You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Mask/Muriel v. Redmond...</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Muriel, you and your
sister have petitioned
the court to order a DNA test to prove
that you are not the father of the defendant's
18 month old son,
Zedrian. You have always believed
you are not the father and are hoping the court
grants you the test. So, you can prove your case. Is this correct? Yes, your Honor. Ms. Redmond, you say
you are tired of being a single mom, you didn't
make this baby by yourself and state there is no reason
for a paternity test because the plaintiff
already acknowledged he was the father by signing
the birth certificate. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. So, this court must decide
through testimony if there is enough evidence
to order a paternity test. Let me start with you,
Mr. Muriel, why is this DNA test
so important? Well, Your Honor, first of all
I'm a young entrepreneur. I'm 22 years old
and I'm looking
to expand my brand and with this lady here going ahead and
putting a child on me is like stopping me from leaving and going to do
what I wanted to do. So I'm like really stuck
and I need answers. 'Cause that's
not my child. And so you say that
this young woman is, "Putting a child
on you." You signed
the birth certificate. MURIEL: Yes... REDMOND: Your Honor... JUDGE LAKE: No, no, what... No, no, the point is this. When you were
at the hospital, did you believe the child
was yours at the time? No, no... You did not. And so, you got
this opportunity and it was time to sign
the birth certificate. You went and did it why? Because I felt
very pressured like everybody sitting there
looking at me as far as her family... REDMOND: But his mom
was there. His mom was there
telling him the baby
looked just like you. Ain't no denying this baby. JUDGE LAKE:
Was your mother present
at the birth, Mr. Muriel? No. REDMOND: Yes, she was. MASK: No, she wasn't
and neither was I... Yes, she was ...or I would have never... His mom was there when
I got suited up to have my C-section. JUDGE LAKE: Okay, so listen. Mr. Muriel. REDMOND:
Zedrian Sharard Muriel, you chose that name. Not me. MURIEL: You chose that name. You put his name... Your name as his middle name. Mr. Muriel,
hold no, hold, now and the child also
has your last name. REDMOND: Yeah. And do you understand what
being the legal father means? MURIEL: Yes. You do? So, you now know that once
you sign it under the law, you are that child's father. Even if you are not
his biological father, you're still
the legal father. Okay. And then you would
have to if, depending on if I order this
paternity test if we have
enough evidence, you know, that is something
you'd have to deal with in your home state but this is
something you should know. And this is the part
that gets me because young people, you all
so busy engaging in adult activities but you don't
know adult laws and facts. MASK: I told him that before and I told him... REDMOND: But that's why... REDMOND: You were calling
while I was in the hospital like, "Nephew, nephew, "why didn't you
name him Sharard? "Nephew." That was you. JUDGE LAKE: So, you're
saying people were acknowledging this child. Lies. REDMOND: Yes, she called me, talking about "Nephew,
why did you name..." And then his nieces
and nephews, her kids were asking him
"Why did you name him Zedrian
and not Sharard?" And because I wanted him
to have his own name. But I let Sharard put it
as the middle name. MURIEL: I didn't choose that,
I just let it... I just did it all right.
I didn't choose at all. I didn't pick no names. He didn't choose
the first name. I chose the first name,
I made that up when I was about
three months pregnant.
I have that. So my point is this,
you are trying to present
enough evidence to warrant me ordering
a paternity test. Correct. And what I'm trying
to figure out... Where are the doubts?
I mean as it stands
right now, it's like you were
in the hospital, you signed
a birth certificate, you said you did it
because you have doubts. Now I need to know
proof of that doubt. I wasn't even here... JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Muriel... Yes, and I believe she was
with other people. JUDGE LAKE: Okay, you say
you weren't even there. Give me the facts
surrounding that. You weren't there. I wasn't there.
I was here in Atlanta, Georgia trying to pursue my dream. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Hold on, I want
to figure this out. 'Cause you saying you here,
you're there. And he was here
New Years' Eve. JUDGE LAKE: Listen. Let's try to figure out
the actual date of conception. REDMOND: Okay. Zedrian's date of birth
is what? September 15th...
September 16th... She don't even...
See... I got the year and the date
mixed up, okay. Why does your brother
know my son's birthday,
if that's not his baby? Why did he sign
my birth certificate and give the middle name
if it's not his? The question is after
he signed it. If they
stick firm with... (BOTH ARGUING INDISTINCTLY) JUDGE LAKE: Ladies, ladies. Let's get down
to the bottom of this. Zedrian was born
September 16th, 2015. Mmm-hmm. Right, if you
hit calculate, the window of conception
would be December 18th through December 23rd of 2014. The question I need answered
is where were you between December 18th
and December 23rd, 2014. REDMOND: You know what,
time-out. I don't know where he was
on them dates particularly I'll give him that.
He could have been
wherever he wanted to be 'cause that's where... JUDGE LAKE: So it is
your testimony that you don't know where he was December 18th
through the 23rd. But by the 26th
he was here. 'Cause we went New Year's Eve
shopping, together. We were at the same
New Year's Eve party
together. JUDGE LAKE: Is that true? I don't need a... He don't smoke,
he don't drink. REDMOND: Doesn't mean you
weren't at that party. I don't... He be at the club
with you too. MURIEL: ...just like
the other dudes. It's like the other dude
you got caught with. I'd like him to get
his closure and his sister
to be quiet. So, I would love for you
to do this today, Your Honor.
Please do. Before I give my judgment
as to whether or not
there is enough evidence to order a paternity test.
I want to hear more facts that relate to
the doubt in this case. She got caught with
a whole other dude that she's saying she was
at her friend's house. This is what happened from
the beginning of the story. I'm in my city,
Lansing, Michigan,
riding around. Pull up to one of my boys'
house, I leave there, I see her vehicle in
a neighborhood she's
never in. You know, so, I pull up my car in back
to wait, basically I watched.
I sat and watched whose house she was
about to come out of. 'Cause I don't know
whose house this is. I'm trying
to figure it out. And she wasn't
answering the phone. And she wasn't
answering the phone
or text messages. So, I pull up behind her once she comes out
and get to the car. And I'm like
"Whose house is this? "Whose house
were you just at?" She says some girl's name. I said all right,
go get her. Show me, show me
who you talking about. She's like, "No..." I'm like, "No?" All right,
I go get her myself. We weren't together, I didn't
have nothing to do. MURIEL: So, no, no,
hey, look... So, I say I'll go
get her myself then. So, she gets in the car,
did a fast turn around
and skirted off. Okay, there's something
going on there. So, I knock on the door. A dude answers the door. So, Ms. Redmond said she
was there to visit a girl. But you know that
there wasn't a girl in there. There was no girl.
Where she at? So, this is the issue,
you all are... The issue is one minute
she says, "He's the dad," one minute she says
that he's not... He's trying to live his life. That's their issue. That is getting caught,
right there. One minute, one minute... That's you
on Snapchat, saying "Look, it's Zedrian
playing with his dad." With the same guy, she got
caught at the house with. REDMOND: Time-out. Time-out. JUDGE LAKE: Hold on... JUDGE LAKE: Hold on,
Ms. Redmond, hold on. Now, Ms. Mask has...
Hold on. Ms. Mask has asserted that
you were on Snapchat talking about someone else
was Zedrian's father? Never! MASK: "Zedrian playing
with her dad..." Never. "Zedrian's playing
with his daddy." "Look at, daddy
and the kids." I mean... Am I going to get a chance to answer or are you going
to answer for me? Girl, you don't even
know my Snapchats JUDGE LAKE: I would like
to hear a response,
I would like... Like I was saying. Um, yeah, you right, it's been a year and a half
my son is like you said
18 months old. I don't even talk
to him no more. Why are you pulling up
to any house that you see
my vehicle at? What business do you have? Were you on Snapchat with a video saying... No, time-out, time-out. MASK: She's lying. Did I ever say
"Look at him with
his dad"? No, I've never. I don't believe I've ever
posted him and the guy
I was talking to. Did he catch me riding
in the car with him? Yes, that guy was the guy
I was talking to. And I had to pick my son up
from daycare. I'm a single mom.
I don't have time to... Wait, wait, wait... So, now we're in court
and you're saying "Did he catch me
riding in a car..." With a guy? Yes.
The same guy. JUDE LAKE: "With a guy, yes." Is that the same guy, when he went up to the house
and opened the door. Mmm-hmm. But this is the person
you believe is Zedrian's father because you say there is
a striking resemblance. You said when you
open that door. It looked just like... Yeah, yeah... Guess what's the reason
he said why he was my son.
He said... "Oh, that man
is light skinned. "That's probably
your baby daddy." Oh, I can name a few of
y'all that light skinned I guess, they all
my baby daddy in here. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Because there is more than
just one person light skinned. JUDGE LAKE:
But this is the point... She has told me I'm not
the dad multiple times. This is the point... She told you,
you we're what? I'm not the father,
why would she say that? When did she say that? She said it throughout the whole period
of him being born. Talking about "You're not
the dad anyway. "I'll take him
to his real dad." You were there
in the beginning. It wasn't until
she stepped in his ear. It wasn't until she
stepped in his ear that he started denying it.
It was three weeks... No, it was
Christmas time that he started
denying my son. And that's when she came up
from Atlanta for Christmas. JUDGE LAKE: All right,
so listen, listen. I've heard enough testimony. In light of what's
going on here and the testimony I've heard, there is clearly
enough evidence to order
a paternity test in this particular case. And I'm going to do so
for Zedrian. Because we need to get down
to the bottom of this. So, after I adjourn court. You all are going to go
directly to the laboratory and undergo DNA testing. Let's do it. Submit to it. And we will return back
to this court room
for the results. Are we clear? REDMOND: Mmm-hmm. Court is adjourned. I feel like I have very much
so proven my case. I'm excited
for the DNA test. I'm ready to get this
thing going, so I can
move forward in my life. I'm glad she did that.
I need them to zip it up. I need him to step up
and his family to shut up. So that we can all just
move on and my son
can have a dad and a mom. And I ain't gotta be
both no more. I can make it by myself.
I'm excited she did this. We are reconvening in the case
of<i> Mask/Muriel v. Redmond.</i> In our last court session
I found that there was sufficient evidence
to warrant the ordering
of a paternity test. Since that time,
you have submitted to DNA testing and I have those results
here for you today. Before I go to the results, is there anything
anyone would like to say? Yes, Ms. Mask. I just want to say that
he is a good person. That is why he signed
that birth certificate. Because he's like, you know, "There's all these
woman here "and I'm just going to do
the right thing." And if he is the dad, then we'll make up
for any lost time
or money or anything. Anyone else? Yes, Ms. Redmond. Really all I want is him to step up and his family
to step aside. He is the parent here. He needs to be
making decisions
on his own like I have been doing.
I mean, yes,
I have support. But, I mean,
I don't have an option
I've been doing it. So, all I want is him
to step up and his family to step aside
and let him do that. Stop steering him...
He's grown. Let him make his own decisions
on how to be a dad. Don't keep trying to play dad,
'cause you're not. You're not mom and dad,
you're aunt and grandma. We mom and dad,
let us do ours. And you guys
just fall in. JUDGE LAKE: Well, listen,
I mean, his sister is
nodding affirmatively and we have not
yet established, whether or not he is
Zedrian's biological father but there's truth
to both sides. You know,
you all are young. But if you bring in
children into the world you have to grow up and you
have to be parents. At the same token. I have a brother I know what it means
to be a sister. I just have one brother,
I'm very protective over him and he's my big brother. I mean so you get... And I support her
supporting him. Exactly. So I think this
an important moment. When you both acknowledge what the other side feels. But, I just want to make it
very clear that he's
a good man, period. He's doing his thing as an individual. He is a good individual. But he's not being
a good dad that
I need him to be. I don't care... I address, you are
a good individual. You're doing your thing. (CLAPS) But I need you to be
a good dad too. I need both. JUDGE LAKE:
Let's get the results. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Mask/Muriel v. Redmond,</i> when I comes to 18 month old,
Zedrian Muriel... It has been determined
by this court, Mr. Muriel you... Are the father. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) You are Zedrian's father. Okay. JUDGE LAKE:
How do you feel? I feel good. I feel okay about it,
you know... I'll do what
I need to for him. And that's really it. It's a huge responsibility. Oh, yeah. That's the only reason why I wanted him to get
the test because a child is,
oh, serious. Yes. It's not nothing to be
running around like pretending you are the dad,
one month you are the dad
and next minute you're not. So, now you know for a fact
even if she gets upset
and says it or... Which she
shouldn't anymore... When's the last time
you saw your son? Like, I believe,
like a month ago. JUDGE LAKE:
Just a month ago. We're hoping that we
won't wait another month. We hope that we won't let
things go for months
at a time. Um, Ms. Redmond your testimony has been proven in court today
that he is Zedrian's biological father. But this is not going to come
together like a little beautiful Tiffany box
with the bowl. My mother always told me every battle isn't
worth the fight. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) And you... Look. As a parent... As a parent,
of a beautiful baby who now you know
this is the father, but you all have
had some issues, what I'm say is, there may be those times
that things don't go
the way you expect. But think about in your mind. Is this battle
worth the fight? We have counseling
and resources for you all. This baby is just
too beautiful. And I hope you understand
how much he's counting on you. Right? Right. He's gonna see the world through the lens of the glasses
you provide for him. Right? Yeah. So, is that going to be foggy and gloomy or is that
going to be clear and bright and beautiful? It's a choice and it's your decision.
And I wish you
the very best of luck. Please take advantage of the
counseling we have for you. Court is adjourned. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
