Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is a case of<i>
Thompson v. Pate Thompson.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr. Thompson, you are in
court today in hopes of saving your 11 year marriage. Your wife has a newborn
four-month-old, Micah Pate Thompson, who you hope is your baby but say your doubts
are overwhelming.
Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Mrs. Pate Thompson, you hope and pray the results reveal that
your husband is
Micah's father for the sake
of your family and your marriage,
is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Thompson, tell us
the current status
of your relationship. The current status
of our relationship is... Is rocky. We don't sleep in
the same bedroom, we haven't slept in the
same bedroom in years, we haven't had sex in probably
about seven-eight months. You know, it's just... You know,
she don't like to cook,
she don't like to clean, she don't like to work. So this is... It's a lot going on
other than... You know, other
than Micah, so it's... You know, like I say,
every marriage is not perfect.
But is this... It's a lot going on. You want this baby to be
your biological child but you truly doubt. I would love for him to... I would love for him
to be my son. You know, if he was
a man, I don't know, if I could raise
another man's child, but with everything going on, the connection that me
and Micah has together, I can't let another... I can't let
another child, especially a black child
grow up without a father. So, Mrs. Pate Thompson, this has to be difficult. It is. It's... It's very difficult. You know, I... I want Micah
to be his son. I don't want to
lose my best friend. We've been together
for so long and you know what, I just
don't want to lose him. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Well, take me back,
I wanna understand how this relationship began. Certainly, at some point,
you all were happy together. Yes, um... We met in college. We had a class together and <i> he sat behind me,</i> <i> cracking jokes,</i> <i> trying to copy off my test.</i> Next thing you know,
we were talking and
we were together and in a relationship. And it was good. We were...
We were inseparable. You couldn't see him
without seeing me. I mean, that just
sound storybook. It does. So, Mr. Thompson, the bottom line is you met and
you were very happy together. MARCUS: That's right. You decide to get married. She ended up
eventually moving in
with me and my family. You know, in a
short time afterwards, we found out that
she was pregnant. We told my mother the news and my mother was like,
"Hey, you guys might as well
go ahead and get married." You know, so
we were like, you know, okay, so
we're trying to
figure out a day, so my mother had this
idea to get married while everybody was already
at the house 'cause in the same month,
we had a birthday party for
my mother, my niece... It was a ghetto wedding,
Your Honor. It was like, very ghetto. It was like a hood
romantic love story. JUDGE LAKE: Oh! You know what I'm saying? Oh, one of those. MARCUS: Yeah, yeah. Okay. The minister who married us was a ordained minister, okay. But don't... It was like a friend
of a friend or
somebody else's friend and the lady didn't know us,
we didn't know the lady. Like, before we
even got married... We was like ...she was trying to
do a quick little... Marriage counseling
before we even Counseling session. got married. So it was like... So we did like, a little
15 minute counseling session in the bedroom. JUDGE LAKE:
Oh, my goodness. Counseling in the bedroom.
That doesn't sound right. Okay, go ahead. It was... There was a
lot of stuff going on. There was birthday cake,
there was nachos, there
was drinks, there was... I got... We got... I got married
in a jogging suit. My maid of honor had on
a matching jogging suit. He had t-shirt, jeans. We was just... I was drunk, you know what I'm saying? It was... Yeah, I was... I was... I was
kind of toasted. It sounds like it was
an interesting and
entertaining day. Yeah, it wasn't the most
ideal situation but we made the best out of
what we could do. But absolutely, and
that's what it's all about when you're coming together
to build a life. So, where did this go wrong? What went wrong was when me and Latoya
first started getting into marriage
and stuff like that, I had found out that she
was doing some things that
she shouldn't be doing. Text messaging, meeting
other guys, stuff like that. So when I confronted her,
she said it wasn't true. So when she said
it wasn't true, I found out otherwise. I had to do a DNA test on my
first two boys with her. We married but every time, while we're in a marriage, I and every time
you get pregnant, I gotta get a DNA test? I was gonna ask
the same question. I mean, I don't understand. What happened in
this relationship? Honestly, Your Honor,
I think when we
first got married, we really weren't
ready to be married. You didn't understand the
depth of the commitment and the responsibility
of marriage. Exactly. This is what
I felt went wrong
in the marriage. Me and Latoya had
ample opportunities where I came to Latoya and
I was like, "Listen here, "we not doing... "You're not doing certain
things in a marriage that
should be going on. "You're not working. "If you're not going to work,
I need you to cook, clean, "you know, we got to
have sex on the regular..." You know, things like that. But was it just on
her to fix, or was it on
both of you all? Ah, but she never
did think about it. She don't talk, so she
don't tell me my faults. You know, if you
tell me my faults, okay, let's communicate,
let's work on this, but she never
told me my faults. So what you were saying, "I'm expressing to you
what I need, "and that I need you to
express to me what you need." Right, she don't... She don't reciprocate it,
she don't say nothing to me. So, in my eyes,
I'm not the perfect dude, but let me know
what I'm doing wrong. So where did
this go wrong to the point that we're
here in<i>Paternity Court?</i> It went wrong when he
decided to leave, Your Honor. Yeah. I left.
I did leave. When I left, she said
she's going to have... She said she was
gonna work on herself. Me and her had
ample conversations... While he was with
somebody else. About her working
on herself. She was working on herself 'cause she deleted me
off social media, and I found out she started
adding all these other dudes to her social media page. Because you were gone.
You were living
with somebody else. Were you living with
somebody else, Mr. Thompson? Yeah, I was. So why shouldn't
she move on? She didn't want to move on. She said she was
gonna work on what she needs
to work on. Were you all planning
to get a divorce? MARCUS: No! Yes. So were just going to
move in with somebody else and still think you're
going to be married? When I said something
about a divorce, she
didn't want a divorce. As soon as he left, and I found out
that he was staying with somebody else, and they were supposed
to be in a relationship, I printed up the
divorce papers myself. That's after I left her
for the third time. All right, so
this relationship
definitely is in trouble. At what point did
you find out that she
was with someone else? When I came back, we was under
the understanding that I was going to come back
and we was going to
work on our marriage. She told me that she
was going to Atlanta
for a job interview. I said, "What job interview
are you going to?" and she named a
couple of job offers
and I said, "Okay." So, me being me, in that conversation,
when me and her
got done talking, I got on the phone
with my mother and I was like, "She's
not going to no Atlanta
for no job interview. "She going to Atlanta to
do what she's gonna do." But I told my mother,
I was like, "You know what?" I was like, "If we're
gonna start over, "I'm gonna be a man
about the situation "'cause I was just
with somebody. "I'm gonna let her go ahead
and get it out of her system." So she goes to Atlanta, me and my other two boys,
we went out, you know, dinner, movie,
we're all hanging out. She called me.
I missed her call. I called her back.
She didn't answer.
I'm texting her. She's texting but
she's not calling. She said she's
in a job interview.
It all made no sense. Why are you texting me in
a job interview if you
can't pick your phone up? So when she didn't
call back that night, I knew it was a problem. She didn't call back
until the next day... Okay. ...and I was like,
"Why you couldn't call me?" She was like,
"Well, we went out "and my friend
took my phone "and she said we out,
so you don't need
to be on the phone." I'm like, man,
you're married,
you got kids, and what woman gonna tell you
some trash like that? So when she came back, how did you find out that she had been
sleeping with someone else? Well, I already knew what
she was going to do. I didn't have no proof, but I knew what
she was going to do. Is that what you were
going to do, Mrs. Thompson? I can't even
lie about it.
Yeah, it was. Now that's
the first time... That's the first time
she admitted that. Well, that's what we do
in this courtroom,
we get the truth. So now we know. So, you were intimate
with somebody else during that
weekend because this was him
coming off of being with somebody else,
living with somebody else. Right, Your Honor. You did. Yes. And so when you came back... ...you all were supposed
to clean the slate, and be together. Right. Yes, Your honor. And then when did you
find out you were pregnant? Oh, no.
She went back
to Atlanta two weeks later. For a follow-up interview? Yeah. She said a
second interview. You know what I'm saying,
I don't want to
leave nothing out, 'cause I don't want
anybody to say... JUDGE LAKE:
I know that's right. You go ahead and
prove your case,
Mr. Thompson. Go ahead. You go back to Atlanta
a second time. So I was like, okay, once again I know
what you're gonna do. So I was like, "Let me
go ahead and let you go," so I can compile me
a little bit of evidence. So in the email,
there's nothing in there. And the phone bills, there's one Atlanta
phone number that keeps popping up and
I researched the phone number, that's coming back
to a gentleman, so, when she finally
called me, I'm like, "Okay, Latoya,
what're you out there doing? "I'm looking at the
phone bill and "this one Atlanta number
keep popping up and
it's from a male." She's like, "One of my
friends. Yes, a male." So I was like, "That's who
you out there with?" She's like, "No." Mind you,
I'm sitting on the couch with my kids, watching TV, every car that's driving by,
they're jumping up. "Is that mama? Is that mama?"
They waiting for her
to come home. You know what I'm saying?
I know what she's
out there doing but I can't tell
my kids that. Is this true? Yes, it's true,
Your Honor, but he... He skips over all the
stuff that he did. Besides the going
back and forth
all summer between me and
the other girl, and then moving all the way to
Alabama with a girl and leaving me
with the kids but he wants to talk about
the one time he had the kids and they were
looking for me. They were looking
for you all the time. And he failed
to mention why he was doing
all that research, trying to figure out
who I was talking to, he failed to tell anybody that
he was engaged to this girl. What! While he was
still married. What! And it's on her
Facebook so he can't even
lie about it. You asked another girl to
marry you while you were
still married to your wife? I did. Now, see, he never admitted
it when I asked him about it. How can I be engaged? I'm still married. That's what he told me. Yeah. I mean, I'm still going
to say it, but I did. Mr. Thompson, obviously you needed
more than 15 minutes
of marriage counseling so that you
understand that you can't ask somebody
else to marry you when
you're still married. There was a lot going on... Oh, this is a lot. And so let's
fast forward to the point where you
found out you were
pregnant with Micah. Who did you tell? The first person I told
was the other guy. You did? Yes. The timeline
and the way... The conception and
everything, I was thinking
it was the other guy because I wasn't with
Marcus at that time. MARCUS: We had sex one time
in that time frame. I don't know if it was before
the first time she went to
Atlanta or when she came back. But she said
it was another time, but I don't know, I was
drunk anyway, so I don't know
which time it was. You gotta stop drinking. MARCUS: Man! LATOYA: He do. We was on the
phone talking and I guess when we
came to the conversation,
we was like, if we're going to
make this work, we got to do, you know,
we've got to work these out. She was like, well,
you might not want
to be with me no more, after I tell you this.
I was like, "I already
know what it is." I was like,
"You're pregnant." You know what I'm saying?
She was like, "Yeah." "Whose baby that?" She said...
Right out of the jump,
she said it was him. She said it was
the other guy? Right off the top. So she admitted it? Yeah. And now she's in court
to prove that you are the biological father? Because I'm only
thinking that because he don't want nothing
to do with her. Now you've developed a
relationship with Micah. Yeah. <i> I've been there.
You know, it's been
a struggle for me</i> <i> to even get her to
let me come to a
doctor's appointment.</i> <i> And she was just like,</i> "Well, I didn't think
you want to go because
of the situation." I'm like,
"Listen, man, "at the end of the day,
I'm a man before anything, "and if I'm gonna be that
boy's father, I want to
miss out on nothing." You know what I'm saying? So it took her
a minute to let me go to the
doctor's appointment so I went to the
doctor's appointments
and stuff like that. I missed the birth
of the baby because I was out of town for work. When I came back
from out of town, I went straight
to the hospital. I went straight
to the hospital, I was watching the baby. I was, you know...
I was doing
all types of things. Y'know, the only thing
I didn't do was sign the
birth certificate. You didn't? No, ma'am. Because you had
that doubt and it was substantiated by
what your wife had told you? Yes, ma'am. That she believed that it was
the other gentleman's child. <i> Yes, ma'am.</i> <i> But when he was...</i> <i> As he got older,</i> my features in Micah started
to come out a little bit. You start seeing yourself?
What is that? This is a side-by-side picture
of me and Micah. Let me see that.
Jerome, will you
pass me that? So, as I'm looking, everybody's saying
we got the same nose... Thank you. ...the same forehead. <i> And, you know, they say</i> as the older he gets,
we look alike. The bigger he gets,
he looks like my younger son. Even my mother,
when she came up to the hospital,
she was like, are you sure he's
not Marcus' baby? I said, "Why do
you say that?" And she was like,
"He looks just like him and the rest of the kids. And so now you're
really confused. I would love for him
to be my son but I just... There's too much doubt.
It's a lot going on. I'm ready for the
results. Jerome? These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and
they read as follows. In the case of <i> Thompson v. Pate-Thompson,</i> when it comes to four month old
Micah Pate-Thompson, it has been determined
by this court Mr. Thompson, you are not the father. (SNIFFLING) I know that's not what
you wanted to hear, sir. How are you feeling
in this moment? I had already accepted this situation when I knew he wasn't but to actually know he's not mine
hurts a little bit more. The other dude don't want
nothing to do with him, but like I said, I can't let
another child grow up
without a father. Mrs. Thompson, I'm sure you were hoping that
it was your husband's child. Yes, Your Honor. You can see that when you're
not ready for marriage, and to communicate how
you need to in order
to sustain a marriage. Things can go wrong and you end up going outside
of your marriage for comfort and
companionship that you need to seek
within your marriage. And, Mr. Thompson, you know, when you
speak so beautifully about not wanting another child
to grow up without a father, I'm proud of you
for saying that. Because in that moment,
you're putting yourself aside and you're focusing on Micah. <i> The great thing is
you're still married</i> so you still have a chance,
if both of you were willing to try to
figure this out but you have to
do it together. We have counseling and
resources for you both, I wish you the
very best of luck. Court is adjourned. (APPLAUSE)
