You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor.
This is the case of<i>
Darensburg v. Wilson.</i> Thank you, Jerome. You're welcome. Good day everyone. DARENSBURG: Good day. Now Mr. Darensburg, you
are seeking the results
of a paternity test to prove you are not the father of Ms. Wilson's
22-year-old son, Damone, who you say the
defendant once told you
was another man's child. Now you claim she's buried
you in child support debt, and once today's results
prove you are not
the young man's father you will return to court
to sue Ms. Wilson for more than $20,000, for unwarranted
child support payments. Now, Ms. Wilson. Yes, Your Honor. You argue that Mr. Darensburg
is a womanizing, lying, cheating, poor excuse
for a man. Yes, Your Honor. You claim that during
your relationship he was married and engaged,
I don't know how you do that,
to other women. Yes, Your Honor. While having an
affair with you. Yes, Your Honor. All right, now
Mr. Darensburg, when did
you first meet Ms. Wilson? First of all I'd like
to say thank you, Judge,
for this opportunity. Mm-hmm. And I'd like to also
add that you are
extremely beautiful. Well, thank you
very much. He's lucky. I will not take that
as testimony, but I
will take it as fact. No, just teasing!
Just teasing! Please proceed,
how did you all meet? I was dating a friend
of Ms. Wilson. I was married
but separated. JUDGE LAKE: You said you were
married but separated and dating her friend,
where did fiance come from? I was separated... WILSON: But not divorced. But not divorced, yet, and I was planning to marry
the young lady that
Ms. Wilson was friends with. So we went out
one night, um... My fiance, again,
we had an argument and I went out
and I saw Ms. Wilson. We had a conversation,
a brief conversation maybe 20 minutes after that
we were in a hotel room. Oh! JUDGE LAKE: You work fast. Very. Extremely fast. Okay, so, Ms. Wilson, how did you end up
in the bed with him? I was home from break,
I was in college, and like he said he had
an argument or altercation with his girlfriend
at that time. But was it your friend? She was a friend, yeah. And uh, we...
had sex, once. And I got pregnant. So obviously,
since Mr. Darensburg
is here today, he doesn't necessarily
believe that he is
the father of your son. True. Were you also intimate
with anyone else during
that time period? Yes, I had a
boyfriend at that time
who was at college. But you were also
intimate with him during
that same time frame. Yes. Now, Mr. Darensburg,
you have doubts. Well, first of all,
we only had sex one time. She was promiscuous,
I was promiscuous as well. I didn't find out
for two and a half years after she had the kid. JUDGE LAKE: So you never heard
from her any more after this? I saw Ms. Wilson
at my girlfriends
New Year's Eve party. Oh, 'cause you went on back
to your girlfriend after that. Of course, I was
with my girlfriend
the entire time. And had no idea
Ms. Wilson was pregnant. When we went to the party,
Ms. Wilson, she gave me
a nasty look, but I didn't know she was
preg... Well, I knew she was
pregnant, but not... WILSON: Seriously, you
knew or you didn't know? I knew you were pregnant. And you told me you
was marrying me also. But I also... No I never told you
I was gonna marry you. JUDGE LAKE: Well, when you
found out you were pregnant, did you immediately
call him and say, "Hey, Mr. Darensburg, I need
to tell you something?" No. So when you all
got to this party, that his girlfriend,
your friend, was giving, on New Year's Eve,
you're showing. DARENSBURG: Right. And so you're looking
at her, and it doesn't
even dawn on you. It doesn't dawn on me,
actually I didn't want... That didn't come out,
I didn't want my girlfriend
to find out that happened. We knew you were keeping
the encounter a secret, but the point is, is
when you laid eyes
on Ms. Wilson, saw her and saw that
she was pregnant, you didn't even think,
"Oh, wow, that could
be my child." No, because I refused
to think that.
I closed my eyes. JUDGE LAKE: You refused? Yes. Yeah, refused. At that time, that
wasn't in the plan, so I had no... I had no idea,
she didn't tell me anything,
so it was fine. So you did a hear no evil,
you just blocked it out. See no evil,
smell no evil. Okay, let's fast forward now
to when Damone was born. Two and a half years
when Denita had the child, one of my fraternity brothers
come up to me and asked me, "Hey man,
did you see your kid?"
I said, "Kid? What kid?" "Denita Wilson."
Oh man, no. So my grandfather and I,
we drove down
to Denita's home... JUDGE LAKE: Okay, so you
went to see about it. DARENSBURG: Right, because
I mean, hell, kid? And Grandfather
and Daddy said, "Nanny,
that's your baby." What I've tried to... WILSON: They even helped
me with money to help
take care of my son. Excuse me. Excused. The deadbeat symbol that
I wore, and I never knew
that this child was my son. So he's two and a half
years old and you drive
down with your grandfather. To find out,
so she says, "Yes." And when you see the child
and you ask Ms. Wilson, "Is this my child?"
you tell him yes? Yes. But I asked her also,
Judge, "How were you
supporting this kid?" Some other guy
was supporting this kid. The father of the child. WILSON: The father's
name is not on
the birth certificate. You told me he was
your love child. Was there another man
paying child support? No, not for Damone. No. JUDGE LAKE: Okay,
so there was never anyone... That's something he
made up in his mind, to keep him away. JUDGE LAKE: In denial. And also... Keep him in denial
from being the father. Another time I'd come in,
seemed like a guy was
jumping out the window. Okay, whoever was jumping... JUDGE LAKE: But aren't
you saying that this was happening after... This was happening
prior to, after... He's trying to say
that I was a whore. I didn't say that. When he indicated that you
and he, both had... JUDGE LAKE: Colorful pasts. Promiscuous
relationships. JUDGE LAKE: Sexually... Yes, colorful. You didn't deny that,
so I just took that
to mean okay. I'm okay with that,
but he... What you're trying to get at
is because of that... You continue to doubt. That's my doubt. Whether or not this
young man was your son. That's right. Because you felt like
there's a chance that someone else
could be his dad. So what I want to now get to is how did you end up
starting to pay child support? Well, she apparently, was receiving an aid
to families
with dependent children, and because of that they're taking money from me, to repay back the state
in which we live. But you were identified
during that time
as the father. Apparently so,
I went to Georgia, I left. Did you know it was coming
out of your check? It wasn't until I
received a large... I received a settlement. A pre settlement
from a company... JUDGE LAKE: Okay. And the state had taken it. Taken the entire amount. They gave it to me. So when this big amount
was taken from you, that was the time when you
said, "Okay, wait a minute." Heart attack time. Every time I said
child support you quit, so that made you go
into arrears. You don't know
why quit my job. It doesn't matter why,
you still had arrears to pay
and you did not pay them. Most of the times I had
my own catering business. Okay, so why didn't you
pay your taxes? Because I didn't think... Let's get some order. Let's get some order! Ladies and gentlemen,
let's get some order. I wanna hear from Damone.
Mr. Wilson, please step up. JUDGE LAKE: Thank you
for joining us today. Now, as a child growing up,
you're 22 now, right? That's right. As a child growing up,
was it your understanding that he was your dad,
were you made aware? Yeah, I mean,
I can remember
when I was... I was young, very young. I remember, he used to
drive a Mercedes. JUDGE LAKE: Mm-mmm. And I went over for Christmas,
I forgot where he was living, but he brought us to his house and we used to see all the
nice Christmas lights on
other people's house and that was
the last weekend I remember me
spending with him. So couple of years go by,
I'm about seven, my mother I think was
incarcerated at that
time, I'm not sure. But my grandmother
had custody of me. He popped up and he told me,
"Son, you need a haircut. "I'm gonna come back
and get you to
get a haircut." That was a Friday he told me. Saturday morning
my grandmother got me up, she told me your going
with your daddy,
she fed me breakfast, packed my clothes,
send me to the front
of the door. Hours go by, night falls.
He ain't come. JUDGE LAKE: You're
sitting at the door. Sitting at the door. I'm sorry that happened. So the next day, Sunday comes,
and he probably had something
to do, 'cause he was busy. I always used to tell him, bad as it were,
I never bashed him like
I could have. She never told me, he's a
deadbeat, he's not your dad. Nothing bad. She never done it, like,
"He's working," that's what
she always used to tell us. That's all I say,
"Your dad is at work." So Sunday comes,
I'm standing in front of
the same door, waiting. And he never comes,
so I realize myself, tomorrow's a Monday
I gotta go to school,
so he's not coming. That was the last time
I saw him until about six
or seven months ago. And you say you
cursed him without using
the language, Mr. Wilson, What happened six
or seven months ago? That's when he says
that I cursed him out,
I kicked his car. I could admit,
I did curse him
out because... JUDGE LAKE: Well, I might have
too, if I was still waiting at
the door with my bag. Waiting on my haircut. I understand that. So Mr. Darensburg,
surely you understood. I understand that, surely,
right now I'm standing here... But I didn't show
no frustration with him when I first went.
I was happy to see him. So I walk up to
the car to show him
I'm a grown man now. So you were still
coming up to speak to him. Yeah, I'm like,
"What's up, man,
what's up?" "Who is you?" But wait a minute,
Mr. Darensburg, you said,
"Who are you?" I didn't know the kid,
that's what I'm telling...
I did not know. JUDGE LAKE: You
didn't recognize... I did not
recognize this kid. DARENSBURG: I did not
recognize this kid. Now, don't tell me... I'm not finished. You did confirm that you
told that child
you were coming back to give him a haircut
and you never came back. Can I explain that? Yes that's what
I need you to explain. Not only did I offer
to give him a haircut, I went out and I purchased
some outfits for them. JUDGE LAKE: Uh-huh. Still not knowing
that he's my child. I went to the store,
I purchased the clothes and I bought a pair
of Stride Rite shoes. We never got them. Wait a minute
I'll explain to you why
you didn't get them. When I went in the house, I gave her the receipt,
her grandmother. My mother. DARENSBURG: Her mother. I gave her the receipt. She said,
"But where are the
receipts for the shoes?" I said, "Well, on the
JCPenney receipt." "Oh well, no, I usually
go to Stride Rite
and get the shoes." Well, I said,
"My money says JCPenney." Now, if you don't
remember this, I said, "Well Denita told me
he wasn't my kid anyway." Never. And I left there. JUDGE LAKE: I hope
he doesn't remember that. I hope not also. I hope he doesn't
remember that. But, it's... JUDGE LAKE: So you got into
an argument of sorts with Ms. Wilson's
mom over the clothes. Over the clothes
that I had purchased. And you ended up
taking it out of there. I had taken it back...
And I had children,
I have other children. And I moved on. Can I say something? JUDGE LAKE: Yes. And I just want to hear,
before you move on,
Mr. Wilson, so... That was the clothes, so that
started the haircut issue? Well, I didn't go back. I was insulted.
I didn't go back. We never had Dean in. My kids... JUDGE LAKE: And you never
were thinking to yourself, "This child may think
that I'm actually coming
back for this haircut." Regardless of the argument
about the clothes. I never told... I don't think I told him,
I told his grandmother that they needed a haircut. JUDGE LAKE: Yes,
and she told him! You told me, I remember you
putting your big hands on top of my head,
"Son, you need a haircut." "I'll come back and
get you tomorrow
and get you a haircut." I hope that he
can see as a man,
cipher through this, and see if he went through
the same situation, Madam, there's no way. I could attest to heaven... WILSON: His entire
family acknowledges
him, except him. Well, my entire
family is told. His dad, his deceased
grandfather. His step-mother. Everybody acknowledged me.
That's what made me
curse him out. JUDGE LAKE: So, what
happened, when you say
you cursed him out, without using the language,
Mr. Wilson, what happened? Well, when I walked up
to the truck, I'm like,
"What's up man?" He slammed on my truck. He igged me. No, I didn't.
Before I slammed on the truck. I hit his truck after
I cursed him out. That was after,
because I was angry,
the way he handled... Because he said,
"Who are you?" Yeah, he's like,
"Who are you?" So, I step back, I'm like,
"You don't know who I am?" He celled be
everything but... "Well, your mama told me..." That's what he told me,
"But your mama told me
you're not from me" I'm like, "Well, you ain't
trying to find out if I
was from you or not." No. That was my first
and only time... JUDGE LAKE: Wait, wait, wait.
Let's get some order.
Let's get some order. Let's get some order!
Hold on one second,
because, what it sounds like to me, is there's so much
miscommunication going on! People are not fully
explaining their intention, and it's getting lost and
then the next thing you know, the person feels like this
person is trying to diss them. And now, you've got
a young man... I mean, as he tells
this story, of saying, "I'm mad at my father,
he never came to
take me for a haircut, "but I'm a grown man now,
I just want to come
out and say hello," and when he steps
up to your car, when the first thing
out your mouth though, "Who are you?" That broke my heart today. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) DARENSBURG: I have kids.
I have a daughter who's 15, who's graduating
from high school will be a freshman in
college at the age of 15. I have a daughter
who's 25 years old. What are you getting at? DARENSBURG: What I'm
getting at is that when he come
up to my truck... I'm a streetrunner. When he come up to my truck,
slams on my truck that way... I'm surprised he's calm now. He has a very bad attitude. JUDGE LAKE: But
Mr. Darensburg! Mr. Darensburg!
No, no, no, no, no.
I've got to stop you. Because we can break
this down real fast. All the rest of your kids? You showed up
for the haircut. WILSON: Thank you,
thank you. JUDGE LAKE: You came back! (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Thank you. "Daddy's gonna pick
you up at this time." And you came back
and you did for them. I did not know
this kid was my kid. Period. Can I say
something one time? Okay. We've acknowledged why
you have the doubt. And Ms. Wilson herself
has said openly, that she didn't let you
know from the beginning that this could
potentially be your child. There is a lot
of miscommunication, a lot of lack
of communication, and the only way
we really are gonna
get to the bottom of this, and see how we go from here,
is to hear the results. Are we ready? (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Are we ready?
Jerome do you
have the envelope? These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics. In the case of<i>
Darensburg v. Wilson...</i> When it comes
to Damone C. Wilson, Mr. Darensburg, you... ...are his father. I can say one thing.
Can I just say one thing? I wasn't mad 'cause he didn't
come get me for my haircut, I'm mad because,
look how long it took
you to come back after. I'm a grown man I got a son,
my son's going on four, and that's what made
him get mad at me because I told him,
"I'm gonna be a better
father than you ever was." (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) So, he got mad. Mr. Darensburg,
what do you want to say? Well, first of all,
I wanna sincerely
apologize to you. I wanna do what
I can for you. I don't need you
to do nothin' for me. I understand that. I understand that, but... I'll just let you
be in my son's life. (APPLAUSE) That it. I'll be a bigger person
and let you in
my son's life. He don't know you,
he never saw you. And I would just like to
shake hands with you, hug you and let you
know that I love you. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) We're gonna
take care of this. All right? We're gonna
take care of this. We're gonna take
care of this. He's... If he's not doing that,
he's gonna be shuffling
some pots and pans... Start in the
catering business. JUDGE LAKE: What? Now that's father and son
good-talk right there! Look, let me say
this before we close because these are the kind
of endings that this court
loves to see. You come in with
miscommunication. And through testimony and
airing out your differences, you begin to communicate. What's most important is that
family, at the end of
the day is all we have. That's exactly. That no matter what has
happened in the past,
we can go forward. Court is adjourned. (BANGING GAVEL) He's a handsome boy, and, and quite smart, I mean
he was able to take care
of himself 22 years. So, I gotta give him
kudos for that. And I'm dying to
see the grandson. I think that everything
turned out great. And I have a father now, so... Yeah, everything's
everything. It's closure on some issues. It's closure. There's closure.
We're gonna be all right.
