You may be seated. Hello,
Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Jacobs v. Call.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. JUDGE LAKE:
Mr. Jacobs, you're on
the birth certificate, and paying child support
for three-year-old Samarr, but say your ex
is now telling people that you are not
his biological father, and you are suing today to
prove that Samarr is your son. Yes, Your Honor. Now, Miss Call, you admit
to allowing Mr. Jacobs to name the baby,
sign the birth certificate, and pay support
for your son, but now say Samarr's
real biological father is another man,
Mr. Danyel Cooper. CALL: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE:
But Mr. Cooper says
there's no way he's your son's father. CALL: Yes, Your Honor. All right, so Mr. Jacobs,
how did you meet Miss Call? Well, Your Honor,
I met Miss Call
on the train, coming back from the gym.
She sits in front of me,
continuous staring at me. She compliments me
on my eyes,
and you know, I said thank you,
it's flattering,
you know. I've been hearing that
since I was little,
so it was nothing new. And, um, you know,
getting off the train
she's following me and she comes upstairs,
and, you know, being the gentleman
that I am, I like to get to know her,
I get to know her, I cook her a meal and
everything like that and... JUDGE LAKE:
This is after you
met on the train? JACOBS: Yes. The same day? Yes, ma'am. (AUDIENCE CHUCKLING) You followed him
home, Miss Call? We watched movies,
we talked, we did
get to know each other. We did have unprotected sex
that night, Your Honor. AUDIENCE: Ooh! JUDGE LAKE: That day? That same day. JUDGE LAKE: Same day. You all, you young people
running around here
having sex, I ain't never heard of such.
Just get on the bus
going somewhere, next thing you know,
you're in somebody's
apartment having sex. Who does that? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) (SNICKERS) JUDGE LAKE: That's not funny. Now we've got a
little person here, that doesn't, doesn't
have a clue who his father is. How soon after that did you
find out she was pregnant? Um, I would say
about a month or so. Um, you know, coming
back home the first time, it was, uh, you know,
my neighbor that told me
that, you know, "A young lady
had stopped by
to look for you," and everything like that. And the next day she was
actually sitting outside
my apartment and she was sitting
with a friend, and you know, she was,
she was fat and everything. She was big, she was... And, uh, it was like,
all right, you know, I'm pretty shocked by it.
I asked, you know, "Would you like
to go for a walk,"
and everything like that, and that's when she had
told me that she was pregnant
and everything, so I... That's not true.
I was at home. I text Ernest 'cause
I was listening to a song
by Usher, <i> Confessions...</i> I didn't even have
your number then. And in the first
verse of the song, it says that
she was pregnant,
she was keeping it. I told him to go
listen to it, he texted me back, he said,
"You're pregnant?" I told him yes. He started denying the baby
straight from the bet. He told me it wasn't his,
it was another guy's baby... Your Honor, that's not true... CALL: After that we
stopped talking. That's not true at all.
It's not true. So when she said,
"I'm pregnant," did she say,
"And you're the father?" No. She just said
that she was pregnant. And was it, did you assume
that she was saying
that you were the father? Correct. Or did you think
someone else could be? Yes, Your Honor.
I assumed that I was
the father, because like I said,
we had sex, a lot,
and, uh... (AUDIENCE GIGGLING) (CHUCKLING) A lot. So, I mean... JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
I got that. It was, it was good,
so, I mean, I felt that I was the father
at the moment. It was shocking
to see her
sitting outside, you know, being heavy
and everything like that. And, you know,
her telling me that
she was pregnant, I was surprised,
you know? I would be happy
to be a father and
everything like that, but... (SIGHS) So now, Miss Call, you say,
"Go listen to this song
and call me back." Did you tell him,
"You are my
child's father"? CALL: No. "I'm pregnant and you're
the child's father," or did you just tell him,
"Go listen to a song"? No, Your Honor.
When he texted me back, and he, and after
he denied the baby, I did explain to him
that it was a possibility. There was another guy
that could be the father.
He accepted that. JUDGE LAKE:
So you were honest? Yes. So let's move forward
a little bit. Take me to the birth. Now, after
you find out
she's pregnant, did you go to any
doctor's appointments? Did you support her
through it? Or the whole time
you were thinking,
"I may not be the father"? I would ask if I could go
to the hospital with her, you know, could I come see...
Could I get a sonogram, she was telling me no. JUDGE LAKE: Really? Yes, ma'am. Did you tell him
he couldn't go
to the hospital or go to any of the
appointments with you? No, Your Honor.
He never once asked me
to go to any appointments. And if he did, why? If he's saying from
the beginning that it's
another guy's baby... That's not true
at all. Why would he want to go with me to the
doctor's appointment? It's not true at all,
Your Honor. You went from not going
to any doctor's appointments to signing the
birth certificate? Yes, ma'am. How do we get there? I was there for
the whole birth. JUDGE LAKE:
The whole thing? Yes, ma'am. And you signed
the birth certificate? Correct. Why did you sign
the birth certificate? At that moment, were you sure
you were this child's
biological father? Yes, Your Honor. You were. Yes... And why were you sure? I was sure about
it because when she was
in the C-section, they had brought
Samarr out to me and placed him
in my arms
and everything, and at that time, moment
when I said his name, he had opened up his eyes
and he was looking at me <i> and at that time I felt
the connection between
him and me.</i> <i> And the nurse there
told me, like,</i> you know, that's a rare thing
for that to happen, you know. Usually the babies don't
open up their eyes. So they keep their
eyes closed. And when he opened
his eyes, you felt like
that was a sign. JACOBS: <i> That was a sign.
Correct, yes, Your Honor.</i> Miss Call, did you know
he was going to sign
the birth certificate? Did you all
discuss that? No, Your Honor. When I woke up... Did you allow
him to sign? CALL: I didn't know
that he signed it. I was in the recovery room.
When I woke up, he told me he signed
the birth certificate,
named the baby, everything. I didn't know nothing
about it till I woke up
in the recovery room. (JACOBS STAMMERING) JUDGE LAKE:
So the baby was named, and the birth certificate
was signed when you... CALL: Woke up
from the C-section,
Your Honor. Your Honor, that's
not true at all. It is true, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You all had never
discussed a name? No. So, bottom line is
when you got out
of recovery, the birth certificate
was signed... CALL: Yes. And the baby had a name. Yes. When you found out
the birth certificate
was signed, Miss Call, did you say to yourself,
"Oh, wait a minute," 'cause this could be
somebody else's baby? No, Your Honor. You didn't? No. What was your reaction? I was confused,
to be honest. I was confused that he even
signed the birth certificate
or anything. JUDGE LAKE: Because you
thought he would not... JACOBS: We signed it
at the same time. Because you were very open
about the fact that
it could be his child and it could
be somebody else's. Yes, Your Honor. Your Honor,
that's not true. JUDGE LAKE:
So now, Mr. Jacobs, did you understand that by signing that
birth certificate, that you were
acknowledging paternity? You were saying, "I am, by executing this,
signing my name here, "I become the legal
father of this child." And do you understand
that, at that point, it's not even
about biology? It's about, signing
the birth certificate means you're the legal father and
that's how you're looked upon. Yeah, I mean, no. You didn't understand that? No, I understood that. CALL: And, Your Honor... Listen, when I was... No, hold up. When I was at
the hospital,
all right, she had like...
(SIGHS) I had called my mother
when I went to go
pick up the car seat, I had told my ma that
she had the baby, <i> and she told me not to
sign the birth certificate.</i> <i> And you know, like I said,
I felt that it was mine
at the moment,</i> that time and moment,
'cause of the connection
that we had. So, I did sign the
birth certificate. I mean, I have
the documents
right here with me. I'd like to see that, sir. All right. Jerome, will you
hand them to me, please? So, your mother said, "Do not sign this." She said,
"Do not." JACOBS: <i> Yeah, yes. Correct.</i> <i> But you signed it anyway.</i> <i> So this is here, where you
acknowledge paternity,</i> Ernest Lee Jacobs, even though
your mother told you,
"Don't do it." JACOBS: Correct, and then... So your name is on
this birth certificate, and you're in this courtroom
trying to prove that Samarr
is your biological child. Right, because... CALL: Your Honor,
can I say something? JUDGE LAKE:
But Miss Call, now, after he signed
the birth certificate, is paying child support, he's responsible
legally for this child, you're now saying
he's not the father. Yes, Your Honor. AUDIENCE: Wow. And you truly
believe Mr. Cooper
is the father? Yes, Your Honor. Why? So you were honest? Yes. Your Honor, one of Dan...
Mr. Cooper's family members showed me a picture of
Mr. Cooper when he was
a three-year-old. My son is a
three-year-old now. They look just alike in them two pictures, <i> of Mr. Cooper
when he was three,</i> <i> and my son now, as he was,
now that he's three.</i> JUDGE LAKE:<i>
So you saw a picture?</i> <i> Yes.</i> And when you saw that picture,
you saw your son. Yes. And every day
I look at my son, he looks more and more
like Mr. Cooper. <i> He has his same eyes,
same nose, same forehead,
same ears.</i> <i> He looks nothing
like Mr. Jacobs.</i> Do you not want him
to be the father? Or do you
not believe... No, I do not believe
he is the father,
Your Honor. Jerome, I think it's time
we meet Mr. Cooper... JACOBS: Please,
bring him in here. The man she says is Samarr's biological father. Can I explain why I feel
that I am the father? Yes, absolutely. JACOBS: This is why I feel
that Samarr is my child. Um, as he's gotten older, I see him doing
the same things that I do. He rubs his hands
like I do. He does this, um... He plays with, you know,
toys that I played with
when I was little. He does some of
the things that I do. He's left-handed. And, I mean, when I'm there
he comes right to me. We talk, we connect. Like I said, it felt like
I had a connection
when he was born. And we still connect
to this day. Being that he's
three years old,
and I'm hardly around, because she doesn't
want me around. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Mr. Cooper, thank you
for joining us today. Thank you. You had a sexual relationship
with Miss Call. Am I correct? Yes, ma'am. She has testified
in court today that she believes that you are
Samarr's biological father. Do you believe
you are her
child's father? No, Your Honor.
No, Your Honor. Not at all. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Not at all. Because, Miss Call,
she was real promiscuous. She was out there,
she had a crazy reputation. Did she tell you
you were the father or did she tell you
Mr. Jacobs was the father? She was trying to hint
that I was the father but I wasn't hearing it.
I shut it all down. And then next thing
you know, she fell back. And I seen her again
after she had the baby. So the whole pregnancy
I ain't seen her. So when you said
she was trying to hint,
what was the hint? She was just like,
"I'm pregnant,"
and you know, like, she was getting
a little bigger.
But I'm like, "Man, that ain't mine." (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) "You doing whatever
you do, like, "like you come over
at night, "and leave
in the morning, so..." But that's, that's how
you make babies. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING
AND APPLAUDING) It is! But she was doing hers. (APPLAUSE CONTINUES) Last I heard, Jerome. JEROME: Absolutely true. So she says she's
convinced, though. She says the baby
looks just like you and your family member
showed her a picture <i> of when you
was three years old</i> <i> and it looks just like Samarr.
Have you seen this picture?</i> COOPER: <i> Yes,
I got that picture.</i> Do you see the similarity? No, ma'am. Not at all. AUDIENCE: Aww. I don't think
he got... He big. I'm real skinny.
He was big ever since
he came out. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Your Honor, that's
because my baby eats. That's why
he's so big. I don't know,
when she first had him
he was a little big. I always
been skinny. And then...
I just don't see it.
I just don't see it. Have you spent any time
with Samarr? No, ma'am. I mean, when he was first... Have you bought
anything for the child? Yes, ma'am.
I bought diapers
and wipes before. JUDGE LAKE: You have? Yes, ma'am. And formula. And why were you providing
for a baby you definitively
said was not yours? Because she first had him
and I didn't know. I just wanted
to see him. She asked me to get
the baby some diapers. So I'm like, yeah,
why not? You know, I got the money,
and she need it, so yeah,
I'mma help her. So you were
helping her, but not
necessarily saying, "This is my son." "This is my son." No, no. So did you know
that she also had Mr. Jacobs
in the picture, and that he had signed
the birth certificate and was paying
child support? Yes, I found that out
after she had the baby. She told me that he signed
the birth certificate and that it was his. JACOBS: Yes. That's what she told me. We actually spoke. We actually spoke
when I was living
in Niagara Falls. We actually had
communication and, uh, and the same way, you know,
I was helping her out, giving her formula
and diapers too
and, you know, he was telling me that, yeah,
she wanted to do a DNA test but she never
came around to do it. So he didn't really know
who the father was and I was just stuck
being the father. But you want
to be the father. You signed the
birth certificate... Right. When your mother told you,
"Don't do it." You did it anyway. I did. And you're now
paying child support. Correct. I mean, I have... And you say you felt
there was a connection... CALL: That's why he doesn't
want to be the father. JACOBS: I have information... What did you bring?
You said you have information? Yes, I have information
of me paying child support. I paid, um... Let me see that.
Jerome, will you hand me
this evidence. This is what exactly,
Mr. Jacobs? This is the
child support bill. This is me paying... So you pay
child support
regularly. JACOBS: I had to pay
$15 at first but <i> some things had happened
where it increased
to me paying</i> <i> about $45 a week,
so, I mean...</i> And you pay this
every month? Right. It's weekly,
but, right,
I pay it every month. And so, Miss Call,
you're allowing
Mr. Jacobs to pay the child support,
even though you say that Mr. Cooper
is the child's father. Your Honor,
I didn't take Mr. Jacobs
for child support, the government did. Well, no, no, no,
my point is... No, I know... No, look, look,
trust me, I do know, because that's
exactly what happens. CALL: Yeah. But what I'm saying
to you is you accept
the child support but you want Mr. Cooper
to be the child's father, and he's acting like he
doesn't want anything
to do with the baby. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) I'm baffled. I think it's time
for the results.
Jerome. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) (SIGHS) (EXHALES) JUDGE LAKE: These results
were prepared by
DNA Diagnostics and they read
as follows. In the case of<i>
Jacobs v. Call,</i> pertaining to whether
Mr. Cooper or Mr. Jacobs is the father of three-year-old
Samarr Jacobs, it has been determined
by this court, Mr. Cooper, you are not the father. (BOTH MEN EXCLAIM) (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I knew it.
I knew it. I knew it. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Jacobs, you are not the father. What? (AUDIENCE GASPS) What the? Hold up.
Wait a minute. Calm down. Whoa. Review that. You say what? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Miss Call, you don't
seem that surprised. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) (EXHALES) Aw, man. I've sat at this bench
long enough to know a real reaction. You're not surprised. There's a couple
more people. JUDGE LAKE:
A couple more people? JACOBS: Yo, what? COOPER: I told you. I wasn't lying. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Look, it's, it's, uh... Ain't no shame
in the game now. I mean, the results
are in. Do you know where
these men are? This may require some
research on your part, because your baby deserves
to know who his father is. Mr. Jacobs. JACOBS: Yes, ma'am. Now, you know you should
listen to your mama. Yeah, yeah. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Right? Yeah, yeah. You've got a situation
on your hands where you're going to have
to return to your home state, you are going to have
to petition the court
in that state to see if the court
will allow you to remove your name
from the birth certificate. And there's
no guarantee. You young people
need to get it together. You know, I call you
"young people" because
you are. But you're adults. Are we clear? JACOBS AND COOPER:
Yes, ma'am. Court is adjourned. (GAVEL BANGS) Miss Call, can I see you?
Jerome, will you
bring Miss Call up?
