You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello, Jerome. This is the case of<i>
Lindsay v. Word/Jones.</i> Thank you so much.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day,
Your Honor. Miss Lindsay, you say
you're sick and tired
of two men whom you believe
are using your grandson as an excuse to
walk in and out
of your daughter's life. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) Now, you're here today along
with your daughter, Crystal, to learn which of them
fathered Austyn. Yes, Your Honor. Now, Mr. Word,
you claim you want to
be in Austyn's life but you say you're unsure
you're his biological father. Yes. You argue these doubts
came directly from Crystal,
when she told you... Yes, Your Honor. ...there is a second,
possible father. Yes, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) Now, Mr. Jones,
Austyn's other
possible father, has been tested as well
and he will be joining us
from his home town. Miss Lindsay,
let me start with you. Why do you think
Mr. Word is taking advantage
of your daughter? Because when he
first met my daughter, he was married. WORD: Your Honor,
that's not... Then they got... Then they got a divorce. That's not true.
I was divorced in 2008. ROSE:
Then they got a divorce. Me and her met two or three years after that. He was still going out
with another female and then he was trying to
still talk to my daughter. So, you felt like
he was lying, he wasn't being genuine
to your daughter. ROSE: Correct. JUDGE LAKE: They dated. Uh-huh. JUDGE LAKE: You were there
throughout this... Yeah. the whole, uh... WORD: No, Your Honor, no. The whole power struggle of him trying to
control my daughter. In what way
did he try to control her? She went and
moved in with him. I went, like, almost
two and a half months without
talking to my daughter. That's not true, Your Honor.
She talked. Only could talk to her when he was out
with his friends. Your Honor,
she talked to her
daughter every day. She only had stayed
a week at my house and then she would go home
to her house. No. When they first
got together, she... He manipulated her
and told her, "Uh, your mom is only
telling you stuff about me "because she don't want you
to be with me." That's... You were jealous. Your Honor,
she's jealous... I'm jealous? She's jealous of her
daughter's relationships because her daughter
can find love, and... I'm jealous? Well, let me hear
from Crystal. Thank you.
Let it come from the... Crystal... JUDGE LAKE: Were you
in a relationship
with Mr. Word? Yes, Your Honor. I was. Did you think or know
if he was married? Before we got together,
he was married to the chick. And they got
a divorce, after. Okay. And at some point,
Mr. Word, you found out
Crystal was pregnant. Yes, Your Honor. She... And when you found out... ROSE: She was staying
with him... At the time she found
out she was pregnant. Yeah. WORD: No, no... Yeah, yeah. WORD: No, no, she wasn't. Yeah, yeah, it was. It wasn't, it wasn't... You took her...
You took her to the clinic. I didn't even get to go
to the clinic with her. No, we might have
been in a relationship
at the time. But she was not there
when I realized that
she was pregnant. She came to my house,
came to my room
where she lay down. Of course,
I, I know her body, I love her,
I still love her to this day. And I know her body, you know. And I realized that
she was filling out. Her hips, her thighs,
her breasts.
I knew she was filling out. And I asked. I'm like,
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" And she was like, "Yeah." And
I told her, "You don't have
nothing to worry about. "Anything you need,
anything you want,
I get it for you." My life that I have before,
my partying, I quit that and I still quit it
to this day. I...I don't do anything
wrong, Your Honor. I go to work every day. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) ROSE: No, Your Honor. I try my best to support... I try my best to support
Austyn as much
as I can, Your Honor. And you can ask Crystal that. CRYSTAL: Your Honor, I was... On Halloween... ...living with him at the time
that I got pregnant. I was bouncing back
from his house to my house. JUDGE LAKE: All right. I would stay there with him
for a week and then I'd go
home for a week. JUDGE LAKE: That's exactly
what he said. Okay, so we agree
on that point. CRYSTAL: Yes, Your Honor. So, now... The issue we have before us is you also had sex
with another guy. Yes. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) Now, tell me what
the circumstances were that would cause you to
do that if you were in a
relationship with Mr. Word. 'Cause we was having conflict
and we was arguing
and we was back and forth the whole three years
that we was together. ROSE: He was not
taking care of her. WORD: Actually, actually... I would have to take
food down to her. WORD: True, Your Honor. Sometimes I didn't have money and I couldn't buy
the things that she wanted. There was food
in the refrigerator,
but I couldn't afford... He took her coat
and her shoes and told her, "You're not going nowhere.
You're gonna be here
when I get back." So, he is more controlling. That is a flat-out lie,
Your Honor. That is a lie. Is that a lie, Crystal? That is a lie. Crystal, is that a lie? It's not. It's not. ROSE: So, it all just
goes on to what's important,
and it's that little boy
right there. I wanna know
who his daddy is... (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Because I just wanna know for hospitalization
and doctors and if he comes up with
something wrong,
I wanna know... Who is father is. ROSE: Diabetes.
Does that run in his family? Heart disease runs in mine.
So I want to know. Mr. Word, let me ask you this,
because you seemed like, once you found out
she was pregnant, you said you would be there, you were supportive. We planned to have him. We planned, yeah.
Yes, Your Honor. We planned to. I was on birth control and I got off of birth
control because we both agreed that we wanted
to have a kid together and we wanted to start
a family together. That's true, Your Honor. All right. So when did
you find out that there
could be someone else? Um, after the baby was born. Why did he go and sign
the damn birth certificate? Mom! Okay, let's use
respectful language. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) ...birth certificate
and say... Exactly. If I knew beforehand,
I wouldn't have signed
the birth certificate and the affidavit. That's not true. Look at the bottom
of that paper. It says that because of him
signing the affidavit, that is why they changed
my grandson's last name. To Word. WORD: Exactly. ROSE: And I, I want to find
out so that I can change it
to Lindsay. CRYSTAL: Because we
agreed that even if it
wasn't his child... Because I did.
I told both of them
when I got pregnant. And me and Mr. Word even
sat down and figured out when I did sleep
with the other guy and when it was and
everything, and I told
Mr. Word everything. That's why we don't know
which one it is. because I slept with both
of them around the same time
that I'd gotten pregnant. So you were honest with him. Yes, Your Honor. I was. If that's true, then how are
you standing here saying
you didn't find out there was another
father until after she had the baby. After Austyn was born. And then there's... So, was this... Was this
conversation before or
after Austyn was born? Before Austyn was born. After, Your Honor. Before Austyn was born,
we had the dis... We had to talk that it
might be the possibility
of another dude. And he said that he
wanted to be there, and he wanted to be
Austyn's father
no matter what. The bottom line is
you were informed that
there could be another possible father. Yes, yes. She was
100% honest, Your Honor. And so, you were living
with this doubt. Yes, yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Did you
still bond with Austyn? I tried my best to,
Your Honor,
as much as I could. ROSE: Your Honor, in the
two years that that
little boy... I took care of her in
when she was pregnant. You took care of her
when she was pregnant? She was eight
and a half months pregnant. And he calls her and says,
"Come down and see me." Okay. Me and my mama... So she goes down
and sees him in
100-degree weather, she's eight-and-a-half
months pregnant, and he let her sit out... With that story... ...on his front porch. ...me and my mom
was not at home. For three hours before
he came home. We was not at home. JUDGE LAKE: All right.
Let's bring it down a notch.
Let's bring it down a notch. I wanna understand you but I can't understand
you if you're both talking
at the same time. It's not like
I neglected to let her in. It was an accident,
Your Honor, and I apologized. And I told her, "I'm sorry,
baby. I will do whatever I can
to make up for it. "That will never happen
again." It was an accident. Nothing done on purpose. It's pretty clear,
Miss Lindsay,
you don't care for Mr. Word. Exactly. Neither one of 'em. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Exactly. We haven't touched
Mr. Jones. JUDGE LAKE: So... But I want
you all to understand
that this court really is not about
whether you like
or don't like one another. It's about Austyn. ROSE: Exactly. JUDGE LAKE: It's about... ROSE: Exactly. ...him having
the right to know who his father is. ROSE: Exactly... And I have no
problem with that. So, Mr. Word... How many times
have you seen him
since he's been born? At least 30. But that's not my fault
that it's so less. When I first brought
Austyn home, I stayed there
for, like... ...I had to come
to your house... So, does he come
to see Austyn regularly? Now? Now. Now? No, Your Honor,
he does not. ROSE: He has, in the
two years he's been born,
he's only given $30 for his Halloween
costume last year. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) JUDGE LAKE: All right.
Let's cut to the chase. It's been almost two years
since this child has been
on this earth. Yes, Your Honor. I want to know
directly from you... Do you think part
of the reason why you have
not been as involved is because your doubt
has been kind of working
in the back of your mind? No, Your Honor,
I'm telling you
it's because of her... So you have no doubt
Austyn is yours? Um, I have a little
doubt, of course, because she had sex
with the another guy around
the same time, but I say 95%
I think that's my son. JUDGE LAKE: You claim
she was talking to another guy and now I want to talk
to this other guy. Let's hear from Mr. Jones. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Hi, Mr. Jones.
Thank you for
joining us today. We are talking about
the paternity as it
relates to Austyn. You know Miss Lindsay? <i> Yes, ma'am.</i> JUDGE LAKE: You were
in a sexual relationship
with her? <i> Yes, ma'am.</i> Do you remember finding out
if she was pregnant? <i> Yeah, I found out.
She told me basically
how she told him.</i> JUDGE LAKE: What did
she say to you? <i> "I'm pregnant."
She threw a "but" in there.
It was a slight pause.</i> <i> Uh, then she said,
it could be mine's
or another fella's.</i> (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) And what's your relationship
like with Miss Lindsay now? <i> Pretty much how it was
when we first met.</i> <i> Crystal that deal,
you know what I'm saying?
She's a cool girl.</i> <i> She's just in a bad situation
and don't really know how
to handle it, that's all.</i> So, what was your relationship
like with her back then? Were you all committed? <i> We were best friends
before we knew we was friends.</i> <i> When we was together, we
didn't have all the problems
that she probably having with</i> <i> the rest of these little guys
or whatever.</i> <i> We didn't have that problem.</i> <i> We actually were
in love, you know.</i> <i> We went through
a lot of stuff.
My family, her family.</i> <i> A lot of stuff got in the way
of us being together,
that is why we split apart.</i> And did you know
about Mr. Word? Did you know she was
in a relationship or having
sex with anybody else? <i> Uh, yes, I did.
That didn't matter to me.</i> JUDGE LAKE: You said
it didn't matter to you? <i> No.</i> 'Cause you weren't
in a committed relationship. <i> Exactly. That's my cry baby.
I don't care who she's with.</i> <i> She already knows
she's gonna tell him,</i> <i> I'm gonna be there regardless.</i> (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) What has he done for him? <i> Not a thing.
Not one thing, but I bet you
he'd turn out to be mine.</i> <i> It ain't nothing nobody
in this world can say.
Crystal know it in her heart.</i> I'm from the "Show me" state.
Show us. <i> I ain't from the
"Show me" state.</i> JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Jones, why have you not
provided at all? Were you there
through the pregnancy? When you found out
she was pregnant,
were you there? <i> I wasn't in touch with Crystal
none through the pregnancy,</i> <i> and that was
none of my fault at all.</i> <i> When she finally
even had the baby,</i> <i> I didn't know no hospital,
nothing, all I knew is
she had a baby.</i> So, you didn't even find
out about Austyn until
after he was born? No, no, he said... No, Your Honor. No, he said he... He knew she was pregnant. Through the pregnancy... Never tried to contact. Through the pregnancy,
he didn't know. I didn't... We didn't have no contact
with each other,
the whole time I was pregnant. <i> Correct.</i> But after she told you
she was pregnant, you didn't think,
"Maybe he's mine, "I should go to
a doctor's appointment
or be there for the birth"? <i> Well, no. When somebody
tell you it's maybe your baby</i> <i> or more than one person...</i> <i> I'm pretty sure
I took the right reaction.</i> JUDGE LAKE: So,
your right reaction was to have absolutely
no care and concern for the mother until
after the baby was born? <i> That wasn't by choice.</i> Whose choice was it? The woman
standing next to her. My mother! What does he mean by that? Any chance he gets,
he comes over
and sees her still. (ALL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) CRYSTAL: She gets in my head
and she tells me things, and stuff like that. When you take somebody's
paycheck and you don't have even a pack of cigarettes... What would you call that? So, I'm just putting the truth
out there because
I'm tired of them men, these men, walking over her. It's not right that he takes
her coat and her shoes
and leaves her. It's not right that
he takes her money and leaves her with no food. And then now it's all
about my grandson. Because when these
two dog her, who is gonna have to come
and pick up that little boy? Who is gonna have to come
and bring him food? Matter of fact,
she was just at his house
three weeks ago. She looks at me and she says,
"Mom, we had dinner
last night at 7:00, "there is nothing to eat
or drink up there." And I said, "Take my lunch, "go feed my grand-baby,
and I'm getting you
the hell out of this house." And I called my sister
and I said,
"I'm on my way to work. "Can you go pick up
my daughter and my grandson? "If not, I'm turning around
and I'm picking them up and
taking them to work with me." And so she went
and picked them up. So... (SIGHS) So, if this is supposedly his baby
and he wants to take
care of him, why didn't he even
at least make sure he
had something to drink? A bottle of juice,
ice water, something? I said nothing about that. About what? (SIGHS) What was that reaction
for, Miss Lindsay? It's because I talk to
my mother about stuff, and some things
I don't want her to say. Because if one of these
is his father, I have to deal with that. Ain't nobody around,
nobody around... I have to deal with that. A real man
wouldn't care whether the baby is his or not. If he don't know, if it's
a possibility, that person
supposed to step in just because it's a child. You know what I'm saying?
I don't see him doing it. So, Mr. Word, you're hoping
the child is yours. 100%, I hope he mine. Because he's gonna
be taken care of, not by me,
not just by me
but by my family. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) And Miss Lindsay,
you're hoping neither one
of them are the father. Amen! All I want to do
is thank them,
whoever is the dad. Because you gave me
the greatest thing in life. Other than my kids, you gave
me the next greatest thing,
and that is my grandson. So that's all I have to say
to either one of you
is, thank you, because I love my grandson
and that's why I'm here. And that is what's important. Now, either one of you
want to step up and be a part of his life,
whoever it is, I will go above and beyond,
until you slap my hand. And the first time you slap
my hand and you ain't there, I'm done with you. Because I've done
it for two years,
I can do it without you. Well... I guess you said that. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Jerome, I'm ready
for the results. Amen! Thank you so much,
Your Honor. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Lindsay v. Word/Jones,</i> pertaining to whether
Mr. Word or Mr. Jones is the father
of one-year-old Austyn. Mr. Word... In the case of<i>
Lindsay v. Word/Jones.</i> Pertaining to whether
Mr. Word or Mr. Jones is the father of
one-year-old Austyn... Mr. Word... You are the father. Deuces! JUDGE LAKE: Oh, he's leaving. There is a problem. Because I'm not sure
Miss Lindsay, daughter, if you are standing up
for yourself the way that you
should in relationships. Every time
you get into trouble, your mother
has to bail you out. You gotta get
a backbone, baby. You can't let men treat you
any kind of way and take your money
and leave you with no shoes... Oh, no, no, no, no. You got a baby now. You gotta set some
boundaries and some
standards for your life. You're a beautiful,
beautiful young girl. Thank you. And now you're a mother
of a beautiful, beautiful boy. Thank you, Your Honor. All right,
I'm counting on you all.
Court is adjourned. (GAVEL BANGING) Crystal, I want to talk to you
for a second, hon. This was a very difficult
situation you got
yourself in. You can't go through
your life being a doormat. People walking all
over you, right? Right. Because now,
you have your baby. When they trample all
over you, guess who
else they trample over? Him. And you cannot
let that happen. All right?
I'm gonna check on you, okay? Thank you, Your Honor. Good luck to you.
Welcome, baby, welcome.
