Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor.
This is the case of<i>
Matlock v. Monroe.</i> Thank you, Jerome. You're welcome. Good day, everyone. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Matlock. Yes, ma'am. You say that a few years back,
you were suddenly called away
on family business. Yes, Your Honor. While absent, you claimed the defendant,
Ms. Monroe, invited her former lover
to move into your family home. Yes, Your Honor.
That's correct. JUDGE LAKE: Upon your return,
you say you forgave her and resumed
your sexual relationship. Yes, Your Honor. But then, she dropped the bombshell
that she was pregnant and you might not
be the father of her child. Exactly. Exactly. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Monroe. Yes. You admit that you have
serious doubts about
the paternity of your child. As well, you argue that when
Mr. Matlock left, on family business, he stopped answering
your phone calls and texts
for an entire month. Yes, Your Honor. That's not correct. In your defense,
you say you believed he was never
coming back again. Yes, Your Honor. All right, Mr. Matlock,
explain to me how you got
into this relationship and why you have doubts
about being the father
of Ms. Monroe's child. Well, Your Honor, back in 2006
when me and Ms. Monroe
first got together, she knew I was back and forth
from Fort Smith to Fairview 'cause I have a son
down in that area. Back in '07, I was down there for a week. No. You said you were... No, it was a week. No, you said you were
gonna be gone a weekend and you were gone a month. It was a week. You're lying. You were gone a month. Anyway, Your Honor. You were gone a month. When I was gone for a week... No, you were gone a month. A week? She moved her ex
into our home. In a week? In one week, Your Honor. At what point do you find out
that she's moved another man
into the house? From her. Yeah, I told you.
At least I was honest. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Monroe... At least I was honest. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Monroe,
I want to hear from you. You weren't honest
about the baby. Yes, I am. So, you... He's gone now? Yes. JUDGE LAKE:
For about how long? He was... He originally
told me he'd be gone
for a weekend. She's lying, Your Honor. She is telling a
bold-faced lie, Your Honor. MONROE: Anyway... She knew she was... I'm listening
to her story... I'm listening to her story. You don't just move a man in
within one week unless you have
plans to do that. She probably was doin' it
from the beginning. Ms. Monroe, continue. Anyway, he told me
he was gonna be gone
for a weekend. So after the weekend,
of course, being
the girlfriend, you're gonna care
about somebody's well-being, wonder where they are
if they're not calling you, if you have no contact
with them. So, of course, yes,
I did call him. And then he never
answered my calls. And this went on
for a whole month. What number you call? (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) So, Mr. Matlock, were you
getting phone calls from
Ms. Monroe and not answering? No, Your Honor, I wasn't. I would talk to her
when I called her, but I don't feel like,
when I'm spending time
with my son, I should have to drop
spending time with my son
to call her. No, you should still have
to talk to me. If I'm your girlfriend,
you should care! If she's jealous about...
She's got jealousy issues, thinking I'm sleeping with
every woman on the block. If you gave me a reason,
then I wouldn't have
jealousy issues. Let's get some order,
let's get some order. Ms. Monroe, when he went out of town, did he voluntarily call you
at all while he was gone? No. Lies. JUDGE LAKE: Not one call? Maybe... Maybe two or three times, like, the whole time
he was gone. Okay, so, two or three times,
you did speak to him? MONROE: Yes. But when you called him, he didn't return your calls. He would not answer my calls. Okay. So, at some point, he has not answered your call
on several occasions... Yes. ...so you say to yourself,
"He must not be coming back." Yes. "So I'm gonna move somebody
into the house." Who'd you move in? One of my exes. JUDGE LAKE: One of your exes. Now, you didn't decide just
to date him, you decided to actually
move him right on in. All the way in. He doesn't live here.
He came from out of town. What kind of woman
does that? All right, and so
I assume there was
a sexual relationship going on at this time as well? Yes. Now, soon after
you moved in your ex, Mr. Matlock,
you returned home? She put her ex out.
We talked on the phone about the situation. Because I wanted you, I didn't want him. I have feelings for her.
I been knowing her since
we was young, since 12, 13. So I still,
I felt something about her. So we worked out
the whole situation. We talked about it,
we worked it out, I eventually moved
back in the house, picking up a sexual
relationship with her again. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Everything was going good
for about a month and a half, I get a phone call
from my sister, "What's up?" "May pregnant." You ain't who you
pretending to be. Whoa! "What you mean, May pregnant?
I just talked to her
on the phone." MONROE: I told you that. You didn't tell me that.
You told me that after
I talked to my sister and you told my sister that you were pregnant. Anyway, after I found out that she was pregnant, I get back, we sit down,
we have a discussion. I asked her point blank, "Am I the father
of the child? "Who the baby daddy?" MONROE: And I was honest. She looked at me and said... I was honest. "You're not the father." Real talk, can't make it up. That's what she said,
"You are not the father." So, I'm not taking care of
somebody else's baby. And you tell me that that baby is not my baby. JUDGE LAKE: So, once
you heard that... Out. I cashed
my cut and I was gone. Deuces. MATLOCK: Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yes, ma'am. That's not my exact... Shh. You didn't say that? Ugh. You didn't say,
"You are not the father?" No, I didn't.
Were you listening? You said,
"You are not the father." This is what I said.
We was together... Why would I just
pack up and leave?
I take care of mine. I'm not no deadbeat. MONROE: We was
together 18 months. I'm not gonna be like, "Hey, hey, hey. This is my
baby and I'm leavin' now." In that 18 months,
we didn't ever use protection. Okay. You assumed he may
not be the father
based upon the fact it had been 18 months and
you hadn't gotten pregnant? Yes. And within that little
amount of time,
I got pregnant. But is the truth that
you really didn't know who the child's father was? MATLOCK: Exactly. It actually... When I had
my 5-year-old, she looked just
like my other one. So I assumed that she
wasn't his, because her and my other child
looked exactly alike. She's a pretty little girl.
I'm not saying
she's not pretty, but at the same time... MONROE: It's a beautiful
little girl. ...I don't think it's my baby. MONROE: Well, I don't care
what you think. So you don't think
the child looks like you? You don't feel any attachment? Man, that could be
Jerome's baby. You talking about this Jerome? That Jerome. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Jerome! JEROME: No, it's not mine. MONROE: She looks
a little dark to be his baby. MATLOCK: That man right there. You better not
mess with Jerome. It could be his baby. JUDGE LAKE: So, the point is,
is that you have doubt. Do you know for certain,
or you're just doubtful? Once you say, "You are not the father,"
to a man, that baby ain't mine no more. I didn't hear from her. I didn't hear from her. <i> When the baby was born,</i> At what point did she
then claim that you might
be the father? December 31st, '08.
Me and her sister are friends. Okay. So I call her sister,
every New Year's,
"Happy New Year's, what's up?" First thing out of her
sister's mouth was, "What's up is
you need to check
on your daughter." I didn't even know
she had a girl. As a matter of fact,
when the baby was born, another man was in
the hospital room with her,
when the baby was born. MONROE: Where was you?
At home. I was back in town,
taking care of my son, doing
what a father supposed to be. Working,
taking care
of my business. That's what I was doing. (BOTH SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) In the beginning,
I would have been there
for you. You don't know.
Had you said, "Hey, it's not your baby,
but it's a possibility," We could have worked on it
and probably still together. I told your sister that. No, I told your sister that. You said, out of your mouth, you said,
"You are not the father."
Did you not say, "You are not the father"? I told your sister. Mr. Matlock,
in your statement
to the court, you are paying child support
for Ms. Monroe's daughter. Yes, ma'am.
And to top that off, on Facebook... You're paying because
you sent me information. ...the other father
in question, inboxed me,
so I called him
and said, "What's up?" He was like, "What's up?
I heard you might
be the father now." I said, "Yeah,
I thought you was the father." And he said,
"Well, let me tell you
something else." She was messing with this old,
big ass dude from
Fayetteville at the time." You are such a liar.
I never messed with that dude. So, I was like,
well, if she said,
you're the father and then... Why is who I mess with
so important? It ain't. It ain't important to me.
I ain't the one... I ain't the one who don't know
who the father of my child is. I know who the father
of my son is. Me. My first son's mother knows
who she was laying down with. She was only laying down
with one man the whole time. Can you say the same? I need to understand
how you started paying
child support. Okay. 'Cause he sent me papers with all his information
to put him on child support
so he could get it. Yes. Yes, shut up. We were supposed to get a
DNA test. Because she didn't want
to get the DNA test done. It's been three or four years. And she didn't ever
want to know who the father
of this child was. So, let's get it done.
She put me on child support. They sent me... I tried to call you
from the hospital. You didn't do a good job. I called them, filled out
the papers they wanted me
to send so I can file to get
a paternity test. You ain't call nothing. Yes, I did.
I didn't get no reply back. Next thing I got,
I got served with papers
saying I missed my court date
and I was the father
by default. I have evidence to prove that,
Your Honor. The bottom line is
when that court date came up, Mr. Matlock,
you're saying you never got notice of when
your court date was. No, ma'am. So you didn't show.
You weren't there. I was at work. By default... I'm the father. You were determined
to be the father. I am the father by default. And you have some paperwork? Jerome, can you get the
paperwork Mr. Matlock
says he has. I've established now
you're paying child support in the amount of
$360 a month. Yeah. Exactly. For a child you still don't
know it's yours or not. How is this affecting
your life? It ruined my marriage. How so? When my wife found out
that they were taking
child support out for a baby that I didn't know was mine
or not... She should mind
her own business. We got into it.
She was mad. She had no reason
to be mad in the first place, because the baby came
before me and
her were even together. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. She was mad about that.
We get into it,
so I basically tell her, "I got into a situation.
I don't want to be
with you no more. "If you're going
to be mad over this, "let's just end it right now
before it gets too far "and we have to
spend some real money
to end this." My son's mother's mad
because she gets more money than my son's mother,
which my son, his name is
on the birth certificate. Signed it.
That's my blood. She's mad because she gets
more money, so I'm going back
to court over that. I've been to jail for
child support, because my
son's mother got mad and said I wasn't paying
child support. When I was paying
child support, because
I sent the picture of the baby to her
when I first found out that
I might have another baby. So she got mad,
she wants to raise
my child support. Me and my girl
just broke up
a couple weeks ago 'cause she's tired
of putting up with this drama
dealing with this. This is taking out
from my home. I work 85-90 hours,
every two weeks. On a good check,
I might hit 300. I got evidence to prove that,
also, Your Honor. Here is one of my check stubs. Jerome, can you hand me that? Stop making babies! On a bad check... MONROE: So use protection. You got more babies
than I got! And... And? I think you got way more
than I got. Mr. Matlock,
you're working
triple shifts... I'm killing myself. Killing myself. ...trying to make sure
you're paying child support. Trying to find
a second job right now. Not only to pay child support.
But make sure Christmas,
birthdays, school time, my son has what he needs. Ms. Monroe...
Ms. Monroe... It's all about your son. If this is my baby,
I'm gonna take care of... MONROE: Yes, I receive it. JUDGE LAKE:
So you're receiving support? But you still don't know
if he's in fact the father
of your child. Correct. You don't really know. There's a 50/50 chance. On top of that, nobody in my
family likes, or believes, that she's, that that baby's
mine. Nobody. Nobody. JUDGE LAKE: All right,
I want to hear from... (BOTH ARGUING) Uh, let's get some order. Even her cousin
don't believe it. Mr. Matlock I'd like to
go to your witness.
Mrs. Matlock, please stand. State your name
for the court. Nirvanna Matlock. Okay, what do you
have to add to this? First of all, my mama,
my sisters, my brothers, none of us, none of my family,
care about her. Okay? And, if the baby was his, when I tried to go
see the little girl, on a Sunday, she's supposed
to brought the little girl
to see me, and she text me out
the blue and was like,
"Uh, well, she's not here." I supposed to went
to the little girl's
birthday party. But I live in a whole
different town.
You dig what I'm sayin'? You live 45 minutes away... It's a whole different town. You dig what I'm sayin'?
I have a job.
I work. Every day. I do too, I'm a mother. I work. And so, why is
this, Mrs. Matlock... So, I work. Out the goodness of your
heart said, "I'm gonna try
to establish a relationship "just in case?" Because, I feel like, if he's
paying child support for the baby,
dig what I'm sayin'? Right. It's his. Not sayin'
it is his, but once a man
start paying child support, you should jump in and
be like, "Okay". 'Cause
I'll take care of my niece. So then why hadn't you
come and seen her? JUDGE LAKE: So you felt like once it was determined... Well, Lord, I tried. When I came down there,
I came down there and I
tried to see the little girl. I did, I tried to
see the little girl. But he should try. I did. I did try to
see the little girl. He should try. Thank you so much,
I've established that you've
tried to see the child. And we've established that,
Mrs. Monroe is clear, that there still is a 50/50
chance, you may be seated,
thank you so much. Okay. Mr. Matlock,
you submitted dates... Yes. ...as it relates to the
conception of this child. Yes, Your Honor. Let's take a look at that. So, what we see,
the dates that you were
intimate with the defendant, was the last week in August,
that we see here in green. Correct. And you claim
that her ex was intimate with her during
the beginning of August. Yeah, weeks before me. Which is indicated
in yellow. And that's
the month of conception. It could've been
longer than that she
was sleepin' with him. You a liar.
I was sleepin' with
you all them other months. JUDGE LAKE: Either way... You don't move nobody
in within a week. It wasn't a week,
it was a month. It's easy to see,
through your visual, that this, could be,
either way. Either of
you could be the father. Yes, Your Honor. But, we also have
Mrs. Monroe agreeing
to that, am I correct? You are correct. So, the only way we gonna
get the answer is... (MUSTAFA ARGUING) To get the results. Yes, Your Honor. That's what we here for.
That's what we here for. Are you ready? Jerome, do you
have the envelope? I wanna know. Jerome, do you
have the envelope? MATLOCK: I wanna know. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics in the
case of<i> Matlock v. Monroe.</i> When it comes to
five-year-old Kenya Monroe, Mr. Matlock, the wait is over, you are not the father. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) I knew it! I knew it!
Go find your baby's daddy. Put somebody else
on child support.
I want my money back. I want my money back.
I told you I wasn't
the father of that child. MATLOCK: Knew it from
the beginning. Trifling. NIRVANNA: Oh, my gosh. MATLOCK: Knew it. I knew it. NIRVANNA: Mmm. Ooh, Lord. JUDGE LAKE: Jerome, would
you go check on Mrs. Monroe... NIRVANNA: Lord. ...and see if we can escort
her back in the courtroom? I want all my money back.
All my money back. I paid too much. I worked way too hard. My son could have
had that money. She knew that from the
beginning, otherwise she
wouldn't have said it. I knew it.
I knew it. (STUTTERING)
I feel sorry for the baby. MONROE: Well, I'm sorry,
I'll give you your money back. MATLOCK: That's what I need. You know, I know you feel
as if this money's been
goin' out the window, you been payin' for a
child that's not yours, that you could have been
payin' that money to your son, and I understand
why you feel that way. But, when you do look
at this little girl,
at least you can say, that you have provided
for a young child that is
in a position none of us would want to be in. Yes, ma'am. All right, now you gonna
have to go back to your
home state, and petition that court,
but I am here to tell you
right now, there is no guarantees
you're gonna receive
that money back. The child support, at least
will stop though, right? MONROE: Yes. I'll stop it,
I'm not gonna make you pay
for it if she's not yours. The issue is, moving forward, you all have had a
long-standing friendship, even outside of
a sexual relationship. You been knowin' each
other since middle school,
am I correct? Yeah, since
before puberty. Yeah. Now, Mrs. Monroe, from where
I'm seated, I don't feel like
you've given Mr. Matlock the type of apology that,
I think, that will really
help him be able to move on. And maybe at some point
you can bring yourself
to doing that. Because two people that
have been through what
you all have been through, that potentially could
have created this
beautiful little girl, I think it's important that
we understand that now that
the truth is on the table, you all need to at least
learn how to be civil.
Are we clear? Yes. Yes, Your Honor. I wish you all
the best of luck.
Court is adjourned. I wanted him to be
the father, because... (SOBBING)
He's more responsible. I'm sorry that I put
you through all this. I know you hurt.
It's all right.
We handled it. We still good. Okay. We still good. Come on. I'm just happy we came
on<i> Paternity Court</i> to
get it settled.
