Please be seated. -Hello, Your Honor.
-Hello. This is the case
of<i> Conner v. Wallace.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. [audience] Good day. Mr. Conner, you say
a one-time fling
with the defendant turned into more than 15 years
of child support payments and even jail time, for a child you have
never believed is yours. You need today's results
to prove you are not her child's father. Ms. Wallace, you
and your husband claim
the plaintiff knows he is your son's
biological father, and want him
to pay what he owes, when the results
prove it today. Mr. Wallace, you say
you trust your mother, but acknowledge
Mr. Conner's recent actions have given you doubt. Mr. Conner,
explain to the court why today's results
are so important. Today's results
are so important,
Your Honor, because I need to undo it,
undo a terrible injustice that's been inflicted
upon me and my family. It's caused a lot of problems,
financially especially. It's times
when I can't afford things. -I've even been to jail.
-[audience gasp] 2005, November the 5th
until January 2006. -For failure to pay child--
-For failure to pay
child support. That is correct, Your Honor. And there was
no home for me to go to, I lost it. I lost my car,
I lost my job. I was 36 years old,
I had to start all over. It's making
my character look real,
real bad, Your Honor. And I know for a fact
that she know he's not my son. -Two and a half months in jail?
-[Conner] Yes. Child support in arrears. Yes, I still owe $610. They're taking $70 a week. Yes, I'm broke. Your Honor, he just wants
off child support. For one, it was more than
just a one-night fling. You know Jeffrey
isn't my child. And I have you on Facebook. Well, we have...
Well, we have... Well, you can quit
pointing your fingers
'cause I'm an adult. -No, you're not.
-But, Your Honor. -No, you're not.
What kind of adult...
-I'm 42 years old. -...set up their child
for something like that?
-I'm 42 years old, Your Honor. I raised my three kids
by myself. You not know,
not one time knew
what I had to struggle and go through. -Because I know
he's not my son.
-By myself. -Not my problem.
-So I'm not sitting up here
whining -and talking about...
-It's not my problem. ...what me and my kids
had to go without eating. Your kids
is not my problem. [voice breaks] My son, Jeffrey,
had holes in his shoes
growin' up going to school. -That's his dad's fault.
-Mama had to... -Yeah. Yeah, okay.
-That's his dad's fault. -Who is his father then?
-You know. I don't. -Who's this
you said you know?
-You know it's not me. -You said you know.
-[Judge Lake] Ms. Wallace. -Not me.
-Tell the court.
You say your son -had to grow up without--
-I'm... Yes. Ask Jeffrey. Ask him. He went to school
with holes in his
[bleep] shoes. Why was you telling him
for years that another man
was his father as well? -Jeffrey, have I ever told you
that another man...
-It's on Facebook. ...was your father?
Ask my son, Your Honor. Let's pause. Um, and I want
to go back a little bit. And understand. Mr. Conner, you say
the relationship
with Ms. Wallace -was a one-night stand?
-Yes. Can you tell me about that? Do you remember
this relationship, encounter? There wasn't a relationship. I met her through
a family member. We all used to hang out
a little bit here or there in the fall. We came together
one time and upon penetration, she changed her mind
and that was that. I never knew anything
about Jeffrey. <i> She had a friend
who told me,</i> "Oh, did you
sleep with Wanda?"
I said, "No, not really." Sorta. And I told her
what happened,
there was penetration. I told her the story.
And then she said, "Well, I just wanted
to tell you, she was
pregnant already." [audience exclaiming] So are you...
I wanna understand
your testimony, you're saying
that you did start to have a sexual encounter... Yes. ...but then at some point
Ms. Wallace, what,
changed her mind or... Changed her mind. [Judge Lake] She said
she didn't want to do it. Yes, she changed her mind. And you said,
"Fine, because no is no." [Conner] Yeah. And you never
completed the act. [Conner] No. And it never lasted
more than one night,
you never had sex again? -No.
-That's not true either. What do you remember,
Ms. Wallace? I remember him and I
being in a whole year
relationship and we had sex
numbers of times,
Your Honor. And he did know.
Well, I got sick,
how I find out, found out
that I was pregnant. I got sick, my mom
taken me to my
doctor's appointment, and that's when I found out
I was two months pregnant. -And I, I called you
and I told you.
-You never told me. Back then we had pagers...
You a liar. -Never told me.
-Back then we had pagers. -Shut your lying butt up.
-Hold on. -Let me--
-Back then we had pagers. You popped up with him
when he was two
or three months old. Mr. Conner, Mr. Conner,
I'm gonna give you
a chance to respond. I promise. I'll give you
a chance to respond. [Wallace]
He very disrespectful. Ms. Wallace, I want you
to speak, and I wanna hear
what you're saying. Yes, ma'am. Do you remember
the day you told him? I do not remember
the day exactly. [Judge Lake]
Do you remember
how you told him? [Conner] I never heard
about anything. Hold on, Mr. Conner. -[Wallace] Over the phone.
-So you called him? Yes, I called him
and we spoke over the phone, we used to have,
uh, as he called it, phone sex. So anyways, we would
talk over the phone
all the time, and yes, when
Jeffrey was born,
yes, I did take our son over to his father's house,
and when the stuff hit the fan, is when I popped over
his house. There was another female there, and his sister told me
that he was upstairs
with another woman-- All right. Pause. Right there. If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. Ms. Wallace is saying
you all were intimate
for a year, and when she found out
she was pregnant
she called you. We never had
a relationship at all,
Your Honor. Do you remember,
do you remember being told
she was pregnant? Only by the friend,
and I blew that off because a penetration act,
she intentionally done this. That's a crime, what she did. She knew. And why would she
intentionally trap you? At the time
I was doing pretty good. So I had a little BMW,
we were young. Couple of 'em.
I was washing 'em. All of a sudden,
here come the child support. I think maybe she thought
I had a little money as well. -Maybe.
-So can I ask you, you say, you saw Jeffrey
when he was
three or four months old, she brought him over,
both of you all
at least agree on that. I want to know
when's the next time
you saw him. I seen him
when he was five. He came to
my mother's funeral. Repast. -And you agree
to that, Ms. Wallace?
-Yes, ma'am. -Yes, Your Honor.
-That happened? And during the time
from three to four months
to five years old, did you all ever have
conversations about Jeffrey
at all? Yes, me and her
had a couple
of conversations-- Yes, he told me
that he wanted
to be in his son's life. I told him I did not want to be in a relationship
with him, you know-- You're a professional liar. -[audience exclaiming]
-Damn. And you, you know what?
I'm not going to
even disrespect you -because I'm a woman.
-That's not disrespect.
You committed a crime. And so, like I said,
Your Honor, this man, he wanted
to be with me, and I did not
want to be with him. All right.
But did you discuss Jeffrey? And whether or not
you were going to raise him?
Child support. -[Conner] Our discussion was--
-He wanted me
to be with him in order to be
in Jeffrey's life. I should not have to be
in a relationship with a man, in order for him
to even help with his child. The court's told him
and gave him a date. -I wasn't there.
I didn't get served.
-He never showed... Oh, God.
Yes, he did, Your Honor. And I understand
how that happens, trust me. -That's called the--
-That's called "default." [Judge Lake]
Right. It's called a
default judgement. And if the father
doesn't show up to court... [Wallace] Yes. ...he will be named
the father by default, <i> and required
to pay court ordered
child support.</i> <i> Regardless,
you're here now.</i> You suffered all the
consequences of that, and I honestly
say to myself, Mr. Conner, he must really believe that he's not
this young man's
biological father. Because the truth is,
they've put you on record
as the legal father. -Yeah.
-That's why you're
responsible for support. And I can't
really understand that. Except for the fact
that you truly believe -you are not
his biological father.
-Yes. I know. Jeffrey, I want to ask you,
I know this testimony
has been difficult, I thank you
for being patient... Can you tell me,
when was the first time
you heard about, met Mr. Conner? Um, the first time
that I met Jewett here, that I recall meeting,
was... I was like
what, ten years old at that point,
um, I remember, my mom,
some other family members, were driving to St. Louis,
and we decided to stop...
Drive to a liquor store. And one of my family members,
like, "Hey, that's your dad." So when you see this man
and they just casually say,
"This is your dad." Does he say hello to you? Yeah, he said, "Hey." Uh, but it wasn't,
like a conversation
further than that, 'cause I just hurry up
and got back
in the back seat 'cause I'm, again,
I'm like, "I don't have a dad." So, like, how can
any member of my family just say,
"Hey, that's your dad." 'Cause prior to then,
no one really spoke to...
That I recall. Like spoke to me, like,
"Hey, this is your dad."
And everything. So prior
to that particular point,
I never really thought <i> like, "Hey, who's my dad?"
I never... That wasn't
a thought for me.</i> Um, but after
the liquor store incident, that's when
I started wondering
and everything. All right. We ended up... So after,
I started asking mom
a lot of questions. I guess she was,
like, "Hey, it's time
for you to hang out with that side
of your family." So that summer,
after church,
we go over there, but when I was there,
I spent more time
with his sister, um, my cousins
and everything and, so... Mr. Conner, do you remember
this time when Jeffrey
came to visit your family? Uh, yeah, I do,
kind of, sorta... I came over there and
he was already there, and
my wife asked me who he was. I'd like to hear
from your wife. Ma'am, please stand. And step over to the podium. Thank you so much
for joining us today. I'd like to know
what you know
about this situation. When Jeffrey was ten,
we came home one day
to, um, to the house, and he was sitting on the couch
and I just asked Jewett,
you know, "Who is that?" And he said, "That's Jeffrey,"
and I already knew
the situation, he had already told me. What had he told you? That, um, basically
that Wanda put
a baby on him, they, he attempted
to have sex with her and... At this point,
when Jeffrey was ten, was your husband
paying child support
for Jeffrey? Yes, he was
paying child support
for Jeffrey already. Um, and we didn't
see Jeffrey again until he was, I wanna say,
maybe, like, 15, or so. He stopped by
the house one day. And you didn't make any effort
to stay in contact with him? Oh, I did.
I reached out to him
on social media because he wrote a big
paragraph on Facebook
saying, you know, "Where is my dad?
And why was I never
part of your family?" You know, that kind of stuff. So I called...
I asked Jeffrey
for his number, and I had Jewett to call him
and Jewett told him,
you know, "I'm not your dad,
that's why you didn't spend time
with the family." Do you remember
writing that? I do. Um, I do.
There was this
particular scene from<i> Fresh Prince of Bel Air,</i> when, um, Will is, like,
having a conversation with his dad
and his dad's like,
trying to leave. Basically not be
a part of his life
anymore. And that kind of
just, like, really
hit home for me. I decided to express myself
on Facebook, and then,
as Ms. Kurtrina said... She did reach out to me. And they, kind of
both told me at that point that there's a possibility
I may not be his child. And that was the first time
I ever heard that. So it was kind of,
like, just earth-shattering
at that point for me. [audience] Aw! And then,
when I hear them say, hey, I may not be
his child, it got me
thinking, like, darn, my presence
on this Earth just made
a negative impact on someone else's life. -Oh. No, honey.
-[Wallace] No. 'Cause your mother
love you with all her heart,
you know that. You're my twin,
and I showed love
ever since the day that I had you,
you are my world. And I played the mother
and father role, because I knew
what he, he was denying you, so I made it
the best... I did
the best that I could do. -All right, Ms. Wallace.
-[Wallace]
In a one-household parent. And I need you
to allow Jeffrey to speak. -Yes, ma'am. Yes, Your Honor.
-Because, really,
it's about him. Yes. And he does deserve
the opportunity
to say what he feels. -[Wallace] Yes.
-He shouldn't have to
post it on Facebook. He should be
able to say it face to face, to Mr. Conner and to you,
to everyone. [Wallace] He knew. Yes. -It's his truth.
-[Wallace] Yes, Your Honor. -I love my son
with all my heart.
-[Judge Lake] That's your son. -I love him
with all my heart.
-[Conner] You victimize-- -You victimize both of us.
-No, no, no.
Hold on, Mr. Conner. This is a moment
that I need you to understand. I brought up your son,
and then you brought up
Mr. Conner. I brought up your son,
you brought up
Mr. Conner. I brought up your son,
you brought up "I." -I brought up
your son, "I..."
-[Wallace] Mmm-hmm. -It goes back to you,
"I love him."
-Yes, ma'am. We know that.
But what I'm saying
is in this moment... -Yes.
-...this is just about him. -[Wallace] Yes, ma'am.
-Because as much
as you love him... [Wallace's voice catches] ...that doesn't
change the fact
that when he watched -that<i> Fresh Prince
of Bel Air</i> episode...
-Yeah. He's told me. ...he did not
write about why
he didn't have a mama, -'cause he had one.
-[Wallace] Yes, ma'am. He wrote about
why he didn't have a father. Yes, ma'am.
Yes, Your Honor. All right. I think
we need to get the results. [Wallace] Yes, ma'am. Jerome. [indistinct] These results
were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics, and they read as follows. In the case
of<i> Conner v. Wallace,</i> when it comes to
24-year-old Jeffrey Wallace, it has been determined
by this court, Mr. Conner, you... are not the father. [audience exclaim] -I already knew it.
-No. She committed a crime.
She set me up,
I knew this all the time. -You're such a--
-I'm done. You, you... I understand
you are frustrated, and I understand
you've been
through a lot. I already knew.
All this time, I knew. I wanted to turn
my attention to Jeffrey. So, Jeffrey,
are you all right, honey? Not really.
Yeah, not really. Um... More so, because of
my mom, she was very,
very, very adamant that Jewett was the dad.
So that made me
more adamant as well. -[Judge Lake] I know.
-And I just want
to apologize first, like, I know it's nothing
that I did-- You don't have to.
You're a great person. -[Jeffrey] Thank you.
-You're a very great person. [Wallace] Mmm-hmm. -It's just like--
-I would've loved you
to have been my son, -but I... I just knew.
-Yeah. At this point, I never,
like, before this
whole incident, I never even knew
that there was
another possibility. That's okay, and that's why
we have Dr. Jeff here for you. For all of you,
because this isn't easy. -Family issues, family things--
-[Jerome] Ma'am, you can't
come up here. Stay here.
And stand behind the podium. -[Jeffrey] Love you.
-I love you too. I want you to take advantage
of the counseling
and the resources, and I wish you all
the very best. -Court is adjourned.
-[Wallace] Thank you.
