Please be seated. -Hello, Your Honor.
-Hello. This is the case
of<i> Commons v. Baker.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. [audience] Good day. Ms. Commons, you claim the defendant
has been denying your two-year-old daughter,
Bre'ze, and refuses to do anything for her. You are furious and testify
that you are certain that he is the father and plan to prove
that today. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Baker, you claim you were
a loving father for the first year and a half
of Bre'ze's life until five months ago, when you appeared in<i>
Couples Court</i> and learned
Ms. Commons cheated. -[audience exclaiming]<i>
-You say Ms. Commons
is a liar,</i> but the DNA does not lie and will prove that you are not
Bre'ze's biological father. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. So, Ms. Commons,
you say you're furious. -Yes, ma'am.
-Tell the court why. Your Honor, I'm here today to prove Mr. Baker
is the father of my daughter. Not only has he
been there from day one, he signs
her birth certificate, <i> he was at every
doctor's appointment,</i> <i> his family even threw her
a baby shower.</i> My family, we don't need
no baby shower because my auntie,
she's like well off
or whatever, so she buys my kids
whatever we need. They threw her
a baby shower, they bought her some nice stuff
and I was very appreciative, you know what
I'm saying, but... my thing is, for me
to come as a woman and tell you my flaws and then you take it
and try to throw it against my child is not right. She don't deserve that.
She did not ask to be here. -She did not want
to be your daughter.
-[audience applauding] She did not want to be
my daughter for that matter, so you shouldn't
do that to her. And give me an example
how he denies. Um, first he would start... He would say, "Go over there
to your mama." He know how my baby
is affectionate. My baby got a skin fetish.
She like to rub on people. So that hurt my feelings when he'd be like,
"Go see your mama." And she'd be like,
"I want you." And he be just saying
"Go to your mama.
Go to your mama." -You lying.
-Why are you telling her
to go to her mother, -and she wants you.
She knows she want.
-She lying, Your Honor. -And that makes you emotional?
-Exactly. She knows she want. It makes me emotional because the way
she loves us. Like she rubs our face,
she rubs our ears she rubs our skin, the way she rubs his face, they got this little nose thing
that they do, she'll be like,
"Give me your nose." And she just be so happy. Like, literally so happy, <i>she be smillin' and everything.</i> <i> She loves her dad.</i> So, Mr. Baker,
you have doubts. -Yes, Your Honor.
-Explain to the court. I, well, first of all,
I got doubts because everything
that come out of
her mouth a lie. -[audience] Ooh...
-Like all the stuff
that she did in the past, from just cheating
with multiple people. You can't hold nobody's past
against them. Cheatin' with multiple people.
I could catch her, like... Like, if her phone bing,
she hide it. If my phone bing, you just want...
It could be... If my phone bing,
it could be Jesus Christ,
he gonna think... -[audience exclaiming]
-...I'm sleeping with. Oh, my gosh. -[Baker] You wasn't exclusive.
-All right, listen. Listen. Take me to the point
you find out she's pregnant with Bre'ze. When you find out
she's pregnant, do you accept it? How does she tell you? Like, when she told me
she was pregnant with Bre'ze-- -We found out together.
-I was, like, "Is she mine," you feel me? How you know that you been
messing with other guys,
you feel me? -Which I've noticed and...
-And you denied her. ...done caught it and seen it
on numerous occasions and... I was, like, "Well,
I don't know
but if she is mine, all right, you feel me?
I'mma be there for you. I do wanna be
a father to my kids." So you decided
you wanted -to try to be a family?
-Yes. 'Cause I do wanna-- How can you decide
at that time when you was sayin'
we wasn't never exclusive. You need to evaluate yourself.
First of all, -he never denied--
-Exclusive basically meaning that we weren't
in the relationship
at the time. He never denied my daughter -when I first...
When we first found out...
-That's what I meant. ...I was pregnant, he never denied my daughter. <i> Never. He didn't start
denying my daughter</i> until the night I told him
what I had did with my ex. -That... On that night
he let it all, he let...
-[Judge Lake] Oh. That night,
we were still cool, we still stayed in the room, we still drunk, we still
had sex that night, and everything, that night, when we was on
our way home that morning, he get, you would've thought he was Tasmanian devil,
he was, like, "B, B, that's not my baby. You know
it ain't my baby." I'm like, "What?
Where did that
just come from? We had a good night." How could you explain
a good night because she sat down
and said, "I cheated." -Oh, it's a good night.
-[laughing] -[Commons] You didn't
leave the room.
-[audience laughing] Where's the good night at? He didn't leave
the room, did he? -It was painful.
-He still slept
with me that night. [Judge Lake] Okay, hold on,
hold on. Still drunk? -Everything was already...
-So you so hurt
about a situation, why did you still
proceed with... [Judge Lake] So...
Quiet. Hold on. I want to understand this. So the first year
of Bre'ze's life, you believed she was yours
and you decided <i> -to make a family?</i>
-[Baker]<i> Yes.</i> [Judge Lake]<i> Now
the first bomb got dropped,</i> you said, when you appeared
in<i> Couples Court.</i> -What happened?
-Two separate guys on two different
occasions. On two different days though.
It was the weekend, right? Basically, I'mma say this. She, one weekend,
right, Friday, I'm goin' out, I go hang with
the homies and whatever, we out kickin' it
or whatever, she call me like,
around 5:00 somethin'. "Is you gonna
come over tonight?" I say no, 'cause I finna go
to a party whatever. But at the same time,
in my head, I'm like, "Yeah, I'mma go over there." But I'm trying to test her
and see how loyal she is. You don't have to test nobody
that you're in
a relationship with. So, look, I'm trying
to see how loyal she is. I know. I know. But at this was at the time
when I want to see whether I'm gonna
wanna be with her or not, <i> I see can I trust her?</i> <i> Pop up 3:00 in the morning,</i> <i> knock on the door</i> or ring the doorbell,
whatever. She come to the window,
guy walk right out. -Wasn't nothing opening up
that night but legs.
-[audience exclaiming] -You feel me?
-Weren't no legs open up
that night. -And she said she had--
-Oh! I'm a grown woman,
if it was some legs open, I don't have
no doubt to say it. [Baker] Next day, next day,
next day, right?
Next day, right? She call me, like, "Are you gonna come back
over tonight?" I did the same thing. I'm like, "No, I ain't gonna
come over there, man." I ain't messing with you,
feel me like that. So then, I come over
again after I leave
the club, a different dude
in there. -That's your...
Don't play with me.
-Different dude. I'm not a kid. No, like, what do you mean,
don't play with you? Did you have a different man
in there? Yes, Your Honor.
But they did not
sleep with me. And she said
he gave her oral sex. -Don't let her lie to you.
-[audience exclaiming] [Commons] I did not
sleep with them. The lie detector,
the test determined that I did not
do anything with them. After I had my child-- But it was during
your appearance there where you confessed. -I confessed when I got home.
-That's what she confessed. But when we, like the other two guy...
Well, she didn't do nothin'... With the two guys, which were the
subjects of the test. -[Commons] Right?
-[Baker] Yes. But when you got home, she admitted she did something
with some other people. -No, one of the guys.
-[Judge Lake]
Well, one other guy. You say after your
court appearance
on<i> Couples Court...</i> Yes. You say she dropped
the bomb, number two, which was that she had
slept with somebody else. [Baker] Yeah. Tell me what happened. We're chillin' in the hot tub,
Jacuzzi and everything, and out of the blue,
just came, "I cheated." -Hold on.
-No, Your Honor,
that's not what happened. I can tell you
exactly what happened. She like, "I cheated,
I stepped out." So, I'm like,
"When you do that?"
I asked her, like, when? She talkin' about, uh, I don't even remember
what date, but it was too close to when -Bre'ze, which is
the pretty baby--
-[Judge Lake] Was conceived. -Yeah, yeah, like, yeah.
-No, that's not what happened. [Baker] Right before-- So, did you ask
at that time, is there another
possible father -for Bre'ze?
-Oh, I definitely
asked her. No, he only said,
"That's not my baby, B." I say, I say, I... -Did I say that?
-Yes. -I probably did when she said
around, uh...
-[audience laughing] -I probably did--
-You probably did. -I was mad,
no, that's not funny.
-That's not how it came about. -That's not funny,
that's not funny.
-That's not how it came about. I probably did say it
'cause I was mad
when she said it, you feel me? I was hurt,
and now I'm looking like this probably
ain't even my baby. And she has sex with him <i> after she had
the baby as well.</i> [Commons]<i> First of all,
you wanna know
how I know for a fact...</i> -You wanna know how I know?
-So you had sex... Look, if you had sex with him
after you had the baby, but she was still sayin'
that was my baby, she had sex with him
after that, and before that, and then, [clears throat] how do I know
that it ain't his child? You feel me?
She got a-- You wanna know
how I know for a fact
that that's his daughter? How? Because... when my baby was a little baby,
she had whooping cough. When I talked
to the doctors, the doctors said that
down the line whooping cough can
cause some form of asthma. He walks around with
his asthma pump in his pocket. Yeah, here it go, right here. He pulls out the asthma pump
and hit the asthma pump. That's how I know for a fact that's his daughter.
For a fact. -That's his daughter.
-That ain't got nothing
to do with her. -I did what I did
out of revenge, all right--
-[Judge Lake] So listen. You think...
Hold on, Ms. Commons, you think that because your daughter had
the whooping cough, which could develop
into asthma, and Mr. Baker has asthma, that proves that he's
the biological father. Exactly. But that doesn't
give you any... reason to lessen
the doubt, you already have, Mr. Baker? Basically, Your Honor, that ain't got nothing
to do with nothing. You feel me?
Her legs were still open. -[scoffs]
-[audience groaning] How do I know
that it ain't his child? -But the fact is that...
-[Commons] You want to put
everything on me. -...she was just messing.
-Your legs were still
open as well. We were both doing stuff.
Don't make me a bad person. I'm human just like you. -No.
-Don't play with my feelings. -Period.
-I can't trust her.
All she do is lie. I can't trust you either. You slept with somebody
on Valentine's Day, while I was pregnant. -Right.
-Why would you do that? -I did, I did that.
-You want somebody
to trust you, but you don't want them to trust you. You want to trust somebody, but you don't want
them to trust you? How? You don't sound right. -You don't sound right at all.
-[Judge Lake] All right,
listen. I don't know
where you all thought it was appropriate to even engage
in unprotected sex. -I don't know. [mumbles]
-[Judge Lake] This, right here, is a recipe for disaster. [clears throat] Really. [audience applauding] Neither of you have a clue what it means
to truly be committed. And you potentially
out here making babies? But she's here now. She's here now
and I love her dearly. That's my baby.
I love my baby. <i> Like, I'll go to war
for my kids, but</i> don't try to pin me down
and make me the bad person when you out here
doing just as much as me. [Judge Lake] But, Ms. Commons, I wanna make sure
you understand that I get that. I understand
that you get that. -I want you to understand
that I was hurt too.
-I get that he is all over the place. I'm dealing with
my own paternity issues with my dad. Trying to find out
who my dad is. If my mama
didn't raise me right, who you want... Where am
I supposed to get it from? Where do I suppose
to get it from? I'm supposed
to learn on my own, and that's what I'm doing. I gotta make mistakes,
learn, and live. And so, what are you
really feeling? 'Cause I can see
the hurt in your face-- [Commons] I feel hurt because my baby love him,
his family love my baby. -[Judge Lake] Right.
-[Baker] I love her as well. His family don't treat them
how they treat my baby. And so for him to tell her,
"Go to your mama," where you have her
all day long and you know she want you. She says this,
"I want you." That hurt. You don't know nobody
inside feelings. Just like I don't know
your inside feelings. Just like what I did
to you was wrong, but for you to do this
to this baby is not right. She's a baby, she don't... I'm glad, thank God,
she don't understand. 'Cause you feel like
you see him rejecting her. -[Commons] Yes.
-But, Your Honor-- Now we're at a place where we can understand
what really happened. You all was in that little
tit-for-tat mess. [audience] Mmm-hmm. I see it all the time,
it never works and we as women,
we never win. [Commons] Never. 'Cause we always
end up with the baby <i> and it's always our baby
and papa's what?</i> -Maybe.
-[Judge Lake] Yup. We gotta stop
playing that game. We don't win. We lose,
our babies lose, why play? So we here. Now you brought a witness
and I'd like to hear from her, please stand, ma'am. State your name
for the court. My name is
Darlesia Baker. What relationship
are you to Mr. Baker? I am Brandon
oldest sister. You are? And what are you
here to testify to, as it relates to the paternity
of Bre'ze Baker? Oh, me and Mary been friends, best friends for ten years. And, um, we used
to run the streets together. Which means, like,
we was double dating, kickin' it, going back
to the clubs and stuff, and to fast-forward
after that, um... I want to fast-forward
to whether you think your brother
is Bre'ze's biological father? No, I don't think so, because I know
how she gets down. We get down together. If that's the case,
why you ain't been
tell your brother, like, "Don't get down with her."
We got down together. I did tell my brother, but he was 19
up at the time when I was telling him
about you. -No, you were--
-And I felt like that
you were just older and you was taking
advantage of him. I can't take advantage
of no grown man. Nineteen is like-- -He was 19 years
and you was older.
-Enough. You was manipulating him. Ms. Baker, Ms. Baker,
let's focus on... how this relates to the question of paternity
we are here to uncover <i> for this baby.</i> I knew for a fact that
she was having sex
with other guys. -During the time
Bre'ze was conceived?
-Absolutely. You say you know that
for a fact. Yeah, 'cause we'd talk
on the phone, too and she'd tell me like, -"You know, I just left...
-That's a lie. ...from my friend house,
this dude." And she'd say to me, like, "Oh, girl, his sex was... It wasn't about nothing,"
you know... Like that type of stuff. So I knew for a fact
that she was sleepin' around. -She know for a fact, huh?
-[Judge Lake] All right, and you said that
to your brother, -you told him?
-[Darlesia] Yeah, I told him. [Judge Lake] All right. Before we go to these results, is there any truth
you'd like to share? Is there something
that you have not told him related to Bre'ze's
conception? No, ma'am, I haven't slept-- Is there anything
you haven't told him? I did not sleep with nobody the time of Bre'ze
being conceived. She been screaming that since she been tellin' that
I did nobody since 2015. And when I went home,
you started accusing me
of everybody. Like you still accusing me
right now, today. Look, she's sayin'
all of this, -but still came out with...
-If you gonna be with me, -be with me,
if you not, don't.
-...something else to say. Don't keep on holding
stuff over my head. I'm human,
just like you're human. You did stuff, I did stuff. -If it's gonna be that--
-But he didn't have
any babies. So? That don't mean nothing. [Judge Lake] Okay,
but that doesn't have anything to do
with Bre'ze's paternity. All right.
Let's go to the results. Jerome, I'm done. -Okay.
-I'm done. -Whoo!
-Take a deep breath. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. In the case
of<i> Commons v. Baker,</i> when it comes
to two-year-old Bre'ze Baker... two-year-old Bre'ze Baker... it has been determined
by this court, Mr. Baker, you... are the father. [audience applauding] You need a hug?
You happy? Yeah, I'm happy
with the results. But I just wanted
to say this before. It's still, like, it's still not gonna
be no trust or whatever. I'mma always be
there for my daughter. But the trust with her, like,
that... -Right, that means
you need to depart then.
-...went away. Don't hold on. Who's got a rope around your neck
making you stay? -All right.
-I ain't got nothing else
to say to her. I'm so glad y'all
don't have nothin' else to say 'cause y'all
ain't saying nothin'. -Yeah.
-Mmm-hmm. I'm concerned
about this baby. And it's not that
you don't love her. It's that you don't know
how to act. And when I see
two grown people sittin' up here
acting the plumb fool. [audience murmuring] And sittin' up here got a beautiful blessing
for a baby here, and all she want to do is rub her little face
on somebody's arm and go to sleep and love her mama
and love her daddy and y'all sittin' around here
clowning, and can't get it together
for this baby. Y'all so worried
about whose fault it is, oh, "He was doing this
and he was doing this and he was doing..." I guarantee you this,
this baby standing before me in 20 years,
that's y'all's fault. -Yeah.
-She ain't gonna
be standin' here. [Judge Lake] That's my point. -She ain't gonna
be standin' here.
-[Judge Lake] That'll be... That'll be your fault. -[Commons] I knew he--
-For not deciding to do better when you had
the opportunity. I'm done with it.
Go into the counseling and do the work
you gotta do. And every move
you make from this point, you know,
that game of chess that you playin',
that's with her life. Now get it right.
Court is adjourned.
