Please be seated. -Good morning, Your Honor.
-Good morning. This is the case of<i>
Johnson v. Kirby.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. -[audience] Good day.
-Mr. Johnson, you are here to prove you are not
the biological father of Ms. Kirby's
11-month-old son, Cayden. You claim her accusations
are causing trouble
in your relationship, and you are certain
the results will clear
your name. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Kirby, you are positive
your son was conceived during your sexual relationship
with Mr. Johnson. And you say your son struggle
with health issues and you need Mr. Johnson
to step up and be a father. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr. Johnson, you claim Ms. Kirby is causing
issues in your life. Explain. Yes, Your Honor. She's trying to pin a child
on me that ain't mine. And she's causing problem
in my current relationship. How am I causing issues
in your current relationship when you've just called
to me yesterday? [audience exclaiming] So what are you
talking about, sir? I'm not trying
to keep up with you.
I just wanted to know, is this really happening? So you think she's trying
to pin a baby on you? Yes, Your Honor. [audience exclaiming] And you have doubts. Yes, Your Honor. So, Ms. Kirby,
I have to ask you. Are you trying to pin
this baby on Mr. Johnson? No, I'm trying to get
my baby situated.
He has health issues. I'm trying to see
where it's coming from because it is not
on my side of the family. [audience] Aw! So I see
you are emotional already. What are you feeling right now? How does it feel to know
the man you are saying
is the father of your child <i> is not acknowledging
your child?</i> [Kirby]<i>
Um, we planned this baby.</i> He told me
when we first met that I was going to be
his baby mama. Now that he's here,
he don't want to step up. Either he step up,
or he step down. -Excuse me, Your Honor--
-And why do you have tears
in your eyes? [Kirby chuckling] My baby... Excuse me, Your Honor. Yes, I told her
that she was going to be
my baby mama, but it was just talk. It was nothing like that.
We only had sex. That was it. Nothing more. And, plus, she's trying to pin
this baby on me
because she need help now. -And then she want to--
-I don't need your help! My baby is well taken care of. He's been taken care of
for almost a year now. Well, why are you threatening
me with child support? 'Cause I know
you ain't going to do nothing. All right, let me ask you this. Mr. Johnson, did you grow up
with a father in your life? No, Your Honor. I was premature.
I was in the hospital
for six months. -And, while I was in--
-And now my baby have issues. He have health issues. While I was in the hospital,
Your Honor, my father abandoned me. -And my mother.
-Now you abandoning Cayden. I would never do
a child like that
that I know that's mine. And this baby is not mine. [audience exclaiming] And so you're saying, you know what it feels like
to be abandoned. -[Johnson] Yes, Your Honor.
-And you would never do that
to another child. Yes, Your Honor. I would never do that
because I made a bad decision. Apparently, you are
'cause you're not
taking care of Cayden. -Apparently, you are.
-Because he's not mine. <i> It ain't my baby.</i> <i> That baby don't look
nothing like me.</i> [Kirby]<i>
Um, I'm light. He light.</i> -So what's your point?
-[Johnson]
Your Honor, I just had a child, and the baby looks
nothing like Cayden. My baby looks like me. So you are convinced
that Cayden is not
your biological child? -Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judge Lake] All right. How did you two meet? Well, Your Honor,
we was working at this job, and then
we had a blackout. And during the blackout,
we decided to go to the store. So we in my car,
driving to the store. Charmaigne started
talking sexually. -So--
-Why would I talk sexual
to you when I'm dating someone? Wait. What was she saying? [all laughing] I think I want to know. [all laughing] [Johnson] Well... Jerome said, "I want to know." [all laughing] Oh, my goodness. Okay. What did she say? Keep it PG, please. All right. [clearing throat] Well, Your Honor,
she was just saying how she do
when she in a bed
with a man. That's what
she was talking about. -Oh.
-[Kirby] It don't mean
that I was trying to lay down with you. Yes, you were. So why
did we exchange numbers? -And then the next day...
-Because I liked you
when I first met you. ...we had sex. Ms. Kirby, you just
get in the car,
riding to the store and just talking
about what you going to do
in the bed? [Kirby laughing] That's your conversation? No, Your Honor. That don't even sound
like conversation riding
to the store. That sounds like conversation
when you're trying
to get with somebody. And that's what we did,
Your Honor. We exchanged numbers. Then, the next day, boom,
we're having sex. It was just
a sexual relationship. -That's it.
-[audience exclaiming] -So, "Boom," you said.
-[Johnson] Yeah. And you just
started having sex? -Yes, Your Honor.
-How long did
the sexual relationship last? [Johnson]
Well, it lasted for months. And during that time,
she already told me, Your Honor,
that she was having sex
with another guy. A month before you
and a month after you, sir. No. During the time
we were having sex. She had already told me this. So when you met and she...
Well, I mean, look, you're in the car,
talking about what you
going to do to a man, that's going to obviously lead
to someone thinking,
"What man? What man
are you doing this with?" So you're saying she told you, "I'm also having
a sexual relationship
with somebody else." -Yes, Your Honor.
-What did she say? She was like, "Well, I'm single, but I'm having sex
with this dude also." Plus, he was staying the night
in her apartment. So is that true, Ms. Kirby? Were you having a guy
spend the night over -during the time
that you started having--
-Yes, I was. [audience exclaiming] Okay. Because he knew from the jump
that I was sexual...
dealing with someone. I was dealing with someone
at the time when me
and him met. I told him upfront. You just said it was a month. It's been a month. But now you was dealing
with somebody? But wait. From... You talking about
what you're going to do
to a man in bed to the point when you all are actually
in the bed together, that's just less than 24 hours. And now you admit you were also having
a sexual relationship
with another man. So it seems pretty obvious
how we got here. [chuckling] [audience applauding] Can you tell the court
how you found out
Ms. Kirby was pregnant? Yes, Your Honor. I was at this party,
and I was scrolling
on social media, and I seen her post
something about she don't need help
with her child. So I hit her up.
I was like, "Are you pregnant?"
She was like, "Yeah." So I'm like,
"Is the baby mine?" She was like, "No." So I left the party
and went to her house. And then she flipped
the script, saying, "Well, yes.
You are the father." [audience exclaiming] So wait a minute.
You see the post, -and you're curious.
-[Johnson] Right. So you ask her,
is she pregnant?
She says, "Yes." But she says,
no, you're not the father. Because I didn't want
to deal with him at the time. So why did you go to her house
after that? Because I wanted to be clear, am I the father of this baby? [Judge Lake]<i>
Oh, you were taking it
one step further,</i> <i> because, as you stated
in your earlier testimony,</i> you're not going to play around
if you think a child
is your child. -[Johnson] Yes, Your Honor.
-[audience applauding] And so you went to her house? Yes, Your Honor. And so you get to her house,
and what happens? How does the script flip? [chuckles]
I don't know. I guess she sees
that I'm going to be around, and I'm going to help her
take care of this child. She wanted me to be
in this child's life. You haven't done
nothing for Cayden
since he's been here. Yes, because you were saying
he wasn't mine. Of course, I told you
he wasn't yours. 'Cause you wasn't
going to do nothing, and I didn't want
to deal with you. All right, then.
So why would I do something
if you saying it ain't mine? So, Ms. Kirby, did you tell
this other guy you were with
you were pregnant? -Yes.
-[Judge Lake] Oh, you did? -[audience exclaiming]
-Yes. Hmm. And so why are you
threatening Mr. Johnson
with child support? Because I did the calculations. We had sex June... July 10th. And that's around the time
that I conceived Cayden. So you looked
at the conception window. -[Kirby] Yes, ma'am.
-And you determined that was during the time
when you were sexually active
with Mr. Johnson? Yes, Your Honor. But, I thought
you slept with him within a 24-hour window
of meeting him, and you also were
in a sexual relationship
with the other man. Me and him had sex July 10th,
when we got back
from Clarksville. Oh, so you're basing this
on the exact date of sex? Yes, Your Honor. [Johnson]
Excuse me, Your Honor. Be mindful that we're talking
about two different guys. <i> She was having sex
with another guy
before this guy</i> <i> that she say
that's her supposed-to-be
baby father.</i> [audience exclaiming] So you are actually
one out of three? -Right. Yes. Yes, Your Honor.
-It was protected. It was protected, Your Honor. Well, we've learned in here, no protection is 100%. Yes. All right.
So, during the pregnancy, who stepped up for you? Who was there for you?
Was Mr. Johnson there? No, Your Honor. My family was. Was he there for the birth? -[Kirby] No, Your Honor.
-[Johnson]
Excuse me, Your Honor. I wasn't there
because she didn't want me
to be there. The only time she called me
was for sex and food. You are lying. [chuckling] [Johnson]
That's the only time,
Your Honor. You wouldn't even buy
a five-dollar box of chicken
from Church's. [Johnson] I was taking... I was taking you to Burger King
and going grocery shopping
for you. [laughing] Whoo! Mr. Johnson,
you know how to wine and dine a woman, honey! What? Yes. Fantastic. [sighing] Okay. So Cayden is
almost a year now. What kind of relationship
do you have with him,
Mr. Johnson? Have you developed
any relationship
with this baby? -No, Your Honor.
-[Judge Lake] Not at all? -Not at all.
-[Judge Lake] Have you ever
seen him in person? No, Your Honor. -No?
-[Johnson] Not at all. I only seen him on video chat. She was video chatting me
at first. And then, after, she would start
saying that "Cayden need Pampers!
Cayden need this!" I'm like,
"Well, call his real dad." I only called you one time,
and Cayden didn't need you
for that. I was just trying to see
what you going to actually
do, sir. You call me, text me,
text me, call me.
I started telling you that I'm in a relationship,
like... Boy, you hit me up first,
I ain't never hit you up first
for anything. Cayden has been good
since birth. -You're lying.
-[Judge Lake] So
wait a minute, Ms. Kirby. You say he is Cayden's father? He's not mine. But what I'm saying is,
why do you say you just
going to hit him up to see what he was going to do? Don't you want him
to have a relationship
with Cayden? -Yes.
-[Judge Lake] You do? Yes. And so, when you got in contact
with Mr. Johnson, were you hoping he'd respond? -[Kirby] Yes.
-[Judge Lake] But he didn't? Yes. -[Judge Lake]
And that's hurtful?
-Yes. So what's it been like
raising Cayden on your own? It's been hard, but I manage. When you say it's been hard, talk to the Court
about the struggles. Um, my baby have health issues. Um, he has the G-tubes. So we back and forth
from different doctors. ENT, G-tube clinic, all of it. And he's also albino. [audience exclaiming] So do you feel like
that's one of the reasons Mr. Johnson is not believing? Yes. Because of his albinism? -[Kirby] Yes.
-[Johnson]
Excuse me, Your Honor. I didn't even know
that this child was albino. And plus, no one
in my family is albino, has no trait of it. So you feel like, since you've
never heard of this,
it's not in your family, that Cayden couldn't
possibly be your child. That's another area of doubt
for you. Yes, Your Honor. All right. Well, Ms. Kirby, does anyone in your family have albinism? Do they? No, Your Honor. Any of the other two men,
do you know -if it occurs in their family?
-I'm not sure. -[Judge Lake] You don't know?
-Yes. All right. Well, I wanted
to learn more about this. And so I'd like to bring in
Dr. Samantha Brown-Parks to explain in more detail the medical condition
called "albinism." Please, Jerome, can you escort
Dr. Samantha Brown-Parks
into the courtroom? -Hello, Dr. Brown-Parks.
-Hi, Judge. How are you? Thank you for joining us again. -I've got
more questions for you.
-Okay. Today, we're here,
talking about the paternity
of beautiful baby Cayden. And his mother, Ms. Kirby,
says that Cayden is albino. He has albinism. Can you tell the court
what albinism is exactly? Sure. So albinism is
a very rare disease. Less than one
in 20,000 children have it. <i> And it is
the absence of pigment</i> <i> both in the hair, skin,
and sometimes eyes.</i> So is albinism passed down... How does it get
passed down to a child? Is it through the mother,
father? How does that work? So it's both. Each parent, even though they look
phenotypically or to the eyes normally pigmented, carry an abnormal gene. So one abnormal gene from mom,
one abnormal gene from dad,
come together, make an albino child. That's fascinating. So, Mr. Johnson, after hearing
Dr. Samantha Brown-Parks'
testimony today, does that change your mind? Do you understand
with greater certainty
what albinism is and does that change your mind
as to whether or not you could be
Cayden's biological father? Yes, Your Honor, I understand, but I still deny that.
He is not my child. -[Judge Lake]
You don't believe he is?
-No, Your Honor. So, Mr. Johnson,
what are your hopes today? You say you know Cayden is not
your biological child, but that's different
from what you're hoping. Do you hope he is? I'm hoping that he's not,
Your Honor, -so I can move on with my life.
-[audience exclaiming] I'm hoping that he's not,
Your Honor, so I can move on
with my life. Because you just had a baby. -[Johnson] Yes, Your Honor.
-[Judge Lake] Congratulations. Thank you, Your Honor. [audience applauding] You may have another one
in about ten minutes. [all laughing] You know what, Jerome?
Let's just go to the results. We, uh... [audience applauding] These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Johnson v. Kirby,</i> when it comes to
11-month-old Cayden Kirby, it has been determined
by this Court, Mr. Johnson, you... are the father. [audience applauding] Congratulations
are in order again. That's your beautiful
little boy. I mean, Your Honor,
like I said, I'm the father of this child,
and I'm going to step up. That is good to know because Cayden deserves it. And he's been waiting for it
for 11 months. And I don't think
he should wait any longer. Mom, is it okay
if Mr. Johnson meets his son for the very first time
in my chambers? -Yes.
-[Judge Lake]
I'll be there with you. -Okay.
-[Judge Lake] All right? Mr. Johnson, it's time for you
to meet your son. I will see you all
in my chambers. Court is adjourned.
