Ms. Williams,
you are here today
with your two sisters because you say you're tired
of being lied to by your
mother, Ms. Liddell. You all claim she wasn't
a good mother, and say her
promiscuous behavior is the reason you need
the results of a paternity
test today. Ms. Liddell,
you admit you haven't
been the best mother, but, you say
your daughters
are being unfair. You claim they're still
punishing you for the mistakes
you've made in the past, and today,
you want it to end. Do you believe you are these young girls'
biological father? Do you believe that? Uh, deep in my heart,
you know, Your Honor,
and I hate to say it, and it's hurting me
to say it, too... But no, I do not think that... JASMINE:<i>
You don't act like it,</i> so it shouldn't be
hurting you. He said, "No"? He said, "No."
You don't act like it. You sure don't act like it. JUDE LAKE: And what... What are your doubts... What are your
doubts based upon? He don't believe he had any. <i>I always had a
doubt in my heart.</i> <i> When I met their mom, uh,
she was living the type of
lifestyle as</i> <i> a party girl,
fast girl.</i> <i> I even caught her in the act.
One time I caught her
in a car with a guy...</i> 'Cause he was
watching my back! That's what I'm saying. How was he going to catch
him if he was helping? Why did it take
23 years for this? That doesn't make no sense. (ALL TALKING AT ONCE) JUDGE LAKE: Okay, ladies,
let's get some order. (GAVEL POUNDING) Let's get some order. This is the man
that you were told
was your father? Correct. Yes. Now, he's expressed that
he doesn't truly believe
he's your father. JASMINE: Right.
Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Your Honor, I have a question
for, for both of them. Um, why did you miss
my eighth grade graduation? You were...
You weren't away. Because... You weren't out. You were able to come.
Why did you miss it? Jamie, because
I was a piece of... Like, I'm not
gonna keep... I'm not gonna keep down
on myself, but I didn't
care about y'all. Oh, wow, thank you! (AUDIENCE GASPING) Thank you! I'm keeping it... Y'all
want me to keep it real? I didn't care about y'all... LISA: Thank you. Because... Thank you for
finally admitting it. Y'all was in my way of
doing what I wanted to do. She told me she
should have aborted me. She said I'm not her daughter,
she should have aborted me. I sure did.
I sure said that because you never... JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Liddell... (ALL TALKING AT ONCE) Ms. Liddell! Ms. Liddell,
hold on, hold on, hold on! Oh, my gosh,
it's like poison just
coming out your mouth! You know, Your Honor,
they talk so bad to me that I don't know
how to get back at them. So I say what I know
is gonna hurt them. (ALL TALKING AT ONCE) (GAVEL POUNDING) Let's get some order!
Let's get some order! We're here
regarding the paternity
of young Hope, Ms. Wilson's daughter. All right. Mr. Phillips contends that you were with
Ms. Wilson in the club, that you were kissing
in the club. I was. Were you kissing... We weren't kissing. She was showing me
how to kiss. I'm a good teacher.
I'm a good teacher. And then... And she really
showed me how to kiss. Yes. So, you were at school,
getting a lesson. That is correct. WILSON: Yes, I was
giving him a lesson. You weren't
really kissing her,
it was a lesson? Right. It was a lesson. It was, I'm a good kisser. Mr. Garcia? Yes, Your Honor? Have you ever been
intimate, sexually, with Ms. Wilson? Uh, no, Your Honor.
Only mouth-wise, kissing. Only kissing. And her lips only,
that's it. And tongue. (LAUGHING)
So silly. But, never sexually,
or anything like that. No. So, why should
Mr. Phillips be so sure that you are the father
of her child, when you admit
to having this... "Lesson." And being very close
traveling together,
any man would think. Right, no,
it's understandable, but... I'm gay,
so, I can't be the father. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) Oh. Well, that would be
a material fact. GARCIA: Have you ever had
a conversation... I thought he was
a regular, you know... Friend of hers,
that was the gay friend. Now, I believe
he's a bisexual friend. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) At some point,
you two were happy. Take me back briefly,
I wanna understand. Were you happy at one time?
You had to be. At one point in our life,
I believe that we truly
were happy. And I think it was
when we first met. We were just teenagers.
Our moms were
really good friends. And occasionally
I would see Edward and I thought
he was a goofy little kid, but at the same time,
I was attracted to him, so... From that point on,
me and Edward were
pretty much inseparable. And then we ended up
just throughout
all the situations, the cheatings that
had already occurred,
I got past that. I forgave him.
I gave him another chance. Then we decided
to get married. And when I was a child,
I used to go to Maui
on my summer vacations, 'cause my stepfather
lives there. So we went there,
we had a nice
island wedding. And things were really good
for a long time.
At least I thought so. JUDGE LAKE: At some point
you realized maybe... He's a dirty nasty... That's what you are.
That's why we're here today. So, wait a minute,
but before we go there,
before we go back there... Mr. Rajotte, at one point
you loved this woman
very much. Yes, Your Honor.
That's correct. You know,
I knew from the first time
that I laid my eyes on her that she was
gonna be the person
I was gonna be with. Then why had you always
cheated on me? Because you do
the same thing. He's a liar. That's why
he's always hitting
on my family members. He what? He hits on them
all day long. Mr. Rajotte, are you
hitting on her
family members? You know, the thing
here is, Your Honor,
with this situation... What is the thing?
Please tell me. Let me know. The thing is, I've been
with the same woman
since I was... More than half my life,
since I was 15 years old. And you know,
I started getting the itch. You know,
wanted to go outside
of our relationship. Dirty, nasty,
like I said. After we had our first child,
then she started
gaining weight and I started
losing my affection
in our relationship. For real? Mr. Rajotte,
now wait a minute. (LAUGHING) As a husband,
you've got to understand. You act like you're pretty
or something. (LAUGHS) You act like you perfect
or something. Point is,
is that's your wife. You're supposed to
love her unconditionally. KING-RAJOTTE: Okay,
what about the... (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) you're admitting, Ms. Hall, that you slept with
Mr. Elliot and your ex. Yes, Your Honor. I am. Is this a yo-yo,
a seesaw type relationship? I love them both. It was hard,
one gave me great sex, the other one gave me
a great relationship (AUDIENCE MOANS) and the support
I needed for my kids. I needed it all from him,
and then, Max also couldn't
give me that. So, I had to run
to the other guy. ELLIOT: I wasn't really financially stable
at the time.
That's how I feel like she really went back to him
every time because his family
is well off. I was poor growing up,
I had to fight for
everything I had. I couldn't support
him financially,
that's how I felt like she kept going back. AMANDA: I was honest
with him from the get-go. He knew who I was
before we was even together. He knew... JUDGE LAKE: When you say
"He knew who you were." tell me, what do you
mean by that? Well, I was with him
and the other guy, he knew that (AUDIENCE HOWLING) before he even started
a relationship with me. Is that true, Mr. Elliot?
Were you aware of it? ELLIOT: Yes, I was aware
of it, but when we started
talking and everything, and after she broke up
with him, then she said she had
feelings for me. I told her I had
feelings for her. See, we started a relationship
so I thought she started
a new commitment with me. She wouldn't do what
she'd done before with him. And we would be
in a relationship together. See, I know she's like that. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Hall, wait.
Let me understand her position here. Her position is,
you knew this going in. AMANDA: Yes, he did. Now, correct me
when I'm wrong, 'cause I wanna understand. JUDGE LAKE: I love you
for this reason. I love him for
this reason. So, if you wanna be with me,
I wanna be with you, but don't be mad if I also
wanna be with him sometimes, (AUDIENCE GASPS) Is that what you pretty much
told him? Basically, but if he
wouldn't have pushed me
to do this, I wouldn't have. I gotta get to this
pushing part because what is it about the arguing
or what he's doing that's pushing you? I mean, it sounds like
it's just an excuse. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) No, it's not an excuse,
Your Honor. I can't be with a guy that's
going to argue with me. See, I can't trust her
if she's gonna go back every time to him. Well, I don't think you can! Under what... Well, maybe,
you could trust me... You would be... Give me a reason to trust you
if you'd stay with me and didn't go back then,
everything would work out. I wouldn't go back
if you wouldn't be such
an (BLEEP) to me. (AUDIENCE GASPS) Hold on now, Ms. Hall,
this is a court room, you need to use
appropriate language. I'm sorry, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Okay?
So, the point is, if Mr. Elliot truly
isn't giving you what you need
in a relationship, why not just break it off? AMANDA: It's hard,
when you love somebody. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) All right, so you say
you love him and you also love
your ex, right? Not as much as I do Max. (AUDIENCE MOANS) Okay. ELLIOT: When she had
the baby, I didn't even know
she had the baby. I wasn't even allowed
to come up there to see. I wanted to be there, I wanted, I wanted to... JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute! ELLIOT: I wanted to be
at the hospital when he was... You weren't allowed, to come up there? I'm sorry, if he
could find a ride himself, Your Honor,
he could've came up there.
That's his fault. ELLIOT: No. Wait a minute, you're saying
you weren't allowed? What do you mean by that?
Who told you
you couldn't come? Uh, her boyfriend. She let him sign
the birth certificate. I'm sorry, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE MOANS) He didn't sign no birth
certificate. There's no birth
certificate signed at all. Who was at the hospital? Uh, my ex and me. And at that time
when you were at the hospital, had you made your ex believe
this was his son? AMANDA: Yes, Your Honor,
I did. He gave me the comfort,
the love, the support,
the financial stability that I needed
for me and my kids. And so, at what point
did you then decide
that Noah was Max's son? AMANDA: I slept with
both of them in the same week. Monday, I slept with one
and then Friday I slept
with another. (AUDIENCE GASPS) About three months into the
pregnancy, she broke up... I was confused,
I didn't know who
the father was. Where are you two
in your relationship,
right now? I'd like to trust her,
I wanna be able to trust her, I want you to know,
I love you.
I really do love you with all my heart. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) I love Noah. I want him to be
in our lives. Your other girls,
they look at me like a dad. I wanna be with you,
I wanna be able to trust you. I want the arguing to stop. I'm willing to do
anything I can to
prove to you, that I do wanna be with you.
But the arguing and stuff
has to stop. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Hall,
when's the last time
you were with your ex? About a month ago. (AUDIENCE BOOING) She told me she hasn't
been with him. And I could be
pregnant again (AUDIENCE GASPS) So, I also could
be pregnant again in the same situation,
that I am in now, where both guys
could be the dad. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Miss Fisher, you say
your mother Miss Johnson raised you not knowing
which of two men is your biological father. Today you were hoping
to finally get that answer because both men
have been tested and we will meet them shortly. Now, Miss Johnson,
you argue that you've always
had doubts about
your daughter's paternity, but since both
potential fathers have
taken part in her life, you feel Miss Fisher
should just be grateful
for what she has. Yes, Your Honor. Now, Miss Fisher,
tell us why do you disagree
with your mother's position? I deserve to know
who my father is. She know who her father is.
You know who your father is,
I assume. JUDGE LAKE: I absolutely do. So I should know
who my father is. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) So, tell me a little bit
about this. I've grown up thinking that
one man was my father. But at the age of ten
I find out it could
possibly be somebody else. JUDGE LAKE:
So you grew up believing that Kalvin was your father. And that's Mr. Triplett. FISHER: Yes. JUDGE LAKE:<i>
And he'll be joining us
in a moment.</i> FISHER:<i> And then...</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i> Keep going.</i> At ten years old,
John comes around, and... And that's Mr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher. <i> He comes around
to a birthday party</i> <i> and she says,
"This is your God-dad."</i> About two weeks into that
he's coming, picking me up for little day to day outings, but I can't understand it
as a ten-year-old child. Until two months after that
she tells me that this
is my dad. AUDIENCE: Ooh. As a third grade,
over the intercom, I've learned that my name
was changed to Fisher. JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. In third grade
over the intercom? Yeah, after the
Pledge of Allegiance they congratulated me
that my name changed. And you were
sitting in your class and didn't know it was coming? Didn't know it was coming. You decided it was Mr. Fisher? Yeah. Why did you tell everyone that Mr. Triplett was
your daughter's father
for ten years? He was there. Okay?
At the time. Listen. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) I never told John
and I never told Kalvin. I never told John
and I never told Kalvin. So you're telling me
that this man is just
raising this little girl <i> but you've never told him
this is your child?</i> Exactly. What? (AUDIENCE CHUCKLES) Let me get this together.
Miss Fisher, so all this time
you're growing up and you've been told
Mr. Triplett is your father. Yes. But deep down in your heart
you always felt like Mr. Fisher was her father? Exactly. Whoa. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Ms. Prowell, now you're asking the court
to award you $475 in back
child care expenses... Yes, Your Honor. ...should one of three men be
identified as your baby's
biological father. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You say your
six-week-old baby has
three potential fathers? MECHELLE: <i> Yes, Your Honor.</i> JUDGE LAKE: Including the
defendant, Mr. Morton. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: All of these men
have been tested, <i> and we will hear
from them shortly.</i> Now, Mr. Morton, you say that
the endless list of men
Ms. Prowell has slept with has led you all here
to <i> Paternity Court.</i> You believe it will be proven
today that you are not her
baby's biological father? Yes, ma'am. What upsets you most about
this situation? So you were
sleeping with three co-workers
from the sandwich shop? MECHELLE: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: <i> You
contacted two of them
to say you were pregnant,</i> but you never
contacted him? Yes, Your Honor, but
I do not want him to
be my child's father. Well, you
can't control that,
can you? (ALL TALKING) No one is
talking
to you! I didn't know
you could pick. JUDGE LAKE: Let
me make something
clear. If you're having sex
at the back of parties,
in the bathroom, unprotected, everybody
in the sandwich shop, you're not going to know
who your child's father is. Ms. Bido,
you say you were furious when the defendant
asked you for a DNA test on your seven-month-old
daughter Iliana. Now you claim that request... Yes. ...has broken up
your happy home. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) Mr. Bolton, you state
you have reason to believe Ms. Bido's child may not be
your biological daughter. You say you are desperate
to discover the truth because you've already grown
to love her as your own. AUDIENCE: Aw. Yes, ma'am. When the baby
was born, I cut the
umbilical cord. The doctors
wiped the baby off <i> and they gave Ms. Bido
the baby at first.</i> She was still fatigued
from delivering birth. JUDGE LAKE:
Understandably. So they gave
me the baby. The doctor that
gave the procedure
to deliver the baby, he handed me the baby
and he looked at me. He said, "Are you sure
this baby's yours?" (AUDIENCE GASPING) What? And I looked at
the doctor, I looked
at the doctor... And I'm like,
"What do you mean?" He said,
"'Cause this
baby's white." I'm looking at him like,
"What do you mean,
this baby's white?" Jerome, have you
ever heard of such? But... It's a first for me. So, I had a lot
of things on my plate, but I wasn't denying her
because I had other things
on my plate. I just kept saying
I don't know because we haven't had
a DNA test. Her mother told me
I was not the father. Ms. Tucker, when does your mom
finally admit to you she believes Mr. Hunter
is your biological father? Um, I was 23, and we were in a car
with my aunt, and they have a... They're a loving relationship, but my aunt's very vocal. And I just was talking
about something that
I wanted to do, and my aunt made
the comment to my mom that she had not been
truthful to me about <i> who my dad was,
and she needed to
tell me the truth.</i> <i> And my mom looked like she...</i> She just looked like
my aunt better keep
her mouth shut. -Oh!
-[Adriana] Yeah. And so,
I'm in the back seat, and I'm looking at my mom
and I'm looking at my aunt, and I'm like,
"Mom, what is she
talking about?" And my mom was like,
"You better be quiet.
You better not..." And that's when
my aunt told me
that he was my father. -[audience exclaims]
-Yeah. Ah. So, your aunt
actually submitted a statement
to the court. -[Adriana] Mmm-hmm.
-It reads. [reading] So, Mr. Hunter,
have you ever thought
and said to yourself "What did I do to her? Why am I the person
she wouldn't tell?" And the whole town... My mother might know,
her sister might know, my family might know. How are you the only one
that don't know? Did it have something
to do with another situation
that we were in -that she was mad about?
-What situation? We here now. I mean... I can see the look
on your face right now. I know it's gotta be
something else.
What's the situation? Well, I had met
a young lady, and, uh... come to find out
it was Adrian's sister. -[audience exclaims]
-And I thought-- Oh! So, you slept
with her sister? Did you know this? Your Honor, um, this has
nothing to do with my sister. When I came back
to North Carolina,
Adrian wouldn't speak to me, she wouldn't talk to me.
She had nothing to do with me. That was the reason why I felt
she wouldn't talk to me. Got it. See, this is it. Whoo! Thank you, Lord,
for patience. -That's it.
-And then after all this, you find out you pregnant? Not exactly that way.
He took me to Vegas for my birthday. And on that trip
is when we had sex again, unprotected and I know... for a fact that I conceived
October 20th, that's my birthday. -So--
-In Vegas? -Mmm-hmm.
-On October 20th. -Mmm-hmm.
-But I have proof that, October 15th, a friend of mine,
Mr. Stevenson, seen her at a bar
talking to somebody else -and I have
his statement right here.
-What? Let me see
that evidence, Jerome. -Absolutely, Your Honor.
-This statement says... [reading] [audience exclaiming] [Judge Lake continues reading] And that's the statement
from your friend. Yes, Your Honor. And that date was what? October 15th,
and I believe that could've been
the conception date. [audience exclaiming] [Sanchez] It looks bad. It looks bad,
I get that. I understand that. Ms. Wilson. You're in the middle
of a paternity triangle, caught between
two men you slept with. Cousins, who grew up as brothers, <i> two men who believe
they fathered</i> your ten-month-old
son, Arrow. -[Judge Lake] Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. [Judge Lake] Mr. Nicola. You've always believed
Arrow is your biological son and you are here
to prove that today because your whole family has come to
love him as yours. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. [Judge Lake] Mr. Eddy. You admit to sleeping
with your cousin's fiance. [audience exclaiming] [Judge Lake] You
and your aunt contend you are Arrow's father and plan to prove it today. -Is that correct?
-Yes, Your Honor. And for the record, these two young men
are first cousins. -Yes, Your Honor.
-[audience exclaiming] [Judge Lake] And their mothers are identical twins. [Wilson] Yes, Your Honor. So, I'm not sure
how much looks is going to play
in this equation. So, Ms. Wilson,
I want to ask you, how do we end up
in a paternity dispute involving two cousins? I messed up.
I made a mistake. I'm here today
to figure it out. I don't want the family feud
going on anymore. And me exactly
in the middle of it, my child in
the middle of it. One night there was
a family get-together. There was alcohol involved. Cordell had been tired
from work that day. He had work
the next day. And he didn't
want to drink. We had all
gotten hot inside. Nathan and I
went outside. Um, I became
very intoxicated and he kind of
like took care of me. And before it ended up, we were on a hay bale
and we had sex. [audience exclaiming] Wow. Um, Mr. Eddy, what is your recollection
of this night? I mean, I wish it
wouldn't have happened, because, you know,
he's my cousin. Um, she told me
that I was really cute, and she kissed me and... And then we started
walking toward
the hay bale, and it just
went from there. So, you had sex
on this hay bale... -[audience exclaiming]
-[Eddy] Yes, Your Honor. ...outside of the house where your cousin
was in there
sleeping after work. [Eddy] Yes, Your Honor. [audience] Ooh... How many times did you
have sex that night? Uh, twice,
Your Honor. [audience exclaiming] So, is it safe
to assume that it was unsafe sex? -Yes, Your Honor.
-So, no protection. What happens when you
wake up the next day? [Eddy] He went to work and, uh, we just
kept it secret until... So, Mr. Nicola, they
admittedly kept it a secret. What was
your recollection
of that night? [Nicola] I came
home from work, I dozed off
on the couch,
woke up, they were
all outside, it was like two,
three o'clock
in the morning. I went out and told 'em
it's time to come in 'cause it was getting late. And I came in and put
everybody to bed. Being responsible. Because I had
to get up early
the next day. And I went and slept
on the couch again, got up for work
the next day. And you had no idea
that your cousin had had sex
with your girlfriend out on the hay bale... [audience laughing] ...before you
put them to bed. [Nicola] No, Your Honor.
He is my cousin. And I trusted her. And it happened twice. It happened that night
after Cordell
had put us to bed. Oh, after he
put you to bed
you had sex again? -Yeah.
-Yes, Your Honor. [audience exclaiming] [Judge Lake] Wow.
