Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is a case for<i>
Garcia v. Huffman.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Miss Garcia, you claim
that before your father's death Miss Huffman, who is 31 years
younger than him, and six years younger than you, contacted you, claiming to already have
one child by your dad and was pregnant with another. You have petitioned the court for a DNA test
to protect your father's estate and his name by supporting
what he told you. That he is not the father
of the defendant's
two daughters. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Miss Huffman, you admit your relationship
with the plaintiff's father was not a stable one but claim you are certain
he fathered your children. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. So, Miss Garcia,
you claim your father
denied paternity before he passed.
Please explain. Well, I'm basically here
on behalf of my dad because he passed away
about two years ago. He was not sure if they
were his or not, because she had gotten around. So the questions that remain
have been unanswered. Correct. So, Miss Huffman,
it is your belief that
Miss Garcia's father did father
both of your children. HUFFMAN: Yes. Tell me about your
relationship with
Miss Garcia's father. Well, we was just,
me and my ex went
to the um, carnival. That's when
I first met Fred. Which is the girls' dad. Me and my ex, which was
my boyfriend at the time, we broke up and that's
when me and Fred had
gotten to get around. JUDGE LAKE: And so was it
a committed relationship? HUFFMAN: Yes. You were? It was on and off. But it was on and off. Yes. And so when it was off,
were you intimate
with anybody else? No. So take me to the day you believe you
conceived Claudia, your older child. On March 17th of 2013. And you all were dating,
you were hanging out together. It was more like
hanging out in the truck. Hanging out in a truck? Yes. Okay. Well, we're here
to be honest and tell the truth so you were hanging out
in his truck, and... Goofing around. I'm sorry? We were goofing around
in the beginning and then
we got into the whole thing of how you get pregnant. At the point you found out
you were pregnant, did you let
Miss Garcia's father know? HUFFMAN: Yes, I did. And he sat there
and told me that,
"No, that's not my child." That's whenever he got
ticked off and mad at me. So, Miss Garcia, did you
ever hear about Claudia,
the baby, when the baby was born? Did you know your father
was expecting a child,
potentially? No. And you had a good
relationship with your dad? I'm very close with my dad. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And there
was never a mention that there may be a child
on the way and you
may have a little sister? No. And how old was Claudia
when you first heard about her, that she could potentially
be your sister? Around two years old. JUDGE LAKE: Two. And she contacted me. And what happened
in that conversation? She messaged me
on Facebook and she said, um, that she was pregnant
with a child and that she had
a two-year-old daughter and that they were my dad's. And he basically said
that, yes, he was messing
around with her, but he didn't believe that
those were his children, um, because she got around. He pretty much said
that they weren't his. And your father was alive
at this time? Correct. And Claudia was two. So in two years' time, your father had never
mentioned to you once, "There's a woman out
here that claims
I have a child," or you may have a sister? I mean, not a mention
of Claudia, the child? GARCIA: I have five other
brother and sisters... JUDGE LAKE: Okay. ...and he's never denied them. Always came straight
forward, "These are my
children." I've known them
since they were babies. Never had an issue
about that. But, you know, when
she was pregnant
with them, I never knew about them. Did you even know
anything about
Miss Huffman? No. And why are you crying now? Because it hurts.
Because I want
my kids to sit there and be around their family. And not just my part
of the family. I want them to know (SNIFFLES) that they can sit here
and talk to their sister, be around,
get that bond. I don't want them going
through what I went through. And what did you go through? Not having my dad around. That's what I didn't
want them to have, is not have their dad around. This is the first time
I've seen her emotional
about anything. JUDGE LAKE: Really? Yes. I never really heard her
talking about wanting to know
they have a sister... wanting the girls
to know they have
a sister, and... Any time I've ever
spoken to her, it was always, you know,
that the girls need help, that she needs help
financially, and that she needed
the DNA test done to prove that they were
my dad's so that
she can get help from social security
because he's deceased. So there was a motive
that was driven by
a financial benefit. Correct. If you want more episodes
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the notification bell. When I spoke to him
and asked him, "Why don't you think
these girls are yours?" And he pretty much told me that one day
she was at his house and he couldn't find her,
so he went looking for her and he saw her
in the backyard
with the neighbor and she was giving him
oral sex. (AUDIENCE GASPING) Whoa. Miss Huffman,
is that true? No, it's not. Did her father
actually catch you
with another man? No. He did not? No. So, when it was off,
you weren't on
with anyone else? No, Your Honor. So, in your mind,
there was nobody else. There's no other possibility when it comes to the
father of your children. HUFFMAN: No. JUDGE LAKE: Because I will say,
I saw a note in my case file
here, and I'll find it. It says
one of my court employees had a conversation with you that led her to believe
that there were other
possible fathers. Um, Jerome. Can you please go see if you can escort
our court employee, Miss Avery Wilkerson,
into the courtroom? Yes. Thank you. JEROME: I'm gonna have you
stand right here. Okay. Hello, Miss Wilkerson. Hi, Your Honor. Thank you so much
for coming into the
courtroom today. I have a question for you
about what you uncovered as you spoke to
and interviewed
Miss Huffman. While assisting the defendant,
Miss Huffman, with setting up
a DNA test for her
and her daughters, she unknowingly admitted that she tested another man
in the past. JUDGE LAKE:
What did she say? She said that
she did not remember if she brought
the birth certificate with her the last time she tested
a man against Claudia. Which indicated to me
that she truly does not know <i>who the biological father
of Claudia is.</i> JUDGE LAKE: Thank you
so much for that. You're welcome. JUDGE LAKE: Miss Huffman? Is it true that you had
another man tested related to the paternity
of Claudia? He was testing her. But you allowed him
to do the test? Yes, I did. Just to prove
that she's not his. Was this man determined
to be the biological father? No. Pretty much, what I've heard,
was my dad told me that she got around
with all the... 'Cause he used to work
for a carnival. And that she was messing with other staff at the carnival. And that he didn't think
that they were his because of the whole
situation with the neighbor and then her messing with
the people at the carnival and, I mean... Miss Huffman, were you having
multiple relationships with various people
who worked at the carnival? No, I didn't. Did this other man
who wanted the test
work for the carnival? No, he did not. And so I'm just not
understanding why
the testimony wasn't completely honest. If you had the test,
and he was not the father... I mean, in many ways,
that lends credibility
to the fact that maybe Miss Garcia's father
is Claudia's
biological father. See, when you
tell a half-truth, I'm always looking
for the whole lie. So I want to ask you
again, you are in court, you are required
to tell the truth. Are you 100% certain that Miss Garcia's father is your children's
biological father? Or are there
other potential fathers? What is the truth? I know for a fact
that he is the father. He is the only one
I messed with. Whoever this man is
that asked for the DNA test, he had to have had
sex with you, because then he would know
there was no possibility he could be
your child's biological father. So Miss Garcia,
has anything else happened that has furthered
your doubt? Um, yes, um. There was a time where
we were trying to cremate him and the state of Michigan was offering to help us
get him cremated for free. They were asking questions
about his children. I listed her girls
as my siblings. JUDGE LAKE: You did? Yes. And because...
When I did that, they wanted to have her
sign a paper saying that it was okay for him
to be cremated. Right. So she told me that she was
not going to sign the papers. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) JUDGE LAKE: But now you were,
at this point, your father had doubt,
you had doubt, but when they asked
about the children, you listed her children. Yeah, I guess
it's 'cause I'm a kind person. I want to believe
that they are my sisters. JUDGE LAKE: You do? Yes. This is interesting.
So, it's... The truth is
that you have doubt. Correct. But you do hope that they are. Yeah. Because it's another piece
of your dad. But after she refused to sign,
that furthered your doubt. Correct. Why wouldn't you sign
the papers, if you know your daughters
are his biological children? Why did you say no? I said no about that because I don't have
the financial money to actually spend on that. I kind of thought that
it was kind of like a trick and I said no,
I'm not signing. I was not asking her
for any money. I didn't know her. I wasn't expecting her
to pay anything. And when we first went
to a funeral home and talked about
him being buried, it was around $10,000. All right, so,
that lends credibility
to what she's saying. So what are your hopes today? What are your hopes,
Miss Huffman? To get the results
for my kids. To be able to financially
make it with them with their health issues. And not having to struggle. I'm going without,
to do for them. Your Honor, I don't
even have a phone. Because I'm putting it in
for the kids. Miss Garcia,
what are your hopes? I hope that they are
my sisters. And I hope to tell them
about my dad. And what a wonderful
man he was. That's beautiful. With that said,
let's go to the results. Jerome. (APPLAUSE) The first result
is for Claudia. Because there wasn't
a blood card available to test the DNA of the deceased Fred Sonnichsen, we performed a DNA test
with his surviving daughter, Kari Garcia. With that being said, the results determine if
there is a viable relationship between the child,
Claudia Huffman, and Kari Garcia. The results read as follows. In the case of<i>
Garcia v. Huffman,</i> it has been determined
by this court the percentage of relatedness between Claudia Huffman and Kari Garcia is... the percentage of relatedness between Claudia Huffman and Kari Garcia is... 99.9%. You are related. But we still have
a second result. This result is for Emmalee. In the case of<i>
Garcia v. Huffman,</i> when it comes to
two-year-old Emmalee Huffman, it has been determined
by this court the percentage of relatedness
between Emmalee Huffman and Kari Garcia is... 99.9%. You are related. Those are your sisters. How does that feel to hear... This is the first time
I've really... seen them in action. I've seen very few
pictures of them. Emmalee looks like me... when I was a baby. And I'm glad to know
that they are my sisters. And I would love to
be in their lives. I want you in their lives. That's just wonderful. How does it feel,
Miss Huffman? It really feels great. Well, this is...
this is what's so wonderful. You all are, you know,
relatively young, but you have experienced
already the circle of life. You've, unfortunately,
lost your father, and Claudia and Emmalee
will not know
their biological father and those parts of life
are difficult. But there are always
blessings we can find
in the burdens that we bear. And one of those things is that you both had the
courage to come here today to get this answer, and that changes
the scope of Emmalee
and Claudia's lives. Because they are gonna
be able to know you and know so much
about their dad. And you're gonna be able
to start doing exactly what
you just talked about. Which is you have
so many things to tell them. I hope you all begin
a very special bond of creating this village
for these children. We have counseling
and resources for you. Hope you take advantage of it. They're beautiful,
beautiful little girls. I wish you all the very best. Court is adjourned.
