Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case
of<i> Garrett v. Boyer.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms. Garrett, you are here
on a mission today to prove that
the defendant, Mr. Boyer,
is the biological father of your two-year-old
daughter, Naomi. Is that correct? GARRETT: Yes, Your Honor. You say that after a month
of non-stop, unprotected sex
with the defendant, you are one hundred percent
sure that he fathered
your child. Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Boyer, you say there is no way you could be
the biological father
of Ms. Garrett's baby her child
is two years old and you just
learned of Naomi
two months ago. So, Ms. Garrett,
tell us, what is going on? Well, today, Your Honor,
I'm here to prove to Mr. Boyer
that he is the father of my two year old daughter. It takes two to tango.
Give me one second. Take your time,
I know it's hard. It takes two to tango.
We both wrong,
we both did what we did and it resulted, the fact
that we did, we created
a beautiful baby girl. (SIGHS) <i> And I just need to clarify
for him that she is his,</i> <i> 'cause if the fact that
when the test results
come back that she is his</i> he will take care
of my daughter. He will be responsible. Because if he does not,
I have no problem in taking
him to child support at all. (EXCLAIMING IN AUDIENCE) JUDGE LAKE: Okay. So, Mr. Boyer, you've heard Ms. Garrett's
assertion loud and clear. It shouldn't have took
two years for me to find out
if I'm really the father. So let me understand
the nature
of your relationship. How did you two meet?
What was this relationship? Were you boyfriend
and girlfriend? No, Your Honor. I don't have an answer to
that. JUDGE LAKE: She said no. No, we were not. We were not.
We were friends. Um, I met Mr. Boyer
back in December 2014. You know, right away,
we made an instant
connection, Your Honor. The sex was...
I mean, like,
we exchanged numbers, we had consistent sex
which was amazing. I'm not gonna stand here
faulting nobody. Um, it was great. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I'mma keep it real.
It was real good, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) And we had 31 days
of sex unprotected, and... Did I hear you say
you had 31 days straight of unprotected sex? Yes. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I'm not gonna say
that deserves
a round of applause. Even though you got one. So, you all
were working
real hard at making a child. 'cause you weren't
using protection... No, we was not. And having sex
consistently. Yes, we were. And that's why you believe
Mr. Boyer is your child's
biological father. Yes, Your Honor. Mr, Boyer, do you admit you had 31
straight days of unprotected
sex with Ms. Garrett? No, I do not. It wasn't consistent.
It wasn't 31 days
consistently. It was about a month's
worth of it, but it would be
only on the weekends, like. I can't even work
for 31 days straight. Did you do it
for one day? Yeah. You did it for one day? It definitely happened. So that's all it takes. It definitely was unprotected. We know that's
all it takes. Right. So you admit you were
in this sexual relationship? You all were not
in a committed relationship. Never, not once. Were you ever under
the impression that Ms. Garrett
was only sleeping with you, or did you believe
she was having sex
with other people? No, I was never under
the impression that it was
only me. It was too easy for it to be only me. I never wanted to put it
under the wing like
fried rice, though. She was just a part
of the place...
Like, temporarily. Not to take home
and you know,
put in the microwave... Under the wing
like fried rice? Right. I never wanted
to put her under the wing
like fried rice. No. Wait, what does that mean? That means I never
wanted to take her home. Like, it was just supposed
to be at the restaurant,
so to speak. You know what I'm saying?
But it wasn't gonna be more... Oh! You say all that. But you're grown just like
I'm grown, you know
what you did. I know what I did. And you know what I did, but guess what,
we're gonna prove it. I never denied
that I did it. And for you
to say child support... Okay, so let's continue om. That's irrelevant,
'cause you know
I take care of my kids. So child support is irrelevant.
You don't even got to say that.
I'm not no deadbeat. All right, so at some
point you find out
you're pregnant. GARRETT: Exactly. When you find out
you're pregnant,
who do you tell? Your Honor, after
our sexual relationship
was over, I wound up dating
another guy, me and him
was consistent then. Automatically, he thought
it was the other
gentleman's baby so I did not... So you started
dating somebody new and you thought
it was his child? Right, Your Honor. So you told him,
"I'm pregnant." Yes. Was he happy about it? Yes, he was. All right, so you told him you
were pregnant and you never
thought to notify Mr. Boyer? No. Mr. Boyer, were you ever
notified she was pregnant
at all, or did you find out? No, I wasn't notified at all. I actually was scrolling
through my timeline one day and I saw Naomi's picture
on her wall. So I, like inboxed her,
like "Who dat?" <i>You know what I'm saying.
'Cause there was a baby.</i> <i> It was a baby, and I was like,
"Well I know what I did
around this time</i> "and I know this baby
could be mine." So
I asked her, she was like... First she said yes, then she
said no, then she blocked me
from asking her over and over. I was
trying to get a clear
story from out of her, and she just blocked me,
like "No." Yes. Yes, Your Honor, I blocked
him on Facebook.
I sure did because I wanted to
continue my happy
little relationship. When Naomi was
an infant,
she blocked me. But isn't it ironic? You blocked him on Facebook
because he was saying "I might be the child's
father, and we need
a DNA test." (SIGHS) But now you're here
saying that he is
the father. But Your Honor, I was
in a committed relationship. So you were in
a committed relationship
at the time. You really thought the baby
was the man's you were
in a relationship with and the truth is, you
didn't want Mr. Boyer stirring up issues
in the relationship. So it really wasn't about
the baby, it was about you. Yes, Your Honor. I wasn't gonna tell on her.
I just wanted to know. So, Mr. Boyer, you're saying
you didn't hear
about Naomi again until just two months ago? Yes, very recently. Yeah. What happened? She inboxed me
on Facebook. Same place she
blocked me at,
and told me told me, like,
"Oh, well, you know,
um, you know, "the test came back
that he's not the dad,
so you gotta be the dad." So I was like... That is not how the
conversation went,
Your Honor. I had a flashback
from<i> Talladega Nights.</i> Michael Clarke Duncan,
when he was like, "Don't you put
that evil on me,
Ricky Bobby. "Don't you put
that evil on us." <i> So, I said that. I said that
in my head, and I was like,
"No, I can't be the pop."</i> <i> I can't, 'cause I got
a lot going on
in my life right now</i> <i> so that would be
like a hindrance,
you know what I mean?</i> <i> At the same time,
I'm a responsible
human being.</i> I'm still back
on<i> Talladega Nights.</i> Yeah. Yeah, that's
what happened. That's the whole
scene that came
in your head? Yeah. I was just,
like, behooved. I was like, how could I
be the dad, like, how? So... Okay. That's why we're here. So you were going
through a lot of emotions and a lot of scenarios
were running through
your head at the time. BOYER: Yeah. And, what happened
between the two of you? How did the conversation
transpire after
you were notified? She asked me to
try to be around,
you know, try to get to know
Naomi a little bit. Um, I went over there
to see her I got zero
spiritual energy
from this child. I had zero vibe
with this child. I looked at her,
she don't look like me,
she don't look like my sister. <i> She don't look like
no female in my family,</i> <i> she don't look like
nobody in my family.</i> <i> So, I don't know.
Maybe the eyes,
but that's about it.</i> I mean, I don't see any
resemblance there. She's a beautiful girl. So, you know what
I'm saying? Like,
I don't know. All children don't have to
look like the father. They can look like me,
they can look like
the grandma, you don't know who they
look like. It could be
individual, or both of us.
It's not all... So wait up,
wait, wait, wait,
Ms. Garrett, before you get on your plane
and fly out of here. (LAUGHING IN AUDIENCE) Yes, Your Honor. Let me understand.
You had the other guy tested. Yes. And so, the DNA test revealed that the man that
you were sure was Naomi's
biological father was, in fact,
not her biological father. Is that true? I have it with me,
Your Honor. I'd like to see it. So this is a copy of
the paternity results... <i> And there is a zero percent
probability of paternity</i> regarding the other
potential father. Yes, Your Honor. And so, at the moment
you got those results, you started to unblock
Mr. Boyer,
'cause you were like, "Oh, Lord,
I done blocked out the real
biological father." So now,
let me unblock him. Yes. And say,
"How you doing, stranger?" (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Yes, I did.
(CLEARS THROAT) Was there any other
possible biological father? Did you tell
anybody else... No. "Now that I know this
gentleman is not the biological
father, it could be you?" No other man? No. And so, you knew if it's not this guy,
it's Mr. Boyer. Yes, Your Honor. And so, Mr. Boyer how long after this
initial point of contact did you say to her or did she reveal to you,
I think you're
the child's father? Immediately? Yeah, it was the same day. It was the same day. All right. And once she told you
that, what did you feel? Um, I felt outraged,
honestly. I was
mad, because if Naomi is my child,
then I missed two years
of her life. I missed teaching her
how to walk, I missed... You know what I'm saying,
I missed a lot. And I'm not the type
of person to miss anything
when it comes to my kids, so that hurt.
I mean, but, um... I don't know,
we just got to find out. I can't do anything
until I find out. And so, Ms. Garrett says
you are the only other
possible man. She says a lot of things. And so do you. We acting like that,
because it wasn't
all he's saying. It wasn't. Your response was, "Oh, I know what I did,
and we're going to get
a DNA test." I said that in here.
I know what I did. I just said that standing
right here, too. Okay, so we're gonna see. We're gonna see, Jeremy,
we're gonna see. We gonna see. I'm not trying to
throw you under
the rug and that... Ms. Garrett, what is
all this about? What is all this about,
that you're doing
right now? Because the truth is,
you blocked him. He was begging you
for a paternity test... I did, but... ...and writing to you,
and you admitted it. You said,
"I want him out
of my ear," talking about
can we get
a paternity test because I'm trying
to have a relationship
with this other man. I don't understand how
you can stand here now... Yes, Your Honor. ...with this attitude, like,
he has done something
to you. I don't get this.
What is this about? Because, to make me it
seem like I'm just
a type of whore. No. No, you feel bad
about yourself. I'm grown. And that's okay. It's all right. You don't
have to project that
onto him. You sitting up here,
being mean to him
and telling him what he's gonna do, what
he's not gonna do,
"You'll see, you'll see." This is obvious. You were in a relationship
with another man, you were happy in
the relationship or
you wanted the relationship. When he was worrying you
about the paternity issue,
you blocked him. You said it. Then the relationship
with the guy
didn't work out, or either once he discovered
he wasn't the child's
biological father, he didn't want to do
nothing with the baby
no more. So then, all of a sudden
now you gonna reconnect the lines of communication
with Mr. Boyer and start telling him
how he gonna do this
and how he gonna do that... I mean, I think his doubt
is more than substantiated
in this moment. Sometimes you just
gotta tell it like it is. I will give you this.
You did step up to the plate
and you were courageous enough
to have the other
man tested. Because you did
want to get
an answer. But don't create such a wall
between you and Mr. Boyer because if we determine
he is Naomi's biological
father, the way you say, then this is a man you're
gonna have to have
an ongoing relationship with and I don't mean sexual,
but an ongoing co-parenting
relationship with so there's no sense
to downgrade him. Because he's not
doing that to you. Even after what
you've done to him. (APPLAUDING) He has not said one word he hasn't said
one foul word about you. Not one. Because if
he had, I would
have corrected him. Let's just get down
to what's really happening. Mr. Boyer, have you
thought about what
you would say or how you would approach
if this, in fact,
is your biological daughter? Yes, I've thought
about it. The first thing I would do
is try to spend as much
time with her as possible so she'd get used to me
as a person, you know. <i>I can teach her how to stay
away from men like the man
that I used to be.</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i> All right, now.</i> (APPLAUDING) You better go ahead
and preach up
in here today, 'cause that's what
your daddy teaches you. It is. It is. Yeah. And they don't treat me
like my daddy,
I'm not into it. I will call you out
in a minute. That's the first example in a young woman's life,
as to how she should
be treated. So without any
further delay, let's get the results. Jerome. (APPLAUDING) These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics,
and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Garrett v Boyer,</i> when it comes to
two year old
Naomi Garrett it has been determined
by this court... Mr. Boyer, you... Are not the father. (EXCLAMING IN AUDIENCE) He's not the father,
Ms. Garrett. That's fine,
Your Honor. And I can still move on
and raise my daughter
on my own like I've been doing. Do you know
who her father is? Yes. But like I said, in between
the conception,
there was no other guy. There was no third,
fourth, or fifth person. That's what I'm trying... There was at least a third. Because he's number two
and your ex was number one. You're right, Your Honor. Well, can I take the time
to say this, I apologize. I'm sorry for wasting your
time, you don't have to have
nothing to do with me. Don't contact me,
I won't contact you. You can call me whatever
you wanna call me. I'm
completely fine with it. I have been called...
Whatever you want to call me
before, it will not hurt me. I'm not gonna call you
no names, yo. I just
wish you the best, that's all. I just wish you
the best. (APPLAUDING) Ms. Garrett,
look at me. It's out there now. You gotta stop
beating yourself up
and start building yourself up. Do you understand me? 'Cause you gotta be
strong either way now. You've gotta be strong if you,
in fact, have to raise Naomi
by yourself and you've got to be
strong enough if you do know
who her biological father is to make that first step
to contact him and to do this process
for a third time. Not for yourself, but for your daughter. Everything you spew
out to him it's really what you feel
inside about yourself. Let's get Naomi's father
in her life. She's two. Okay?
She deserves that. We have counseling and
resources for you both. I wish
you the very best of luck. Court is adjourned.
