JUDGE LAKE: You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Hooks v. Payne.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Hooks, you say
for three long years, the defendant, Ms. Payne,
has been falsely accusing you of fathering
her three-year-old
daughter, Nevaeh. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You believe today's results
will finally free you
from her allegations. Ms. Hooks, you say your son
is being taken advantage of
by a gold digger who is 27 years his junior. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Payne,
you say Mr. Hooks
is Nevaeh's father, and today, you intend
to prove it to him
and his mommy. That's... (LAUGHS)
Yes, Your Honor. So, Ms. Hooks, why do you believe
your son is being
taken advantage of? Explain to the court. She is a gold digger. I don't believe that
he is the father
of her child 'cause she lies,
she cannot be trusted. So, you believe she's
after your son for his money?
A gold digger. LYDIA HOOKS: Yes. And what money
do you have, Mr. Hooks? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: Just askin'. I'm struggling, Your Honor.
I don't have no money. I don't have no money.
(LAUGHING) But you're saying you thought she probably thought
since you're an older man
and more established, you would be somebody
that could take care of her. Yes. 'Cause you ain't a gold digger
if he ain't got no gold. (ALL LAUGHING) So, Ms. Payne, I see that this is
really bothering you. What are you feeling
in this moment?
I can see it in your eyes. Speak up.
You had all that
to say to me. Don't get quiet.
Come on. What is it? LYDIA: Yes,
talk your piece. You accused my son
of being the father
of your child, and I know he's not
the father of your child. Your child don't look
nothing like my son. Nothing like my son. My son has five children
and they all look like him, and they got some of me, in my five grandchildren. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Payne,
look at me. Look at me. I do this every day. Day in and day out,
this is what I do. When a young woman
stands before me and shuts down like this, that says to me
that you have doubt. Do you have doubt? If you do, this is where
you just be honest. No. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) I don't believe you. I don't believe you,
honey. But I will move on. We're just taking
the long way to the truth, but you better believe it,
baby, we're gonna get there. We can take the long way
if you want. And I'll just be
on this journey with you. How'd you meet, Mr. Hooks? Well, Your Honor,
I met her in Philadelphia
in June in 2014. I was driving
and I was going
to a deli store, and I happened to see her
on a corner, like,
sippin' on a margarita. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) So I started
to talk to her.
I was like, "Why you out here by yourself
sippin' on that?" And she was like,
she was with
her boyfriend. I said, "He's okay
seeing you talking to me?" She told me that she just
got into a fight, an argument
with her boyfriend, another man, so... I said, "Well, you wanna
come take a ride with me?" (AUDIENCE MEMBER EXCLAIMS) (CHUCKLES) So... Right in front
of her boyfriend? ALFONSO HOOKS: Yes. You said, "You wanna take
a ride with me"? ALFONSO: Yeah. And then what happened? She got in the car
and we just took off. We went to my house. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) So you get to your house
and what happens? She was still
a little tipsy. So, you know, I was talking to her,
and one thing
led to another. JUDGE LAKE: So, wait,
you were at the store... Yes. ...met Ms. Payne, said,
"You wanna take a ride
with me?" You all went to your house
and you had sex? Uh, yes. JUDGE LAKE: That day? (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Protected sex? Unprotected. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) What are y'all
up here doing? (LAUGHING) Unprotected sex
with a girl from
the store. ALFONSO: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Payne,
is this true? Is this how
you and Mr. Hooks met? Yes, Your Honor. So, did this turn
into a relationship
after this? You have this one day...
Was it a one-night stand or did you see
each other again? No, he let me move in
with him the next day. So, we was together. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) JUDGE LAKE: Ooh, Lord. So, you meet him
at the store, you have sex with him
at his house, and then he says
you can move in with him? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Was that
because, what, y'all thought
y'all was so in love
after the sex? That's what she thought,
Your Honor. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) Well, you let her move in. So, what's the point? I let her stay with me. I mean, it wasn't
actually just move in. JUDGE LAKE: You told her
she could stay with you. No, he took me
to my boyfriend's house to go pick up
all my belongings, and he took me back
to his house. So you said to yourself,
"If he's letting me move in
and stay here, "he must really want
a relationship with me." Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So you went
and you lived with him? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: For how long? ANISHA PAYNE: From like June
to the beginning of September. JUDGE LAKE: Okay, so that's,
what, June, July, August...
About four months. You lived with him. During that time,
were you all functioning like you were
in a relationship? Yes, Your Honor. That's not... That's
not true, Your Honor. That's not true. It was only like
two months and a half. I done left her.
I broke up with her. I broke up with her,
then went back
with my ex. So you brought her in
to only throw her out
two and a half months later. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) No... No, no,
not really. It's just, I... JUDGE LAKE: So, how'd you
find out she was pregnant? I ran into her like
maybe a month later,
and she tells me... Her friend and her
was walking,
and I seen them, and she tells me
that she was pregnant,
like three months pregnant. If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
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the notification bell. So when you told him,
what was his reaction? He was happy. ALFONSO: I was not. JUDGE LAKE: What
was his reaction? What did he say? I was not, Your Honor. PAYNE: "Oh, well,
that's my baby." 'Cause we... I didn't. (LAUGHS) I did not, Your Honor. No, I did not. I said
I wanted to take a DNA test. And, um, we went
to take the DNA test... Oh, not the DNA,
the pregnancy test. And they said it was... How do you say that? Negative. Yeah, negative.
It was negative. PAYNE: That was
before we broke up. Wait a minute.
You said the test
was negative? Yes. Yes... JUDGE LAKE: So you took
a pregnancy test before the break-up, and it was negative. Yes. And then like... Then, after the break-up,
she sees you on the streets
and says, "I'm pregnant, "and it's yours." ALFONSO: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: So, immediately,
you have doubt. Yes. You say, "We took
a pregnancy test
before we broke up." And she went back
with another man,
the same man that I'd seen, she said she was with,
that she had
an argument with before, you know, before me. JUDGE LAKE: Then you went
back to your other boyfriend,
Ms. Payne? Yes, but I was
already pregnant. Did you tell
the other boyfriend you were pregnant by him? Yes, Your Honor. There you go. So how am I
the father then,
Your Honor? Did he believe
he was the father? PAYNE: No. ALFONSO: Yes, he did
'cause you told me. JUDGE LAKE: Who was with you
when Nevaeh was born? PAYNE: My ex. And he signed
her birth certificate. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) JUDGE LAKE: And he signed
her birth certificate. So how am I the father,
Your Honor? Yes, that's what
I'd like to know. So, you submitted
Nevaeh's birth certificate
to the court, and under her name,
there is a father's name.
We've blurred it out. But that's your ex's name. Yes, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) So that tells you
I'm not the father. JUDGE LAKE: No,
that don't tell me nothin'. (LAUGHS) You know what
that tells me? Yes. Tells me you ain't got
no business going out
with a young girl that's not even mature enough
to come in this courtroom... (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) ...and testify, not for
her three-week-old child, her three-year-old child. ALFONSO: (SIGHS) Mmm. JUDGE LAKE: Can't put
two sentences together. LYDIA: Can't be trusted. And I'm not gonna
let you off the hook.
You know why? 'Cause you're a mother. And mothers, we...
We don't ever get
let off the hook. (AUDIENCE MURMURING
IN AGREEMENT) And every mother in here
better say "Amen." WOMEN: Amen! Who did you tell her
her daddy is? Alfonso. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) JUDGE LAKE: You tell her
that Mr. Hooks is her father? Yes. 'Cause she's old enough now
where she'd wanna know because other kids
know their dad, "So, who's my dad?
Where's Daddy?" And you say it's Mr. Hooks. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hooks,
do you have
a relationship with Nevaeh? Yes. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You do? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: So, you formed
a relationship with her even though you didn't
believe she was yours? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And why is that? It's because, um... He's that type of man. He's that type of man.
He will look out for a child
and love a child. He's just that type
of person. AUDIENCE: Aw. And he has
a relationship with her. So, Ms. Payne, what kind
of relationship does your ex
have with Nevaeh? He don't have a relationship. He hasn't seen her
since she was a baby. ALFONSO: That's not true,
Your Honor. He had a relationship
at the beginning. Like, maybe two years,
'cause she was
still seeing him. She was seeing me too.
She was like off and on. She gets mad at him,
she comes, like,
talk to make up with me. That's not true. So, you all actually
got back together, where you said, "We're gonna
work this out
and raise Nevaeh together"? Yeah, on and off,
when we were on good terms. What kind of mess is this? Messy. Very. Just about raggedy. You know, I can't stand
some raggedy stuff. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) It's just raggedy. And you know what,
Ms. Payne, how many children you have?
Just Nevaeh? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Right. Okay. So you are a young mother who don't know
what she doing. AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm. You're not the first,
you won't be the last, but sometimes,
you just gotta be honest. 'Cause this is
all over the place. AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm. When you're ready
to tell the truth,
I'm ready to hear it. LYDIA: Honor,
she don't know herself... 'Cause the plaintiffs lie,
sometimes the defendants lie, but the DNA never lies. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) And I can see,
plain as day, you're lying. AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm. JUDGE LAKE: You're not
testifying to the whole truth. LYDIA: Yes, but we will
find out today if my son is the father
of her child. We will know today. 'Cause I do wanna know... What are you hoping for? You wanna know,
but what are you
hoping for? Have you come to love
this baby? I mean,
she's gorgeous. LYDIA: I'm hoping
that my son is the father. JUDGE LAKE: You are? LYDIA: I'm hoping, yes. Because he has a bond
with that little girl. He really does. So I'm hoping
that he is the father. Mr. Hooks, what are you
hoping for? I like her. I like...
I like Nevaeh, but sometimes I don't want
her to be my daughter. I don't want it
because of the mother. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) Well, since everybody's
talking about
what they're hoping for, I'm gonna talk about
what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping, Mr. Hooks,
that after this situation
is resolved, that you'll stop sniffing up
behind young girls. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) And this is the problem
about meeting somebody
at the store for five minutes, and inviting them
into your car, taking them
back to your house, and having unprotected sex
with them. It leads to this. It leads to the point
you could potentially
have a child by a young woman
who's just five years away
from being a child. Mmm. You have other things
you could be doing. With your time
and with your life. ALFONSO: Yes. And with your anatomy. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: I'm being serious. Yeah. 'Cause a lot
of this frustration, you brought this on yourself. Yes. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Because you knew,
she told you
from the get go, she had just had
an argument with the boyfriend
who was there. So you knew
she was vulnerable
in that moment, and I knew once you said
"You wanna go for a ride," I said, "Here we go." Yes. JUDGE LAKE: We're on a ride,
all right. Yeah. And drove yourselves
straight to<i> Paternity Court.</i> (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) ALFONSO: Yeah. So we don't feel badly for you. Ms. Payne,
and I'm hoping
for you that Nevaeh will help you
grow up and really
get yourself together. AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm. JUDGE LAKE:
I'm concerned about you. I'm tough on young women
like yourself because I can see right now,
you don't have anybody
in your life that challenges you,
empowers you, and makes you be accountable
for the things that you do. You're just
all over the place. And what I hope is,
at some point,
you decide that honesty
is a better policy. Jerome, I'm ready
for the results. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and
they read as follows. In the case of<i> Hooks v. Payne,</i> when it comes to
three-year-old Nevaeh, it has been determined
by this Court... Mr. Hooks. You... Are the father. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING
AND APPLAUDING) I see your relief. You can smile. You can smile
and you can also
say it now... If you'd like... If you'd like
to be honest, you can just say,
"I didn't know. "I'm glad you are the father,
but I didn't know." And it's okay
to be honest. Okay. I didn't know. I'm glad he's the father,
Your Honor. I am. I'm glad 'cause he got
a good relationship with her. JUDGE LAKE:
Ms. Payne,
look at me. Look at me
and say it again. I didn't know. JUDGE LAKE: That's the truth. I knew you didn't know
the whole case. And quite frankly,
once Ms. Hooks said she really wanted Nevaeh
to be her grandchild, and they hoped they knew, honestly, when I look
at a young girl like you, just out here,
flailing in the wind, I was in my mind, hoping, "Lord, let Ms. Hooks
be this baby's grandmother
because she needs somebody." You know
what I want you to do? With Dr. Jeff? I want you to go back there
and talk to him about how to begin
to co-parent with Mr. Hooks, but I also want you
to talk to him about
your dreams for your life. Right? Yes, Your Honor. Because the best way
you can give Nevaeh the thought that she can be
anything she wants to be is if you do the same. AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm. JUDGE LAKE: We clear? Yes, Your Honor. All right.
I wish you all the very best. Court is adjourned.
