Ms. Cook, you confess
you had sexual relations with your husband,
Mr. Edmond, and then cheated
with another man. Yes, Your Honor. All within a
three-day period. (AUDIENCE GROANING) Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE:
Now you say you're unsure
which of the two <i>fathered your daughter.</i> MEGHAN:<i> Yes, ma'am.</i> Now, Mr. Edmond,
you say your wife has a
history of infidelity, and since there is now
only a 50-50 chance that you are
the biological father
of your daughter, your entire family
has turned against her. Yes, Your Honor. So, now, Ms. Cook, do you believe
your husband and his family
have a right to be
this outraged? Your Honor,
I would like
to start by saying that we have
been married (SIGHING) for five months. We, um, are raising
a five-month-old
daughter named Marleigh. She is the best
baby in the world, <i> but around the time
of my conception</i> <i> we definitely had
some turbulence.</i> And when I say turbulence,
I mean cheating. Me first, then him,
then me again. It's nothing
to be proud of but that's what
reality is and that's what
we're here today to determine the
paternity of Marleigh. JUDGE LAKE: All right. So that was a nice, glossy
gift of information
you gave me. Now I want to get
to the nitty-gritty. Okay. What happened? So, you're in
your relationship,
things are going well. Okay. Well, things
are going okay as far
as I'm concerned. But Facebook has
a whole another
story to tell. All right.
So what happens? Some stuff pops up,
makes me feel
very uncomfortable and makes my
trust for him go down quite a lot. What pops up? MEGHAN: A message
from another girl. This girl has popped up
multiple times. Okay. So you suspected
him of cheating. Basically she
informs me that he has been
writing her and that it's
an ongoing thing and, you know,
even using my phone
to do it while he's in the
same room as me. So, I was just outraged. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) Then you do what? I cheated on him with a very close
friend of his. (AUDIENCE GASPING) Well, okay. Supposedly a
good friend. My best friend. Suppose... My best friend. Supposedly his
best friend. But the friend
in question had a lot of negative
to say about Jared. And was basically
in my ear, telling me all these
awful things about... "Jared doesn't love me. "Jared wouldn't care
if he was with me." He, um,
didn't understand why I was with him. JARED: You were
supposed to be my girl. You were supposed
to be my girl and he was supposed
to be me friend. And you were supposed
to be my man. Okay. So, either way... Either way
you were wrong. Okay. Either way
you were wrong. JUDGE LAKE: So, you're starting
to talk to his friend. His friend is feeding
you information, MEGHAN: Yes. making you feel like
you shouldn't be with him. MEGHAN: Yes. And a long story short, we ended up, um,
hooking up together. It's nothing
to be proud of
but it did happen. We were... "Hooking up," means... Me and his best
friend had sex. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. It wasn't even like
sex like in a room
or in a hotel. It was like...
It was outside. (AUDIENCE GASPING) At a church. What? And somebody else
was there that I know and that's how
I found out. MEGHAN: And... JARED: He watched it,
Your Honor. MEGHAN: Yeah. Well, it's weird. JARED: Your Honor... Because the other person
was actually pretending
to be asleep and secretly looking
over his shoulder. And, um,
about a month after this incident happened, randomly the other person
decided to tell him. After that,
she cheated on me
again with another guy. After he cheated on me. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) Around the same time
that she conceived. Cheated on me with
someone very close. Okay, so during the time of conception, when your daughter
Marleigh was conceived, <i> who were you
sleeping with?</i> <i> Um, I was
with my husband...</i> At the time were
boyfriend-girlfriend. Um, we were together
basically every day. We did not use protection. <i> And the other...</i> The... The second guy,
which is embarrassing
to admit, but we did not
use a condom. The bottom line is,
within the window
of conception, you slept with
more than one man and the sex
was unprotected. Oh, yeah. Yes. JUDGE LAKE:
All right. So now you
realize that, MEGHAN: It could be... the other guy
you slept with... It could potentially
be him as well. Yes, ma'am. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE:
And once she
tells you this, she gets this guy
on the phone. You get this guy
on the phone? Um, I called him
and I said, "I have some news. "It's really
not good news "but, um, you know, "I was wrong about
my conceptions date. "You are a
possibility now. "And just
for the record, "I love Jay
and we are going
to be together "and he will love
this baby regardless." Which he also
vouched for. He took the phone.
He called, uh... He talked to
the other man
and he said, "Even if you're
the biological dad, "I'm still the one
making sandwiches. "I'm still the one
doing her hair, <i> "and you can come
on the weekends."</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i>
This all sounds great.</i> <i> Matter of fact,</i> you both tell the story
almost like it's
a nursery rhyme. Or a fairy tale. And then this happened.
And this happened. When in actuality,
this is a nightmare. It is, honestly. JUDGE LAKE:
This is a nightmare. All this smirking
and smiling and just telling the story
like in a minute you're about to break out
into a cheer or something. You slept with
two different men during the window
of conception, which leads to
the fact that,
this baby Marleigh, beautiful baby, He... doesn't know who
her father really is. Her biological father. You don't know
and you don't know. I don't. It's just ridiculous! But in this court
it's about the child and you all better
take it seriously. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) In the case of<i>
Cook v. Edmond,</i> as it pertains
to five-month-old
Marleigh Edmond, Mr. Edmond, you are her father. (LAUGHS) (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) (MAN WHOOPING) I... I'm happy
about that.
I'm like... I love my wife.
I love the baby. Good. JARED:
I love my sister. I just don't want
people fighting,
you know. I hope... I hope this
brings people
that much cordial or to get that
much closer to be in the same
room at least. I want my family
to get to know her. What's one person
without their
whole family? Don't nobody
care about you
like your family. And Ms. Cook,
how do you feel? MEGHAN: I feel great. And he's the
best dad in
the world. And she is very lucky
to have him as a dad and I'm very
lucky to have him
as a husband. JUDGE LAKE:
I'm happy for you. Now, I don't want to take
away from this moment. MEGHAN: Okay. But I have
to caution you, MEGHAN: Right. because I don't want
this to happen again. MEGHAN: Right. You guys have
a relationship. You have a marriage.
You have a baby. If you have
misunderstandings,
miscommunications, you have to figure out
how to work them out. Okay. Mr. Clark, you have petitioned
for a paternity test... Yes, Your Honor. ...for your
four-year-old daughter,
Jay Leona. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You question
whether you are her biological father because of
her mother's sexually
promiscuous lifestyle. Yes, that's true. You say that her job
as an exotic dancer... CLARK: Stripper. ...has torn
your relationship apart, and if the results today
prove the child is yours you are planning to
seek sole custody. Yes, I am. JUDGE LAKE: Now, Miss Propst,
you admit to cheating on
Mr. Clark... Yes. ...but state your job does not
make you a bad mother. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You admit that
you are unsure who Jay Leona's father is because you had
an affair around the time
of conception. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Now you say
you're hoping today's results will somehow put
your fractured family
back together. That's correct. So, Mr. Clark, what is the hardest part about
the possibility you may not be
Jay Leona's father? Well, Your Honor, I honestly
and truly believe, for the last four years
of my life, I've been
living a complete lie. You're not living a lie. CLARK: Yes, I am. I don't believe she has a clue
or idea who the father's
name is. JUDGE LAKE: So take me back
a little bit. How did this relationship
get to this point? You're together
and you're happy. Well this is how it happened.
I was in Job Corps. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. I was working to get my CNA,
nursing license. Okay. CLARK: I met her at a party. CLARK: She's a very fun,
you know, loving girl at that
particular time. Took it easy, fell back.
I went to school. Now, I came back for
a New Year's party, that was the first time
we had sex. CLARK: That was three months
prior to when we had sex,
everything was cool. Throughout this course
and this time, she became
a totally different person. So, when you met her
she was one way. Yes, and afterwards
she was something else. She was just a complete liar,
that's how I see it. How was I a liar? That's why we're here today.
She's already admitted
to cheating, she knows this. That's not being a liar.
I admitted to cheating... CLARK: Cheating is lying... ...which means you asked
and I admitted it. ...and lying is cheating. That's not being a liar. It's the same thing. I don't even have to look
at you to say that. All right, so, Miss Propst,
let me ask you. Now, you admit you were
in a relationship
with Mr. Clark, but then, at some point,
you cheated. CLARK: And lied. Yes, Your Honor.
I did not lie. You cheat and you lie,
it's the same thing. Yes, Your Honor.
Basically how this happened, you know, I had went
to a party with a friend
that I was working with at the time, and I had seen
this guy that I like. He got my number
and I slept with him
that same night and I found out I was pregnant. And this was, admittedly,
around the time
of conception. Yes, Honor, I have a calendar.
Can I show you? I have submitted it
to the court. Around Labor Day weekend
I slept with this guy,
and Anthony. So, right there on the first
is where I slept with
the other guy. JUDGE LAKE: Okay, so,
on September first,
indicated in green, you slept with the other guy
at the party. Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: In yellow
are the dates that you slept
with Anthony. Yes, ma'am. They told me my
conception date was
around that time. So, Jay Leona was born
in June. PROPST: Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: So, as we
count back, that first week
in September would be the week of conception... PROPST: Yes. ...during which time
you slept with both guys? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: We've established
that the paternity
is at issue. Now, Miss Propst,
is exotic dancing just
the career of your choice? Stripper. I'm an exotic dancer. No, Your Honor.
I had a rough childhood. Me and my family never
got along. My father was
never around. I just want for my daughter
to have the father that I
never had. I had to do what I have to do
to provide for me
and my children. The money's going
to be spent the same way. JUDGE LAKE: Wait, now how many
children do you have together? BOTH: Two. JUDGE LAKE: So he's
already helping to support and take care of
your other child? CLARK: Yes. Until recently, what you have
to understand is that whenever
I was... From the beginning, you know,
when I was doing this, I did
lie to him about dancing. I told him I was going
to be stripping and I had
to do what I had to do, like I said, to make a better
way for me and my kids
because, at the time, he was not helping me pay any
bills. He was not helping me
with anything in my apartment. He had so much to say
about it but did not have
a problem helping me spend I did not want to ruin
the relationship that we had. But whenever he asked,
like you know, "Your stomach
is getting bigger, "do you have something
that you want to tell me?" I told him, "I'm pregnant
and there's a possibility you
might not even be the father." So I told him. He knew that
when our child was born that he may not be
the father of our child. Should have told me
from the beginning. It's not like she's one
or three and I'm dropping
this bomb that you may
not be the father. He knew.
He wasn't even there to sign
the birth certificate. He was not even with her until
she was, like, six months old. So, Mr. Clark, you have known
this from birth. You've been
aware that, potentially, Jay Leona may not
be your child. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And yet you still
went ahead and established this beautiful relationship
with her. Yes, I have. I think that's wonderful. CLARK: Thank you. I think that's admirable.
Tell me a little about
your relationship. You obviously love this woman. Yes, I do.
I love my child more. And, if I get these results
today and the child is mine,
I want sole custody. Your Honor, he took my kids
away, we've basically... I didn't take your kids away. ...not been together
for two months,
and the agreement was, "I'm gonna take them till...
I want you to find
a better job because "I feel like you're making
a bad example for our kids." Have you been looking
for a better job? And since he's been gone, I've enrolled in school to go
to dental assistant school, so
I start school in two weeks. I just want to save
our relationship In the case of<i>
Clark versus Propst,</i> Mr. Clark, when it comes to
four-year-old Jay Leona, you are not her father. PROPST: I'm sorry. Don't come over here. I'm sorry, but you already
knew before we came that you might
not be her father. It doesn't matter. I'm going to continue
providing for my child. She will always be
my daughter, you know,
through thick and thin, no matter what the results. If I wasn't her father,
obviously we all know,
she doesn't have one. She doesn't have one.
Without me she doesn't
have one. I will not allow some guy from
the club, or some guy from
the street, you know, to pick up where I left off,
'cause nobody can do that. So I'm gonna remain being
the father I need to be. Mr. Clark, not only is that
commendable, that's what real men do. I've listened to many cases
before this court and sometimes there's a pause
before a man steps up and says, "I'm still going
to step in and be her father." But with you there was
no pause. And I have to acknowledge that
because it speaks to the love
you have for her. I have deep love for her.
Well, that's my baby. And now I have to
keep it real with you. That apology you gave,
you're gonna have to do
better than that. You've been married
to the defendant for
less than a year. Due to your husband's
trust issues, you're worried you won't
make it to your
one-year anniversary if you don't prove he is
the biological father <i> of your son, Jacob Hatfill.</i> <i> Is that correct?</i> CASEY:<i> Yes, Your Honor.</i> JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hatfill. You say, sleeping
with the babysitter landed you in a marriage
with someone you don't trust. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Hatfill, did you have
a good relationship
before the marriage? HATFILL: Yeah. Did you have
trust issues then? HATFILL:<i> Right about the time
that we were finding out</i> <i> that she was pregnant.</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i>
That's supposed to be
a happy time. What happened?</i> She hadn't told me she'd quit
taking her birth control
or anything yet. We were talking about
planning for the future... JUDGE LAKE: Okay. And of possible children
in the future, not immediately at that moment. So you have trust issues. HATFILL: Yes. But at one time,
this relationship was a happy one. CASEY: Yes. Yes, Your Honor. Mrs. Casey... Take me back to that time. I had started babysitting
for his family. I saw him, you know,
thinking he was a cute guy. And we started chit-chatting. And he had said they
had told me the rules. It was, you know, no running
in and out of the house 'cause it was hot that day.
The air conditioner was on. Make sure the kids
don't go in and out
of the house, and no sleeping with
the babysitter on duty. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Really? I thought it was
love at first sight. JUDGE LAKE: And so you
instantly fell for him? Yes. I've been the side lady and now I'm the main one.
We're married. And I want this to be
a happily-ever-after
with my little family. And so, Mr. Hatfill, you slept with
the babysitter. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Broke the rules. But it was after hours.
It wasn't during the time she'd been babysitting
or anything like that. JUDGE LAKE: It wasn't? HATFILL: No. And me and Andrea proceeded
to talk from that moment on. So you started dating. Yes. How did you get to a place
where you thought she actually
had slept with someone and Jacob may not be
your biological son? By coming across
text messages in her phone. JUDGE LAKE: Oh... (AUDIENCE GROANS) I have... JUDGE LAKE:
You've brought some to court? Brought some to court. Jerome, may I see
that evidence, please? JUDGE LAKE: Thank you. JEROME: You're welcome. They would be to Ms. Casey
from somebody she was with
prior to me. And so these
text messages read... (JUDGE LAKE READING) They're all questions,
with no... Responses. At the time,
she's your wife? Before. And right before
she got pregnant. This was right after
she was pregnant. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) JUDGE LAKE: Okay. What it
signaled to you was, if this was going on
right after she got pregnant, was it going on right before. Exactly. Ms. Casey, you remember
these text messages? You recognize them? Sort of, kinda, yes. So, who could it be,
sort of kind of? This guy had messaged me,
asked me to be his mistress whenever he got married. I had told him flat out, "No." When did that start? It had happened
after we had gotten pregnant. He was messaging me
asking me to hook up. I kept telling him, "No." I kept telling Mr. Hatfill
about these messages. Was she honest, Mr. Hatfill,
about the fact that this ex was reaching out, asking her
to be his mistress? After it was brought up to me,
yes, she was honest. But I still felt like
there was a missing side
of the conversation. JUDGE LAKE: And this was
a guy she was intimate with
in the past. Am I correct? HATFILL: Yes. When he sent
these text messages, you did not respond. Correct. And so, Mr. Hatfill,
do you believe she did not respond? HATFILL: No. I was currently staying
at her parents' house and I was sitting
in the garage with one of
her family members when the guy in question had come in the back door
and knocked on
our bedroom door. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) Mrs. Casey, did you
have revenge sex
with this man to get back at him
because you thought
he was having sex with his ex? No. I have never once
cheated on him
in the three years. So why is it when we saw
those text messages we don't see a text that comes
after that, that goes, "Stop texting me.
I'm married"? Because he had
blocked me on Facebook. I had blocked him.
He blocked me. JUDGE LAKE:
How are you gonna
block somebody and you're waiting
for them to respond to see if you can come over
and have sex with them? That doesn't make good sense. Because his girlfriend
had found the messages. So she was looking at him and then at that point,
he realized it and blocked it. Yes. This is so messy. You're saying Jacob
doesn't look like you. HATFILL: No, he don't. CASEY: He does. I'm fair-skinned. It doesn't
have to be the dad's... He doesn't have to be.
Like, if you want to... JUDGE LAKE: What color of hair
does this other guy have since you say it doesn't look like you? CASEY: Brown hair. When he was younger,
it was sandy
strawberry blond. Now it's a little bit
more brown during more time
he spends in the sun. Now, my father and me share
dark hair, dark complexion all the way through. I've passed those genes
down on into my oldest son and he looks exactly like me,
exactly like my father. Mr. Hatfill, you said
there's also medical reasons
why you believe you're not Jacob's
biological father. Jacob has one kidney. He's had to have surgery,
he has to see a urologist every six months
to once a year now. <i> I've been there every step
of the way, from birth
to now with the boy...</i> And I can see that makes
you emotional, when you
talk about him. I just want to be able
to take care of him
the best as possible and get everything between
me and her better, because to take care of him
and his brother
the best that we can, we cannot have this
back-and-forth. It's bad for the kids,
it teaches them bad habits. It gets them yelling
and screaming at people and then they feel
the tension, and they
don't want to mind or listen. We got to get this
under wraps now, before it gets any further
out of control or we're gonna have to
step back from each other. I just wanna know what we
need to know, for Jacob. And I know it hurts you,
I can see that. And so, if a child is
born with one kidney, could this defect
be considered hereditary and if yes,
what's the likelihood
that it's inherited? Okay. When we talk about
having one kidney
or renal agenesis, it is what we call
"multi-factorial," meaning,
it is multiple reasons. So we're not exactly sure why. It can be environmental. Is mom on a medication,
has she been exposed
to some toxins? Lifestyle, obesity,
drug use, alcohol use. Or very rarely,
is it genetic? And that's if there's
a mutation. So even if it is genetic, dad
could simply be, or mom, could simply be a carrier. Meaning, they could have
both kidneys,
but just carry the gene. And here, I believe
Mr. Hatfill testified that Jacob does not have
any such mutation. Is that correct? Correct. And so given that fact,
how does this relate
to the possibility that this could
affect his doubt concerning his paternity? The genetics of it
is minimal. In the case of<i>
Casey v. Hatfill,</i> when it comes to
one-year-old
Jacob Hatfill, it has been determined
by this court... Mr. Hatfill, you... Are the father. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I'm sorry. Actually, I'm relieved,
to tell you the truth. You know, you all know
I don't know
these results, okay? I was like, "Lord, come on." HATFILL:
You? It's my birthday. JUDGE LAKE: It is? Well, what a blessing. Really, truly. What a blessing.
And I can see
it meant something to you. I could almost feel
your breath stop
as I was reading the results, and then when I read it,
I could hear
that sigh of relief. And it's a beautiful thing
to get the truth. And I'm happy for you both. Because at the end of the day, the genesis of this
was something beautiful. And then we let trust issues
affect the foundation
of this family. And ultimately, it affected
the way in which we view this beautiful,
innocent child. <i> And I can see
that affects you.</i> <i> Because you knew
it was affecting.</i> Mmm-hmm. And just as you so
eloquently stated, everything that goes on
in that house, they understand,
they can feel the intention
behind the words. So I'm so happy
we got this truth today, Court is adjourned. (APPLAUSE)
