You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Short v. Johnson.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. ALL: Good day. Ms. Short, you
and your mother opened
your case today because your first love,
the defendant, denies he fathered your
21-month-old son, Jabari. You are a single,
teenage mother who needs help,
and you demand Mr. Johnson step up
and be a father.
Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Johnson. You are in court
with your mother
and say you might have been
the plaintiff's first love, but you weren't
the only one. You refuse to do anything
for her son until
the DNA results prove you are his biological
father, is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Short, you say
you need help. Yes. Explain. Yes, because he's
the father of my son. And my son, as a boy,
needs a father figure. And I need extra help,
like while I'm in school. (CRYING) We got to do this
for Jabari, stop. SYLVIA:
She just needs to know,
is he the father, so he could step up
and do the right thing,
hopefully. You know,
we can't make him but we need to know
because I did... I did stop him
from coming over because I didn't
want no feelings
to get involved. Like, them get attached
if he wasn't the father, because she did tell them it's a possibility
he may not be the father. JUDGE LAKE:<i>
Jabari is almost
two years old.</i> How did you meet? Well, it was on Facebook, and we used to text. He was my first kiss,
first everything. Okay, so after you met,
you all started having sex,
and at some point you find out
you're pregnant. Yes. Me and Mr. Johnson
had sex, April 23rd. I see him on Facebook with another female. And he was like,
"I don't want you,
I want her." He was talking about
the other female. And I was like,
"He just left.
He just left me." After that happened,
it was May 3rd. I went out eating
with some friends. Okay. And at night, I had
met the other boy. And this is not
my first time meeting him but it's the first time
we ever had sex. SYLVIA: Mm-hmm. So, I'm like, "Well... "Mr. Johnson don't care
about me. Why not?" Okay, so, did you
confront that other guy? I sure did. Did you say, "I'm pregnant
and you're the father"? I said, "A possibility." She really believed
in her heart,
it's Mr. Johnson. JUDGE LAKE:
All right, and she... SYLVIA: I'm hoping it's not. Mr. Johnson, at what point
did you realize Ms. Short was
even pregnant? See, Your Honor,
I was away. I found out she was
pregnant six months
into her pregnancy. Okay. And were you
informed that you were
the biological father? Yes, ma'am.
She told my mom
that she was pregnant and I could be the father.
So, at the time I'm thinking
that the baby's mine. But at the end of the day
when I come home
from being away, I got her friends coming
to me, talking to me
about the other dude. So, you know how
that making me feel, I was there
to see the baby. I was doing the hair
of the baby. I was there, when she
called me and asked for help
I was there to help her. I was there. Her own mother
was not in
the hospital room when she had her baby. I sure wasn't
'cause I wasn't happy
about the situation. Well, it don't matter... It does matter. You're just full of it. You're full of it,
honey. Okay, okay, to the moms,
hold on. Let this young man talk. SYLVIA:
I hope he's not the daddy. Go ahead, Mr. Johnson. But when I found out
about the baby, and I talked to
Ms. Short on the phone,
I told her if he was mine,
I was gonna be
there for her. I was gonna help her
with the baby. But when I got out
and her friends started
telling me that, that's when I started
having my doubts. All right. Did you know
your friend, Ms. Short, was telling Mr. Johnson
that he may not be
the child's father? Your Honor,
it was an ex-friend. I thought she was
my friend. I was like,
it was a possibility, so I was scared
to let the mom know. She was like, "You need
to let them know, "so there won't be
any confusions when
the baby gets here." After that, I called her
and I said <i> "It's a possibility
that Mr. Johnson</i> <i> "can be the father
of my son."</i> She said, "If you need
any help with anything,
please let me know." I didn't expect that
because I'd said
"possibility" already. JUDGE LAKE: Was that
Mr. Johnson's mother
you were speaking to? Yes, Your Honor. Okay, so you were
speaking to Ms. Mabry. SYLVIA:
Uh, Your Honor, she then came to
the baby shower, bought
the baby one box of Pampers, he bought the baby
a small pack of Pampers. It had been a struggle,
let me tell you. I've been raising him.
I've been doing
the best I can. It's very, very expensive. I guess he has
babies for trophies. He don't pay child support
for none of his kids. And I didn't go... None of em. So this has been
very difficult on you to have to raise the child without any financial
support from the father. It was a point in time
where her mama would
get into our arguments and tell me
not to come back
to the house. None of that, if I come over
she's gonna call the police. That's why I stayed distant. I never said that to you
about calling the police. But it was worse
being said about... He has another family member
that wasn't even around
when this happened but he knows
about everything. How does he
know about everything
when all the... Well, the truth is,
is somebody knew
about the other guy, and he really does exist,
and so they just told him truthfully,
what he needed
to know, which was, "Before you go
and start stepping up "and taking care
of this baby, "there is a possibility that
another man could be
the biological father as well." He was merely informed
about what was true. And there is another
possibility, and there is
a question of paternity which is why
you are here. All right, I want to hear
from you, Ms. Mabry. Because, you remember
having this conversation
with Ms. Short? Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: You did. And you said to her,
"If you need anything,
just let me know." Yes, and it also went
further into a blood test. They wanted me
to do a blood test because this other dude
saying he wanted to know
if Demarzyea was the father, if Demarzyea's not
the father, that makes
him be the father. I'm not gonna
go through all that. And another thing
about the baby, <i> when we try to get
the baby, she have to
come and sit with us.</i> We can't get the baby,
and she's talking about flexing
and fronting and all of this... We was trying to
be involved with
this baby even though we know
it was a possibility that it's not
my son's baby. And I could back her up
on that. There was times that
I tried to come see the baby but her mother
wouldn't let me
come to the house. He's still trying
to do things
for the baby. Her mother
wouldn't let me
come to the house. You'd always have
someone with you
when you'd come. Your homeboys,
you could never
come by yourself. JUDGE LAKE:
So hold on, ladies. Ladies, before we go there
and all that, this is the issue
I'm having at this point. I need to establish
a connection. I need to establish
a reason why Ms. Short, you decided that Mr. Johnson <i> is the biological father
of your child when you said</i> <i> you also had slept
with another person
as well.</i> I'm going by the dates. My due date
was January 14th. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. I had him
on January 8th. I had sex with Mr. Johnson,
April 23rd. And May 3rd
is just too close. JUDGE LAKE: So Ms. Short,
the bottom line is, is the other person
that was a possibility... You reached out
to them as well to say that it is
a possibility that he could
be the biological father. You also know that
Mr. Johnson is a very
real possibility because of the
close proximity of the time you had
sex with Mr. Johnson and the time you
had sex with the
other guy, right? Yes, Your Honor. All right. So when the baby
was born, <i> Mr. Johnson,
were you there?</i> JOHNSON:<i> Yes, Your Honor.</i> <i> Did you sign
the birth certificate?</i> JOHNSON:<i>
No, Your Honor,
I went to,</i> <i> but I didn't have my ID
at the time to sign
a birth certificate.</i> And he wasn't gonna
sign nothing until
we found out the truth. SHORT: But I felt
like they came back when I had him,
to see, did he look
like Mr. Johnson. (VOICE BREAKING)
I don't want
to go through this. It's okay, baby. Shh.
It's okay, baby. It's okay, we're
gonna find out
the truth today. JOHNSON: Well,
Your Honor... All I want to say is,
I just wanted
to know the truth for if he is mine,
I will be there
for him. And I just
don't want to be
in the midst of "This is that, that's that,"
I don't want to be
in the midst... I just want
to know the truth. That's all
I want to know. JUDGE LAKE:<i>
So he's almost two now.
Who's been his father?</i> SHORT:<i> My mom,
my dad, my sister.</i> And... My family.
It's just been
my family. I'd like to
see your evidence. Hand it to me,
please, Jerome. So this is
a communication between you
and Mr. Johnson. Am I correct? SHORT:
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE:<i>
And this is something
he wrote to you?</i> SHORT:<i>
Yes, Your Honor.</i> <i> He writes...</i> (JUDGE LAKE READING) So he wrote that letter and promised you
in that moment that he was gonna be
a good father
to his child. And believed, it seems,
that it was his child. Do you remember
writing that,
Mr. Johnson? I remember
writing that letter, but at the time
I thought that
Jabari was mine. Me, growing up
20 years, I never
had a father. If he's mine,
I'm going to be there. Blink, end of
that discussion. JUDGE LAKE: So when you
wrote that letter,
you had no idea the other guy existed? I didn't know
nothing about it. It wasn't until
you got back home and then people told you
there is another guy, and then once you
confronted her about it she admitted that,
yes, there was. Yes. And there is another
possibility, and there is
a question of paternity which is why
you're here. And what is troubling me
in this moment, I have done my best
to be patient. I have been frustrated, I have been trying
to be compassionate because you all
are young people, and now you've
gotten yourself into this whole big drama with adult situations
and adult problems. You can't even string
two good sentences together
in this courtroom about the situation, much less be prepared to take care
of a living child, <i> this beautiful little boy,
almost two years old.</i> <i> And this is babies
having babies,</i> and this has got to stop. (APPLAUSE) Now... Mr. Johnson, you say
you got more than
one child. How many children
do you have? I have four...
With Jabari,
I have five in all. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) JUDGE LAKE: So you got
four other children... Yes, ma'am. ...and Jabari would
make five? Yes, ma'am. And you're
20 years old? Yes, ma'am. That is not his kid,
Your Honor.
They're not his. They're not his. I wish they can do
blood tests too,
but they don't want to. JUDGE LAKE: You're saying
that some of the other ones
you feel like are not his? Yes, ma'am. But the fact that
he is in the running for the position
as father... And I don't mean it...
It is not a joke,
I mean it. (APPLAUSE) The fact that you are
in the running to be the father means that you admittedly
slept with these women
without protection because if you
used protection you would know,
"That's not me." Hmm. JUDGE LAKE: Right. And so that goes
back to my point of, you all are young people.
Potentially five children
at 20 years old, that's unacceptable. You all aren't dating
anymore, are you?9 No, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) It's a lesson learned. It's a lesson learned. That's what
I'm talking about. You make mistakes in life. But I will tell you this,
this can be the last time
you make this mistake if you make that decision. Raising a child
ain't no joke.
I had a child at 41. Some days it takes me
to my knees. I don't know
what I'm gonna do. SYLVIA: Yes. And I got one. 'Cause some days
it's just that hard. And you're responsible
for another human being
in this world. They're looking at you. Everything revolves
around you. You don't just change
your own life, you change the life
of your family,
your family's lives, the child's life. Everybody has to chip in,
everybody has to be
responsible. Your mother's just here.
Mr. Johnson's saying... She doesn't even know
for certain if the
other children are truly
her grandchildren. She doesn't know
for certain. And I'mma really,
really drop a dime here. Matter of fact,
I'mma drop a dollar. And I want you
to pick this up. Our people, historically,
were used to be
baby factories. A man like you, a tall, young, handsome
black man like yourself would be on a plantation,
making babies, right? JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am. You are no longer... (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) ...supposed to be
a baby-producing machine. Do you understand? JOHNSON:
Yes, Your Honor. You have a future. You have a calling
in this life. And it's more than
just being a father to a whole bunch of kids
you can't take care of. Do you hear me? Yes, Your Honor. And Ms. Short, you can't say nothing
and you just burst out
in tears. You're so overwhelmed,
I don't know what to do. I don't know whether
to put you on punishment,
or hug you. I don't know
what to do with it. (APPLAUSE) Yeah. But when you don't have
purpose in your life, and when you don't understand
that there's more to do
in this life than lay down
with boys and
make babies, that you can go to college
and you can make
something of yourself, and you can have a job
and you can run
a corporation and you can be the President
of the United States... Then you don't
sit around... And not even
sit around, lay around with young men
who are busy
with multiple women because you're
better than that. But we here now <i> and Jabari is here.
Now I wanna
get these results.</i> Jerome, give me
the envelope. (JEROME CHUCKLES) (APPLAUSE) These results
were prepared by
DNA Diagnostics and they read
as follows... In the case of <i> Short v. Johnson,</i> when it comes
to 21-month-old <i> Jabari Short...</i> JUDGE LAKE:
It has been determined
by this court, Mr. Johnson... You are the father. (APPLAUSE) Like I said... I'll be there for him. JUDGE LAKE: Good. I'm glad you will. This is all I wanted,
you know, to get all the
extra stuff outta the way. It shouldn't have
took this. JUDGE LAKE: You had to. But no, no, Ms. Short, this happens in life. It should not
have taken this. But it did. SYLVIA:
Yes, Your Honor. And we're here now. Yes, Your Honor. And now you
at least have the answer. Yes. So now we've got
to figure out
how to get you two on the right path
to be able to raise
this child together. So let's get real. You all are gonna
have to work out,
together, when and how
you all will see the baby, <i> when Mr. Johnson
and his family will be
able to see the baby.</i> And you can do this
in your living room or you can do this
through the courtroom.
It's up to you. Because if not, the court
will order him to pay support, and they will also set
guidelines with which
he can see the child. And the best example
you can set for
Jabari in this moment is to go after your dreams. But there's more
to being a father than just running around
and taking pictures
for Facebook. Hello, hello. JUDGE LAKE: I'm just telling. JOHNSON: I don't even
get on Facebook. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) But you know
my point. Yes. It's more than just
pictures and this
and sneakers. It is food, it is care,
it is time, it is setting
the example, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Moms, y'all gonna
have to get in there. SYLVIA: Yes, no problem. JUDGE LAKE: Get in
there and help 'em. I've been in there. I have been in there. I've been there, too. And you all are gonna have
to stop that little bickering
and all that nonsense. I have no problem
with nobody. JUDGE LAKE: Good, good. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) JUDGE LAKE: Because, Jabari needs
his whole village,
all right? SYLVIA: Mm-hmm. Take care of yourselves.
Court is adjourned. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
