JUDGE LAKE:
You are in court. In Michigan. Dealing with
a child support order? Yes. Only to be told by the judge... He lying. ...that there were
other potential fathers? And when he reads the names,
one of them is your cousin? He's lying. In the state of
Michigan, they don't even... He said those names ...put that on the papers. When he said my cousin's name
I said "Whoa." They didn't even
know the names. But you're the one
that's on child-support. They don't even do that
in Michigan. That's a lie. 'Cause when I came down there, when I came down there,
Your Honor... Whole lie. ...and they talked
to Ms. Brown about what all
she had come there previously and done. I guess, whatever
paperwork she had put in,
which is how they found me. I don't know what she did. He said those names, and that's when
my cousin's name... No, they don't have that. ...came out of
that judge's mouth. You're lying. He's lying. And so Ms. Brown, had you ever listed
other names for the court, besides Mr. Washington's? No. I just put him. That's a lie, Your Honor. And the court... So, how did Mr. Washington
hear these other names? He didn't hear no names. Once the judge... In the state of Michigan
the judge don't even
give names. The judge said,
"Mr. Washington..." So that's how he's lying. They just called Mr. Washington and said "Hey Ms. Brown has... The judge said those names
and he said, "...a child but you can't
come here." "Mr. Washington, "Okay, today is your day... No, he did not. "to establish paternity." They didn't say that. They didn't say that. He tried to get me swabbed and the people who does it
weren't there, I don't know. They're lying. He's lying. I never got it done. They gave him two chances. Okay, hold on Ms. Brown. I need you to let him
give his testimony. He's lying. And even if you don't
believe it's true, I'll give
you a chance to respond. (SIGHS) Okay. So Mr. Washington,
you found out another list of names,
and he said
"Today is your day." Today is my day. And you were supposed
to get a DNA test? And they didn't do it, because the judge had said
to see if they could get
my mouth swabbed, because the people
weren't there. And they
never did it. They said I had to pay for it,
and made me the father
by default. So you pretty much
missed your window, the court named you by default, now your checks
start getting garnished. Yes. And now I'm threatening
to pull them. Even though you claim, that four other men
were listed, and the judge informed you
of that during one
of your hearings? They don't do that. RYAN WASHINGTON: Yes. So Ms. Brown, it was your testimony
that there were no other men. Mmm-hmm. No. How would the court even have
these men's names? How would they even... They don't put names,
what happened was, Mr. Washington, I told
the friend of the court
about Mr. Washington. They sent him a paper. They gave him two hearings
to come to court, Every time they gave it to him,
he made excuses
why he could not make it. And he would call like
"Oh, I got this to do,
oh, I got that to do." They would re-schedule,
they would re-schedule
everything. And then when it
came to the point,
my case manager said, "Hey Mr. Washington,
why are you prolonging it?" "We gave you two chances
to come to Michigan
to take this test." "You're not willing to take it,
what's going on?" So that's when he said
"You don't want to take
the test, fine, "then you're the father." And that's when
they put him
on child support. And it didn't go like that? Yes... They don't give names. Once they sent that first
one out, I called that friend
in the court... No, you didn't. ...because his number
was listed and that's
how I showed up for the second court date. No, you didn't show up. I'm still stuck on
how does the court have
more than one name. They don't, they only have... They only have Mr. Washington.
They don't give names. They only had him.
That's why they sent him
the paper. So Mr. Washington, you say
your cousin's name was listed. They didn't have other names. And the judge informed
you that. No. You had to pay for it. Yes, and she was messing around
with him during the time,
and DeAndre. No, I was not. Remember, remember,
I told you. We're all from
the same area. No, I never messaged. <i> The Little Engine
That Could.</i> No. (AUDIENCE GASPING) Wait, what did you say? We are all
from the same
neighborhood. The town is small, so if something happens or if
somebody is, you know,
messing around out there, everybody knows.
If there's a party everybody shows up. She's always the main talk. She's at every one. Once she gets her money,
she hops on that expressway. I work for my money.
You don't have no money. So when I don't have
to work, I go out. She got people... Why is it bothering you? ...other guys,
my friends, driving her vehicle,
pulling up on me
with alcohol in the car, But they're supposed to be
coming to see me. All right, hold on. I'm going
back to when you found out
your cousin's name was listed. Oh, yeah. When you found out your
cousin's name was listed. What were you thinking?
Did you say something
to your cousin? We wound up meeting up,
then he told me that he also, you know,
had been dealing with her. And now, the thing is,
she knew we were cousins because when she did
come around, she met
certain family members. I would say, you know,
this is my brother,
my cousin, whatever. And that's how she knew
that was my cousin. Why she decided
to go behind my back and sneak around with him I don't know, I didn't even
know what's going on, till me
and him started talking. Then she went
and had this baby and now she's saying,
you know, "This baby is mine,"
and this and that. And then she started saying
that the baby was his.
Then she said it was mine. And then you know
it's everywhere. JUDGE LAKE: Hold on. Oh, my gosh. At some point you're standing
in a court room
and you say you hear your own cousin's name
listed as a potential father. You get in touch
with that cousin and you find out that he
in fact has also been sleeping
with Ms. Brown. He told me,
he told me. No. And from there you realize that this is a family affair
in more ways than one. Yeah, plus DeAndre,
plus you got DeAndre. JUDGE LAKE: So listen. No, I don't. This court is about
getting down to the truth. BROWN: Right. And I want to hear
the whole truth, so I want to talk
to your cousin Jerome, please escort
Mr. Johnson
into the court room. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) What's up? Go right up to the witness
stand up there. Watch your step
going up the stairs. Please have a seat, sir. Mr. Johnson, thank you
for joining us today. Thank you. We are here
talking about the paternity of DeAndre Gray Jr, and I would like you
to explain to this court if you had a relationship
with Ms. Brown,
was it a sexual relationship? Yes, Your Honor,
it was. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) If you want more episodes
of Paternity Court Make sure to subscribe
and click on
the notification bell. So you had
a sexual relationship
with Ms. Brown? Yes, Your Honor, I did. All right, and so, has she
ever told you, you were DeAndre Gray, her child's
biological father? Yes. When have I ever told you that? JUDGE LAKE: What happened? I called her and I asked her
what was going on, why we were going back
and forth with her saying
that I'm the child's father? Then it's my cousin's baby. But then, couple more weeks
later, now it's back his baby,
you see what I'm saying? So you felt like she was
going back and forth. Of course, she is. Has she ever told you,
to your face, you are DeAndre's
biological father? On the phone,
but not to my face. On the phone, she said it. Yes, Your Honor. You're lying, I don't even know
your phone number. You know his phone number. No, I do not. Well how did y'all hang out
and do all the things? We were with you. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Brown. No. You were with me and had sexual
intercourse with my cousin? Yes, at your house, dummy. (BOTH ARGUING INDISTINCTLY) Hold on! (GAVEL BANGS)
Let's get some order? Ms. Brown? Yes. Are you confirming, that you had
a sexual relationship
with Mr. Johnson? No, I never had sex
with Mr. Johnson. It's all a front,
it's all a front. What? It's all a front, that's all. I never had sex with him. You never had sex
with him? No. No, I never. That's a lie,
Your Honor. Matthew? That's a lie. When? When? She's been
to my mom's house. When? When have I been
to your mom's house? When have I been to
your mom's house? I've been
to your grandmother's house. Now hold on, hold on. Going to
your mom's house ain't got
nothing to do with it. BROWN: Right. Thank you. That's not the point. Why? But Ms. Brown, I've gotta
give you a moment again, because you've had
a moment like this
in this courtroom before. Where you testified to one
thing, and then five minutes
later you testified to something else, I had to
give you a moment.
Just tell the truth. I never slept with him. So you have never slept? That's what I'm saying.
I only hung out with him. I never slept with him. No. So you have never been intimate
with Mr. Johnson? No. No. That's a lie, Your Honor. That's a lie, Your Honor. How do you know
who I slept with? I never slept with your cousin,
that's nasty. Because that's my cousin,
and we talked. That's trifling. No. No. He can say
anything to you... And he told me. ...and you gonna believe him,
you're a dummy. JUDGE LAKE:
Ms. Brown, hold on. So we gonna say... Ms. Brown, Ms. Brown. BROWN:
Back at you... So it is your testimony you
have never been intimate
with Mr. Johnson? No. At all. You had a question in your
mind, related to the paternity
of DeAndre? Yes, Your Honor. You always are thinking,
"Is this my child?" Yes, Your Honor. So much so,
that your cousin says at some point, you basically
said, "We need to talk about
this and get this straight." Yes, Your Honor. We met up
and talked about it, and it was to the point
to where he had gotten
into detail, about how, she would come over
to his house and everything
like that. The family knows, I don't know
why she's standing there
lying right now. I can't make sense of it. So specifically,
what did you discuss? What did you two discuss? Well, I told him, that she was
saying that, you know,
I had a baby by her. And then he say what she saying
there's a woman that
she's saying the same about me, because she knew what
she had done
with the both of us. So now me and him,
we're trying to figure
this whole thing out. BROWN: No. We couldn't
make sense of it. Couldn't make no sense of it... No. Right now,
I'm confused as ever. You told DeAndre this, you told me this. I only told you... You slept with my cousin and now you in court
saying that you
never did. Your Honor, we're not going to
come all the way here to lie. I never slept with your cousin, so why would I come here
to lie? I slept with you and DeAndre,
so what are you talking about? WASHINGTON: Right. Ms. Brown,
let me ask you this.
DeAndre is four now. Who is he calling daddy? Big Dre. DeAndre senior. That's all the dad he knows
because Mr. Washington
never stepped up. But it's your clear
assertion that Mr. Washington truly is
your child's biological father. Yes. Mr. Washington, when was
the last time you saw DeAndre? I would say sometime last year. BROWN: No, you didn't. JUDGE LAKE: year ago? Sometime last year. Because I'd traveled
to Michigan, and I tried to work some things
out with her because she's been
ongoing with this, "This is your son,
this is your son." So I said I was going
to go ahead and come there
for a few days, and, you know,
check him out
and see what's going on. And that was it. I stayed
for about four days, maybe. And then came back to Illinois. And you saw him? I saw him. You spent time with him? WASHINGTON: Yes. And when you saw him,
did you say, "I've changed my mind.
I do believe it's
a possibility this could be my son"? No. I had some thoughts like that,
but then I said I really don't think...
I don't think he looks
anything like me. And after seeing him
and actually being around him I just don't think so. And as I was there Big DeAndre would call
on the phone
one night, you know, and she letting him talk to him
and once DeAndre
reached out to me, he told me.
He said, "Man,
when you was up here "I know everything
that you was doing." He was telling me what I was
up there in Michigan doing. So while I'm there trying
to work things out with her, she still at that point
was still messing
with DeAndre. And that's what
just sort of certified
the whole thing for me. I said "You know what? "I'm not dealing
with this." So, Mr. Johnson,
have you reached out
and have you tried to explore whether or not
you are DeAndre's
biological father? Not on that.
I talked to my brother about him, we got together
saying we got to stop
this hoax. JUDGE LAKE:
Have you seen DeAndre? Yeah, I've seen him before.
Yes, Your Honor. And you had a chance
to spend time with him? Yes, I did, with my brother. Two potential fathers, cousins,
spending time with one child? Yes Your Honor. Yeah. And her. Because, again,
Your Honor,
once she gets paid, she comes down,
it's party time. So, she pulls up... I'm grown.
Why you worry about it? ...she's buying
all these things. We drink occasionally. She's by herself,
it was awkward. But we was hanging out. JUDGE LAKE: Look. I hope you know now,
drunk can get you stuck. Yeah. BROWN: Okay. MAN IN AUDIENCE:
Tell her, Judge It's difficult to unravel
all of this. Because the court's going to
determine what's in the
best interest of the child. And what's in the best interest
of the child is that
he's taken care of. But what's interesting
in this situation is you've got another person
who's stepped up to the plate, and is basically raising
the child as the daddy, who also gave him his name, he is the Junior. But then you're the man
that's on child support, and has to pay for the child. Exactly. Usually,
what we counsel people
to in this courtroom a man like DeAndre senior is, "Well, be careful
if you're going to sign
that birth certificate. "You're going to be responsible
for child support." But instead of him
being responsible for
the child support, you are. Exactly. And he's still on
the birth certificate. And she says
she's so sure... He never got the time for this. My last name right there. JUDGE LAKE:
He didn't sign though. He didn't have
an ID to sign it.
He wanted to. Oh, he wanted to sign it, but he didn't because
he didn't have an ID. BROWN: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
You're one ID away. No, I'm serious,
whether he...
No, really. Now, we're literally in a legal limbo. You're paying child support
but you're not on
the birth certificate. But you don't even
know if you're
the biological father. DeAndre Sr. is acting out
the role of father. DeAndre Jr. calls him daddy. But he also isn't
on the birth certificate. And we also don't know
if he's the biological father. Then we've got your cousin
over here who thinks
he's the biological father, and that she told him
that he could be, and the family members
say that he could be, and you two have even
talked about the fact that either one of
you might be. But there's also
someone else who could
be the biological father. Yeah. This is a mess. Yeah. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) And this child ain't
four months old,
four weeks old. He's four years old. Many, many lessons here. WASHINGTON: Mmm-hmm. Right? Yes. I think it's time we get
to the results. Jerome? (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) These results were
prepared by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows. In the case of<i>
Brown v. Washington,</i> when it comes to
four-year-old
DeAndre Gray Jr... It has been determined
by this court, Mr. Washington, you are the father. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) That's your little boy. Okay. And now that... You are the father. And now that I know that,
all this time that's
been passed, Fully prepared to step up
and be the father
that I'm supposed to be. JUDGE LAKE: Good. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Good. You're going to have
to be a man about this. 'cause you and
DeAndre Gray Sr., will have to work out this thing with
DeAndre Gray Jr.
because that's your baby. Right. And Ms. Brown I'm not gonna
let you off the hook. Mmm-hmm. You said to me that once he
rejected you when you told him
that this was your child, you said,
"I didn't want to be alone." Yes, I did. And even,
wrong, right, or indifferent
that was the truth. And I knew that. And even though you have weaved
a web of hot messiness... I mean really,
this has been a mess. For four years
this child has suffered for no reason. This did not have to happen. It's because he couldn't
come to court and you was scared to be alone. And now the child
is suffering for it. But I know why
you did that then. But it's that same feeling, of just not knowing
what to do, and not knowing what to do
in a moment, so you do the wrong thing
instead of the right thing. I wanna catch you
before you do it again because now that we have
the truth, I want you to do
the right thing for your son. You gotta let him in. You gotta make sure
DeAndre Sr. understands it. And more importantly
you gotta work on yourself and make sure
that this doesn't happen
to you again. I want you to talk to Dr. Jeff
and most importantly
I want you to keep DeAndre's heart and mind
in the forefront of yours as you go through
this very, very
difficult process of allowing him to understand
and know his biological father. I wish you all the very best. Court is adjourned.
(GAVEL BANGS)
