you are here
contesting paternity of your ex-girlfriend's
three-year-old daughter,
Ja'Niah. You claim Ms. Jones
is sex-crazed and had intercourse
with multiple men during the time
of conception. And you intend to prove
you are not her child's father. JUDGE LAKE: Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Jones,
you say Mr. Smith
is nothing but a deadbeat, who will grasp
on to any excuse to get out of being a daddy
to your daughter. You say today's paternity
test results will prove that he is her father.
Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr. Smith,
you say the evidence
points to several other men? JOE SMITH: Yes, Your Honor. Explain. Yes, Your Honor,
she is a sex addict, and a compulsive liar. When I first
met Jonnaisha, we had sex on the first night.
I took her virginity, a few hours later,
she had sex with another man. Oh! So I could tell you
multiple reasons why I believe I am not
the father of her child. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Jones, these are some
very strong allegations
about your sexual practices. JONNAISHA JONES: Yes. Do you agree? No. The only compulsive
liar is him. Yes, I am a sex addict, but only with the person
I am in a relationship with, which was him
at the time. What was your
relationship like? JONES: We were
best friends at first. And then we started
having sex. Wait, hold on,
we became best friends the day we had sex. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) What? JUDGE LAKE: Explain. Your Honor, we met at a party,
went home with her, had sex with her. The day after that
we hooked up a couple more times.
We were friends with benefits. You're saying the sex
happened immediately? SMITH: Yes. JONES: Yeah JUDGE LAKE: Oh, so you met
at a party, had sex that night. Yes, Your Honor. Okay, that's not best friends.
That's booty call. (ALL LAUGHING) So how did you
even find out,
or how did you know if Ms. Jones
was with other men? She had a boyfriend
while we were best friends. And we know that 'cause
me and her talked
about these things. And I really know
she was having sex
with this individual. Your Honor, I was... Because we was having
sex one night, and she wanted me
to do a freaky thing
with her, that he
was doing to her, that I committed
not to do. Oh, so she admitted that
she was having sex
with somebody else, because she wanted
you to do what he did. SMITH: Yes, Your Honor. Okay, she wanted
to get freaky. You wanted
to get freaky, Ms. Jones? Sometimes. But... (LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: Did you have
a boyfriend, Ms. Jones? JONES: No. So, you didn't have a boyfriend
when you met him? JONES: No. Were you having sex
with anybody else? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, you were? Yes. Just around
the same time
of conception. JONES: No, Your Honor. It was around the same time. I was having... JUDGE LAKE: So, boyfriend
or no boyfriend, I mean sex is what
makes babies, so if you were having sex
with somebody else
during the window of time you were having sex
with Mr. Smith, how do you rule the other guy out? JONES: I was having sex... I was having sex
with this man in July. Well, Your Honor... I got into
a relationship with him in August. And I got pregnant
at the end of August. When I get
in a relationship,
I am faithful. SMITH: Well, Your Honor... When I'm single, I'm single. It's a whole... It's a whole other
story. One day
I went to go see Jonnaisha at
a motel room, but she was there
with multiple friends. I came up there, she wanted to go with me
but I had other ventures to go on to. JUDGE LAKE: Ventures? Yeah. So, I called her
later that night, it was a lonely night,
I called her. I was like, you know,
"Do you wanna lay up?" She didn't
answer the phone, though. He was blowing me up,
Your Honor. SMITH: Couple of days later,
this was all around
the time of conception. Couple of weeks later,
she admitted to having, again,
oral sex from this guy. This is not the boyfriend,
this is a whole different guy. Couple of weeks
after the oral sex
came up, she's like, "Well, "he tried to start sex with me,
I stopped it." Couple of weeks
after that, she admits to having sex
with this guy. And so you're saying
she has admitted that she actually had sex
with a third guy? Not you. Not the boyfriend
she was with when you met her,
but another guy. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Was there
another guy, Ms. Jones? That's the one that
I'm talking about in July, that I had
sex with in July. JUDGE LAKE: All right,
so you're saying the timeline was off because you had sex
with him in July, and you believe
you conceived
at the end of August. JONES: Yeah, I got
in a relationship
with him. JUDGE LAKE: So was that
an ongoing sexual relationship
with this guy? That was just
a one night stand. I always wanted
to have sex with him. SMITH: No, Your Honor.
No, Your Honor. Another female told me
about their sexual encounters. JUDGE LAKE: At the motel? Yes. SMITH: She was like, "I've seen Jonnaisha's
text messages, "they in there texting,
and I've seen
pictures of them linked up." So after that... JONES: I don't take
pictures, Your Honor. ...it was more rumors where these group of guys
get more rooms, they get more
and more rooms. She's supposedly
having a threesome
with these group of guys. So, with her being
a compulsive liar
and a sex addict, I don't know
what to believe. And so hold on. Were you having
threesomes with guys in motels,
Ms. Jones? No.
I never had a threesome before. She already lied. But I do wanna have one. She already lied
about having sex with two guys. But you admit you did have sex
with the man at the motel? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Not a hotel.
A motel. JONES: (LAUGHS) Yes. But she's missing
this whole boyfriend
that she had. JUDGE LAKE: And so, Mr. Smith,
you say she missing what? She missing this whole
boyfriend that she had. JUDGE LAKE: She had
a whole boyfriend? She had
a whole boyfriend. That's in addition
to the man at the motel,
and in addition to you. Yes, Your Honor. If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. And then
this motel guy, the thing
about this motel guy is, a collage came up. A collage? Yes, with me,
the baby, and this guy
from the motel. And you submitted
that to the court? This collage? SMITH: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: How did you
find this collage? SMITH: This collage
was in a group chat
with her and her friend. Her best friend. So when
it came to me, her best friend
admitted to me like "No, I didn't make that. "Jonnaisha made it." JONES: No. SMITH: So,
my first thing is, Jonnaisha did make it. Because Jonnaisha's
a strong-minded person. I'm knowing Jonnaisha. Jonnaisha would have seen that,
she would have snapped like, "Oh, I know
who my baby's daddy is!
Why would you make this?" None of that happened. Which I did. So, she had,
she had concerns. Oh, so you're saying
Ms. Jones made this
collage because she was trying
to get a public poll. Yes. About who her
child's father was. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Did you make
this, Ms. Jones? No, Your Honor.
My friend made it for him to see that the baby does look like him. JUDGE LAKE: Okay,
so, on the left is you,
Mr. Smith and on the right is the guy
from the motel, right? Yes. So let me stamp that "motel",
so we can keep up with him. JUDGE LAKE: So that's
the motel guy. (LAUGHING) And now, Mr. Smith,
that's who you believe is Ja'Niah's
biological father. It could be
either him or the
other guy, the boyfriend. We're still missing
the boyfriend
from the time of conception. So who was at the hospital
during the birth? SMITH: Okay,
I was there
at the birth. I was there
at the birth of the baby. Because when you
got pregnant, Ms. Jones, you told Mr. Smith,
"I'm pregnant." He was there the whole time.
Appointments.
We even went to pregnancy classes.
Everything. JONES: He knew
the baby was his. SMITH: By the time
she found out she was pregnant, I was having problems
with my ex-girlfriend.
She just had a baby. So, yes,
I wanted to be there. I got two other kids.
So I just wanted to be there. Have the pregnancy,
you know, the symptoms,
the going to the doctors, and everything,
'cause I never had that. But at the same time,
I was skeptical. You're having sex
with all these guys
during conception. So it might not
be mine. So, the baby comes, when the baby comes,
we at the hospital. Her family members
come up there, and her friends come up there, so while we're out there, this motel guy
has a baby a day later, so they're across the room, with his baby. JUDGE LAKE: What? So, her family
member's like... Her family members
make a comment like, "Let's go to the other room
and see this baby, "see if these babies
look alike." JUDGE LAKE: Uh-uh. Now you're lying now. So the motel guy
had a baby, a woman having a baby
in the room across the room, from you? JONES: Yes. Yes, Your Honor. He had a baby that day too. I've never heard this. It's freaky. Goodness. But you're there the day
the baby's born? I'm there. Yeah. JUDGE LAKE: You sign
the birth certificate? I signed
the birth certificate. JUDGE LAKE: But Mr. Smith,
if you had all these doubts, if you knew there was a guy
at the motel, you and the whole boyfriend, why would you just sign
the birth certificate? Because at the same time,
we're in a relationship.
I'm trying to be a man. Your Honor, I have evidence
right here to show that Jonnaisha made a post, that says, "Joe Smith,
you are not the father." Let me see that.
Jerome, will you hand
me that, please. JONES: Wow. I don't know
if you know this or not, Facebook is a public social media website,
billions of people
are seeing this. So if you're telling
billions of people, "Joe Smith,
you are not the father," I got to be
not the father. She's stating it. I wish it worked like that.
Jerome, have you ever
heard of this thing called Facebook? JEROME: No. (ALL LAUGHING) Well, it's billions
of social media...
It's billions of people. I do know what Facebook is,
Mr. Smith. I do know. Thank you
for informing me, though. (LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: So you're saying,
if you put on Facebook, "Joe Smith,
you are not the father," who would put that out there,
unless they believed it?
Because billions of people are gonna see it. And you still signed
the birth certificate. JUDGE LAKE: So hold on,
Ms. Jones, did you post this? JONES: I did. Why did you post this? I was very upset that he
wasn't claiming my baby. And what's
crazy though, one day I go over to her
family house, this is like Christmas,
so I'm taking presents over. So, we're sitting
in the dining room, a kid comes in the room,
'cause I say something
to the child. I say something
to Jonnaisha's baby, a little kid comes out
and says,"She's not
even yours." JUDGE LAKE: What? A little kid? SMITH: Yeah. So a little kid
is not gonna just say this. No, she heard
that from a grown-up. A grown-up
that's around. She wasn't
saying it like that.
She was saying like, "You're not around. "You can't come in here
and just say something "to my child when
she barely sees you." When, when... But, I mean, look, a little kid does not have
the gumption to come up to a grown man and say,
"You're not even the dad." What did she say
to you exactly? "You are not even
her father." JUDGE LAKE: You're not
even her father. SMITH: Yes. Jerome, she's trying
to take my job. This little kid. At this time, like, when we had the baby, I had to teach Jonnaisha
how to change a diaper. JONES: I was young. SMITH: All of that. SMITH: How to change
the diaper. I'm doing everything.
I'm filling out paperwork, things that a father
don't even do
most of these days. JONES: Now I'm doing
better than you. Uh, no, fathers
do that a lot. SMITH: No, I'm saying
as a young father,
as a young black father, a lot of young men
don't do that. I'm taking everything. You got two kids before. You should know
how to do all this. So I'm changing diapers. So, you feel like, you were really stepping up
as a young man. SMITH: I'm stepping up. Trying to be there. That's why
I'm trying to figure out, if this is my child
or not. Because I'm stepping up
at this time. I'm bringing her around
my other kids. I want them
to have a relationship. Well, that's
a beautiful picture. Have you developed
a relationship with Ja'Niah? That's a recent picture,
Your Honor. So you have a relationship
with her? Yes, Your Honor. SMITH:
She calls me
father and everything. And so, when you look
at that picture, I mean, you look like
a daddy holding
his little girl. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Have you thought
about if these results do not reveal
that you are
her biological father, would that hurt you? It will hurt me. I can see tears in your eyes.
I really see that
this matters to you. SMITH: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And you say
as a young man,
being a father, you missed out before and now
you really had the experience you didn't have
with your other children,
with Ja'Niah. SMITH: Yes, Your Honor.
For this one, I wanted
to do everything. So, I started
that off. And all these accusations
of I'm not the dad, all these thoughts in my head,
I really wanted to be
a father to her. She loves him.
She loves him. When she get around him,
she don't know me no more. (LAUGHING) She won't even talk to me.
She just goes straight to him. And what if he's not? JUDGE LAKE: Have you
thought of it? No. All right. Jerome. Let's get the results. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case
of<i> Smith v. Jones,</i> When it comes
to three-year-old
Ja'Niah Smith Jones, it has been determined
by this Court, Mr. Smith, you... are the father. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) JUDGE LAKE: You are the father. That is your
beautiful little girl. Thank you, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: How does
that feel to hear? I feel good. I kept telling you. It felt good
because I could... I could start a relationship
with her and my other kids. I see the tears in your eyes
'cause I know it
mattered to you. SMITH: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And that's why,
getting these results
are so important. Because as much as
you try to stand up
and just be there, there was always that thing,
that just didn't allow you
to fully connect. I can see
the love in your eyes
when you look at her. And I'm so happy
for her sake
that right at the cusp, of when she was really gonna
feel your absence, when she was really
gonna be able to absorb and understand that there
was something holding
you back from her. You had the courage
to come in here
and get this resolved, so that you all could move on
and she can have the father
she needs. With that said,
you all need to co-parent now. JONES: Yeah. It feels like your relationship has been through
all of these different levels. Best friends.
Best friends with benefits.
Not friends. Now you're co-parents. And that is a new relationship
you have to learn
how to manage. Learn how to set boundaries,
and learn how to cooperate, and communicate positively. So we have counseling
and resources for you both, I want you to take
advantage of it, because at the end of the day
it's all for Ja'Niah. You understand? Yes, Your Honor. Yes, Your Honor. I wish you all the very best.
Court is adjourned.
