Please be seated. -Hello, Your Honor.
-Hello. This is the case of<i>
Shands v. Hollis.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. [audience] Good day. Ms. Shands, you appear
in court today because you are devastated that your first love and the person you lost
your virginity to -is now denying
your 15-month-old son A'iden.
-[audience] Aw. You say once you prove
to the defendant
that he is the father, you hope you two can
finally be a family. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Hollis, you are
here with your mother, and you both testify
that Ms. Shands is a pathological liar, and you both don't believe
you fathered her son, but claim to know who did.
Is this correct? [both] Yes, Your Honor. I've read through
the court file, and this is a classic case
of babies having babies. I'm gonna start
with you, Ms. Shands,
tell the court what do you want
to accomplish today? Today, I would
like to accomplish that Amir is the father
of my child. He has been
in my baby's life <i> ever since my baby
has been three months.</i> <i> He's my first love,
my first kiss,
my first everything.</i> And today, I just want
to know the truth about... I want to prove to him
that he is the father
of my child. And so, Mr. Hollis,
tell the court why you say she's
a pathological liar. I've caught Desire cheating
so many times, -like, it don't make no sense.
-[Shands scoffs] Like... Like...
It's just... After middle school, like, when we
hit high school, everything was going great,
like, her freshman year. But after that, like, when we had got into
that one argument, we broke up.
And then that was that. And she started messing
with my homeboy, and she started messing
with multiple people. Your Honor, me and his...
was close friends once before. They was, but they-- [Shands] He used to
come back and tell me that, Mr. Amir, he was messing
with one of my friends. -[Hollis scoffs]
-[audience exclaim] [Charmekia] I don't
understand that. We both were young
at the time. -We both were young, so...
-Both of y'all are young now. [Shands] Yeah,
we still are young. We still are young. But... But I thought it was cool
to go mess with one of his friends because he had slept
with one of mine. We both had made a mistake. -No, no.
-We both made a mistake. -That's not how it is.
-All right. All right. This is really what went on, all of them would be
at my house every weekend. His friend, that's
the other guy that
she messed around with, and they would
be there all the time. And I was there
one weekend, I was off, and she was going
to the store, she said, um, "Come on, best friend." But that's supposed to be
his best friend. "Come on, best friend.
Let's go to the store." I said, "What?"
I told him, I said,
"Why do that?" I said, "He your best friend
now he her best friend, too." [Hollis] I knew about
the whole best friend thing,
but, like, now that they've done
slept around on me, like, I don't know, like... They probably were
doing it then, back when they were
best friends. -[Charmekia] I believe
they was.
-No. -No.
-I believe they was. -[Judge Lake] Oh, God.
-I told him they was. All right.
This is exactly why y'all need to be
just out playing a sport, learning a craft. [applause] Yes. This just sounds
about silly. So, you have revenge sex
with one of his friends. -And did you
use protection?
-No. [audience exclaims] And then, how many times
did you have sex with this friend of his? Multiple times. -[audience exclaim]
-[Judge Lake] Multiple times. But were you also still being
intimate with Mr. Hollis? -Well, we had broke up.
-We had broke up. When me and his friend
had an affair, we wasn't together. We was not together at all. [Judge Lake] An affair? [laughter] So, eventually, you find out
you're pregnant. Take me to that day. She...
My godmother, she... We used to be on the porch,
like, just... When she was doing
people's hair,
we used to be on the porch. She was like,
"You pregnant. You pregnant." I used to be like, "Stop jinxing me.
Stop jinxing me." And one day
I went to the clinic
and I found out I was five-months' pregnant. -Five months?
-[Shands] Five months. [Judge Lake] So, you didn't
even know enough
about your body to know you were pregnant. So, you find out
you're five-months'
pregnant, what happens?
Who do you tell? Um, well, first,
I told his friend, because that's the person
I was going with at the time. We ended up going out. [Judge Lake] So, the friend
you cheated on him with, and the next thing
you know, y'all end up-- Excuse me, Your Honor.
What she's saying don't matter. When she was going out
with my friend, she was still sneaking around
with me anyway because I felt like
he did it to me, so, y'all together,
I'm finna gonna do
what I got to do. Okay, yeah, that did
happen as well. [Judge Lake]
So, you were sleeping with
both boys at the same time? -Yes, ma'am.
-[Judge Lake] All right. You find out you're pregnant,
you tell the other guy first, what was his response? Well, he was happy. He was happy. And so, you also tell
Mr. Hollis? I told him, like,
not as soon
as I got pregnant. He ended up finding out
on the streets. -I found out by myself.
-But I end up telling him. I end up telling him,
and I end up... I guess he end up
telling his mom as well. And I was telling them
that it's a possibility that it can be him
or the friend. I never told the friend
that it can be a possibility with another guy.
I only told his mother that it can
be a possibility
with another guy. And why did you make
that choice? -I don't know.
-Because she knew
what she was doing. She knew what she was doing. If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. Ms. Shands,
when you give birth, who was with you? The friend was with me
when A'iden was born. -In the hospital?
-In the hospital. -In labor.
-[Judge Lake] In labor. [Charmekia] And I sent
my mom there because I knew
there was a possibility that my son could be
the dad as well. He favored my son
when he was born. [Judge Lake] So, wait.
And, so, Mr. Hollis, you just didn't
want to be there or you felt like
you weren't invited? Oh, I was never invited. Anything I found out
about the baby, I found out by myself. I didn't even know
she was in labor. I had to find that out. I was walking out
of fourth period, somebody came to me
and said, "Desire had her baby."
[muttering incoherently] I didn't even know
she was in labor. I didn't even know
she was in a hospital. I didn't know... Like, when she
first got in labor,
I ain't know. So, Ms. Shands,
if the other guy
was at the birth, why are you now saying Mr. Hollis is
the baby's father? Because, like, he... My baby look,
have more features of him than the other guy. -Yes, he does.
-More features? He don't look nothing like
the other guy at all. I, um... I FaceTimed her
and told her that it looked like my... I said, um,
"A'iden looks like Amir." -And what did she say, Mom?
-"It's a possibility." [Judge Lake]<i> So, you admitted
that it was a possibility?</i> Yes, Your Honor. I did admit
that it was a possibility. Okay. So, from that point,
when you decided the baby looks more
like Mr. Hollis, does the other guy
sign the birth certificate? No, he didn't have
his ID at the time, that's why he didn't sign. He wasn't intending
on signing. [Judge Lake] At what point
do you just say, "You know what, I don't think
you're the father, I think Mr. Hollis
is my child's father?" Do you ever have
that conversation? Do you ever
just come clean? -With the friend?
-[Judge Lake] Yes. No, I never even
talked to him about it. So, to this day,
the other person
doesn't know that Mr. Hollis could be
A'iden's biological father? He hears it off the streets
'cause everybody on the streets telling him that the baby
look like A'iden. "The baby look like Amir.
The baby look like Amir." He think it's his child. But in his mind,
he's running around
the streets saying, "This is my baby." They're beefing over it.
Him and my son
is beefing over it. -Beefing over it?
-Yeah, they got into it. [Hollis] We got into it
a few times, Your Honor. Like, it's not no beef... Ain't no beef with me
no more, like... I let the whole thing go.
Like, the whole thing. I can't tell.
You writin' songs about it. -What you mean?
-He made a song,
Your Honor, and it specifically says,
"'Bout a year ago, I fell
in love with a thot." -That's what it says.
-[audience exclaims] And I can see that you didn't
appreciate that, Ms. Shands. No, it hurted me,
like, when I heard
the song at first. Especially the first song...
I forgot how... I forgot how it started, but he put my name in it,
the friend name in it, but he erased it
and changed it
to a whole different... Different words. And then, he came out
with the... [Judge Lake] And we have
some of the lyrics
to that song. [Judge Lake reading] [laughter] It just keeps
getting worse. [Hollis] Worse. Oh, Ms. Your Honor. And there was another,
a video that went viral. It went viral. He made a little song,
it got me and his picture
in the background. It got me and his picture
in the background. He said, "You better not trust her.
She gonna come back to me." Your Honor, first of all,
that was after the fact... She made a video about me first
while I was at school, so... Made a video? They be making videos
about each other. -She made one of me first.
-No. This is insane. I mean, really,
I'm sitting here... I feel like you two need
to be going to detention... -[audience agreeing]
-...not to<i> Paternity Court.</i> I mean, just listening
to the stories, the grammar alone... [cheering, applause] ...is just about
to take me out. You know, really and truly,
Your Honor, the reason why
I really want this
over with to find out
if A'iden's his or not because, like I said,
him and the boyfriend was beefing
and all of that. And I don't need him
getting killed over
nothing like that. That's how his father
lost his life and I'd hate for that
to happen to him. And see, you know, Mom,
I appreciate your honesty. And I understand. I'm a mom of a boy,
and I get the fear. [stammers] What's so scary is at the end of the day,
you're just kids, but you're making people because you're engaging
in adult activities, sex. And now you're getting
yourself caught up. Mr. Hollis,
what kind of relationship
do you have with A'iden? Hmm. It's a real
strong relationship. Like, I got attached,
like, real fast. <i> I can't even...</i> <i> He love me,
like, every time
I come around.</i> So, you have a real bond
with this baby. Ms. Shands,
has this other guy developed a relationship
with A'iden as well? Not as really. Like, when A'iden see Amir, they have a little thing
like... [grunts] at each other.
Like, they do it... Like, every time
he see him, like... He can get on FaceTime
with Amir, and he'll be
like... [grunts] But every time
he be with the other guy, he, like...
He don't really be
studyin' him. He never showed the... The attention that
he showed to Amir that he shows
to the other guy. And, Ms. Hollis, I mean... You say you tried to back off, but I can see in this picture, you've got the grandma face
all over you. [all laugh] So, you've fallen in love
with the baby as well. Yeah. I just don't...
You know, I don't want
to find out later on that, you know,
I'd rather just
get it over. <i> If it is, it is,
if it isn't, it isn't.</i> <i> But I'll still love him.</i> [Judge Lake]<i> I can see that.</i>
[Charmekia]<i> Mmm-hmm.</i> -It just brings tears
to your eyes to see him.
-[Charmekia] Mmm-hmm. A'iden is the child.
He can't make no decisions
for himself. You know,
this not his fault. [Judge Lake] No, it is not. -Ms. Shands.
-Yes, Your Honor. And as you've
stated earlier, you really want
to be with Mr. Hollis. -Yes, Your Honor.
-And you want to raise
A'iden with him. Yes, Your Honor. But the truth is,
you have absolutely no clue who A'iden's
biological father is. All right. Well, we have the results, and I think that's
the only way we're
gonna figure out how we move forward,
is to get the truth. -Jerome, may I have
the envelope?
-Yes, Your Honor. Here you go. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Shands v. Hollis...</i> When it comes to
15-month-old
A'iden Shands, it has been determined
by this Court... Mr. Hollis, you are not the father. I see tears in your eyes,
Ms. Shands, because I know
how desperately you wanted Mr. Hollis to be
A'iden's biological father. Their family's formed
a bond with your son, but unfortunately now,
we know the truth. You're a beautiful
young woman, but I do not like the way
you've been operating, or you, Mr. Hollis.
None of you. And maybe you don't
have anybody. Listen, sometimes you don't
have that person to just sit you down
and say, "No! That's not
what you do." And you get yourself...
That's what I don't like
about all this little social media stuff.
You post something,
and then everybody, -"Yeah, girl." "Yeah this..."
and all this "yeah".
-[Charmekia] I hate it. And they will "yeah" you
straight to mediocrity. [audience agreeing] And you will not realize your potential as a young woman
or a young man listening to these people
online try to legitimize
this nonsense track
you on. I want you to desire
better for yourself. I want you to desire
a future for yourself
and your child. I want you to desire
that you finish your education. Desire that you go to college
and make something of yourself. Desire that you want
to live your dreams. -Do you understand me?
-Yes, Your Honor. [Judge Lake] Focus on
those desires and leave the rest
of it alone. I wish you
all the very best.
Court is adjourned.
