Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of <i>
Spruell v. Dixon.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms. Spruell,
you are furious that you had to file
a paternity case against the defendant
Mr. Dixon due to his denial
of your daughter Skyiah. You say you know
the exact night
you conceived and he is her father. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Dixon,
you claim that your relationship
with Ms. Spruell was purely sexual and one conversation
that occurred is the only proof you need that her child is not yours,
is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. So, Ms. Spruell,
why is he denying paternity? He flip flops. One day this is his daughter,
the next day it isn't, and I'm tired.
I'm irritated. It's to the point that
it shouldn't be called for. If this is gonna be your baby,
be your baby 24/7, don't go back and forth. So, he's going
back and forth? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: One minute she is, one minute she isn't. Mmm-hmm. Is that true, Mr. Dixon? No, it's not,
Your Honor. Uh... I don't claim
this child is mine because I have serious doubts
about this child. It's been multiple
occasions... CAMIYA: You just came
and saw her last week. Like I said multiple... You just came
and seen her
last week, though. You just came
and saw her last week. Played with her, spent the night
with her, and all. Well, you know,
I wanted to go
check on her because... Why would you
check on a child
that's not yours? Well, Your Honor,
look at it... Let me
explain this, Your Honor. Can, uh... First I wanna
start about my doubts
about this child. Would you like me
to step up to the board and explain this
diagram to you? You brought an exhibit? MARVIN: Yes, ma'am. CAMIYA: Mmm-hmm. Let me see. CAMIYA: Go ahead. MARVIN: Let me
brought this down. Well, as you can see,
I have a family
that works at a store. (SCOFFS) On this particular day my family member
wanted to present
Skyiah around. So, one day,
she went to work,
it was like... She's like,
"Hey, we're so excited "about our newest
family member, Skyiah." So she goes around
showing pictures and, you know,
excited about it, showing to her
coworkers and bosses and everything except
for one particular coworker. Comes out of the blue
it was like, "Whoa, wait a minute, pause. "No, that's not...
that's not his baby, "that's my brother's baby." Like, whoa, wait a minute. Why would this girl
come out of the blue and claims that this is
her brother's baby
just like that? So I have my doubts
that this isn't my child. The coworker says,
"That's my brother's baby." MARVIN: And comes out,
"No, I said, this is
my brother's child." Lie. And then too, Your Honor, I wanna say this too. I have doubts that
this isn't my child, why? Because Camiya
constantly lies. CAMIYA: Oh, wow. She even lies
about this baby. It was the time
when she was pregnant, she said, "I slipped
and fell in the tub." You texted me... Your sister took me
to the hospital. You texted me saying
you're in the ER
the whole entire time, but once
I'm on the phone... His sister took me
to the hospital. Giggling, laughing,
playing with your son. His sister. And as far as the coworker
telling his family member, that same coworker
got on the phone with me and his family member
letting me know his family member
was mistaken. He wasn't even around. The other male,
let it be known,
he's lying. So when I sent Mr. Dixon
the screenshots of these young men
letting me know we never had
any relations at all, the problem just diminished. MARVIN: Camiya has two phones. She had one phone that
she used to be on the internet and she post her whole
entire life on Facebook. She has another phone... Sure enough. Where she text and call. She plays like
she's two people on Facebook, she done
did this multiple times. He's not allowed
to have my main number. We have no communication
because like I say he's not... He's not allowed
to have your main number and he's the father
of your child? Oh, no, no. We're gonna
go through why he can't
have my main number. Mr. Dixon ran off to Alabama when his daughter was one,
one month old, to say he was working. He wasn't working,
he was not working.
You wanna know how? MARVIN: Your Honor,
I moved to Alabama
to get a better job. CAMIYA: Oh, no, no. To make more money,
but these constant lies... CAMIYA: Our daughter... One at a time. CAMIYA: Our daughter, it wasn't even seven months, Mr. Dixon had
a whole another child
while he was still with me. He was still with me. So, what was he
doing in Alabama? CAMIYA: Making babies. (AUDIENCE GASPS) Yeah, he was going
in some work. He put in a lot of work. Hmm. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Mr. Dixon... CAMIYA: And, oh,
not only that, once he gets down to Alabama, my daughter was
all over his Facebook. Cover photo and all.
The same child
you've been denying. But she... JUDGE LAKE: Wait a...
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
He's down in Alabama
making babies but he's using
your child's photo at his... CAMIYA: Oh, yeah,
she was all over his Facebook until the baby mama found out. Then my daughter
just disappeared. MARVIN: First of all,
Your Honor. No pictures, no nothing. Those pictures were
not on there when
I moved to Alabama. Those pictures were
up there before
I moved to Alabama. CAMIYA: Your Honor,
I have evidence. All right, Ms. Spruell,
you have evidence. CAMIYA: Yes, I do. I'd like to see it. JUDGE LAKE: Jerome. Thank you. Here, sir. You say he accepted
the baby at birth and this is your evidence
to prove it. <i> So this is his page...</i> CAMIYA: And that is
my baby girl.
That is Skyiah. And he had other pictures
of Skyiah on there as well. So... And you claimed
he's accepting her. He's made her picture... CAMIYA: He was telling
that he was so happy. JUDGE LAKE: You're saying
that when she was born, he was claiming her. CAMIYA: Yeah. He was saying,
"My baby girl
is in the world." He was there
my entire pregnancy. He was. He is the one who told me
I was pregnant. He said I was pregnant because
he's throwing up everywhere. He said I was pregnant. JUDGE LAKE:
Because he was throwing up? He was throwing up. MARVIN: Your Honor,
let me tell you about that. Your Honor, about that. I had a hangover. We got drunk one night
and I had a hangover and I threw up
at 5:00, 6:00 that morning. So, why did you
call me to find out
if I was pregnant? Why did you call me
to find out if I was pregnant? MARVIN: Weeks later,
she's the one throwing up
like she was sick. I said, maybe you should
go and figure out
if you're pregnant. He had been
counting my symptoms before I even knew
I was pregnant. So, what you're saying is,
he was having
morning sickness. He was having
pregnancy-like symptoms. Yup, all he wanted to do
was sleep,
eat, sleep, eat. MARVIN: So, I must be
pregnant? No, I was. I was. Since I'm sleeping
and eating, And guess what,
so we go to the doctor. We were actually going
to find out about my friend
being pregnant. I took the test with her. Mine's came back negative,
they tell me to come back
in two weeks. We come back in two weeks
together and guess what? You're five weeks,
three days pregnant. Mr. Dixon was there. We sat
in the parking lot after and I asked Mr. Dixon,
what do you wanna do? He tells me,
"We're gonna be all right. "We're gonna take care
of this baby. "Everything gonna be fine." Two weeks later, you...
We let his mother know
that I was pregnant. She pretended to be
happy-go-lucky about it, but Thanksgiving,
all hell breaks loose. I wanna know what happened
on Thanksgiving. Oh, everybody found out
that I was pregnant. Everybody knew
I was pregnant about then, because at first
they were saying
I was lying about being pregnant
because Mr. Dixon
kept telling them I wasn't, even though he went
to the appointment with me. All she do is lie.
You don't know
what to believe. You went with me.
How did I lie,
you were with... So, did you go with me
to the appointment? Did you? Was you there
when they said
I was pregnant? No, I wasn't there when... Oh, you wasn't there? Oh, and didn't they tell you
to come to the back? So, we didn't go to the back
and talk to that nice lady? You wasn't there? I was at the house
the whole entire time JUDGE LAKE: All right. So, Thanksgiving
they found out
you were pregnant. Yes, and after that
I became the devil. This wasn't his baby,
this, that, and the third. You're so sure
this is my child, but yet, I'm not
on the birth certificate. CAMIYA: You weren't there
when she was born. What you mean?
You wasn't there. Talking about me
putting myself on the birth certificate, and I even came up with money
to change her last name, but you kept pushing it off. But you're so sure
this is my child. Why you just kept
on pushing it off? And I'm coming up with money to change her name to my name. So when he came up
with the money
to change her last name, why not do it? Because when she was born,
he kept... First of all,
he wasn't there
when she was born. He came two days later, says he wanna play them games. If I'm going to keep doing
everything for this child, that's my name. You didn't earn that right. That's a lie.
I don't even know... JUDGE LAKE: Well, well,
Miss, well, Ms. Spruell. but now, that...
But that's not the issue. If you're saying
this is the father of my child
without a doubt, and he's saying,
"I want to put my name "on the birth certificate
and have her name changed "to my last name," wouldn't that be
what you want? I mean, you were screaming
at the top of your lungs in this courtroom to get him to acknowledge this child. You were offended because you say
he acknowledges her one day and not the next. A name change
is a significant
acknowledgment <i> as well as being willing to
execute the birth certificate.</i> <i> Why not be cooperative
instead of combative?</i> CAMIYA: Because the day
we were supposed to
get it changed Mr. Dixon ran
right back off to Alabama. Lies. Oh, you didn't? I didn't leave... You were there for a week. I didn't leave to... You was there the first week
of her life, Mr. Dixon. I didn't leave back
to Alabama until
a month later. We had plenty of time
to change his name. I'd go talk to her... So... ...everyday, let's go
get this baby name changed. I got the money. Let's go. Lies. Lies, lies, lies. Put it like this,
Your Honor, when me and Mr. Dixon
are in good terms he's daddy of the year. Me and him fall out,
Skyiah doesn't exist. And that's what infuriates me
more than anything. I don't care
how you feel about me, that baby didn't deserve that. MARVIN: Oh, why do you lie? My baby did not deserve that. I don't care
how you feel about me. That is a child. I know what it feel like
to grow up without your daddy, it's not a good feeling. And have somebody come in and
out of your life is not fair. If you're gonna be her daddy,
be her daddy 24/7. Don't pick and choose
your days. Look at that beautiful
little girl, <i> she don't deserve that.</i> <i> You shouldn't run
in and out of no child's life.</i> Mr. Dixon, are you running in and out,
Mr. Dixon? Be honest. MARVIN: No, I'm not.
No, I'm not. Are you... Are you
accepting the child on one day and then
denying her the next? No, I'm not.
But my doubt
started playing when Camiya constantly lies.
Why do you lie? Even when this baby
was born... Even when this baby
was born she lied... Let him testify. First of all, okay,
it started when you fell... Slipped and fell in the tub,
you're at the ER. You text me the whole time
you're at the ER, but yet you're
in the living room, and you're laughing
and giggling with your son and everybody else,
why do that? Like I said, your sister
took me to the... Then it comes to a point when you started saying
this baby got blood transfers, blood transfers,
blood transfers, four or five
blood transfers... My baby had a heart... The baby got a brain problem. The baby got a hole
in her heart. Dang, this baby got
this much problem
and she just got here? It's called
Ventricular Heart Defect. This baby standing...
Just got here, why are you still lying
on this child like that? The thing is you would never
come to the hospital. So, how would you
know I was lying? And this is
not the reason... You weren't even home. I know she's lying,
Your Honor. Wait, wait, wait... MARVIN: She posts
her whole life on Facebook. Her life... Facebook
is like a diary to her. If that baby
was in the hospital she would post 20 or 50
doggone pictures on Facebook but she didn't post
not one picture. Your Honor... JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Wait. So, you... Why do you
believe she would lie and say her child
was suffering from
a medical challenge? MARVIN: Maybe she's trying
to get my attention. CAMIYA: <i> Your Honor,
how can you watch your child</i> grow up through Facebook
for an entire year but you can't pick up
the phone and call her? You have another dude
on Facebook... Oh, that's why he's upset. (INDISCERNIBLE ARGUING) JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
One at a time. After around
September 2015... I got into a relationship
with somebody because Mr. Dixon was
no longer in the picture. I got into a relationship
with somebody who accepted
both of my children, who paid for Skyiah's daycare. Who bought diapers. She's going with
different guys trying
to get money from guys. That's all she's doing,
she using people. That's all. Even though...
Example... Says the one
with two jobs,
unemployed. One day, on her birthday.
I came and got home from work. I come to get her
on her phone. JUDGE LAKE: Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on. Okay. You... Listen, listen,
listen, listen. Whoo. Whoo, child. Bring it down
just a little bit because I wanna
understand the story At some point, you went in... You got into a relationship
with someone else. CAMIYA: Yes, I did.
We got into a relationship and he was actually helping me
with both of my children, not just one. So, I feel like... And what is
the issue with that? He was mad because
me and him were, uh... I made a video
of him and Skyiah, they were in the bed,
they were laughing
and playing... I don't know what
to believe, Your Honor,
because all she do is lie. I don't know what to believe. One minute, you're saying
this baby is sick. This, that, and the third
but she's not. Then when she really is sick
then that's when you get
pissed at me because I don't know
if it is true or not. I know the exact night
she was conceived because somebody
wanted to make up for
their little mishaps and it was also
Sweetest Day weekend. I have to explain... He had to Google it... She brought it up. But he didn't even know
it's the actual holiday. It's like Valentine's Day... ...a Chicago term,
the Sweetest Day. No, no, I'm from Detroit,
we do Sweetest Day too. I know what Sweetest Day is. MARVIN: Well, I'm from
the South, we don't do it. Listen, no, we understand. Look, I've been
all over this country. I know only certain parts
of the country. In Northwest,
we do Sweetest Day. I get that. So, the bottom line is,
is you're saying
she was conceived Sweetest Day Weekend. Mmm-hmm. But how do you know
if it's true?
We got drunk that day. I mean, she bought liquor... CAMIYA: Because that was
the first time... Well, you can make babies
when you're drunk. But she knows it, though. He's saying
his sperm count
was too low. His sperm count was
supposed to be too low
to make a baby. Pause. Wrong. Okay. Okay. People. Ooh, Lord. Um, hmm. You all are a lot. (CAMIYA CHUCKLES) This is a lot. CAMIYA: This is a big mess. I mean, ooh,
this is like, whoa. Okay. I wanna get this. I'm really trying
to understand the story. When you say
you aren't sure, Mr. Dixon, I believe you,
like I can see that it comes
from an earnest place. But I am confused and I understand
Ms. Spruell's point where there's so much
evidence indicating that you accepted her then... MARVIN: Well, you told me
when we first met, I couldn't get pregnant. Paris, my five-year-old son,
he was a miracle baby. I wasn't even supposed
to have him. Then you said for whole
five years he'd been
on this earth, you've never got pregnant. MARVIN: But nobody until me, until you met me
then all of a sudden, Paris is five
and then there,
there's Skyiah, they're like five years apart,
so, obviously... JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Spruell, was Mr. Dixon the only man
you were dating? Yes. When we
got together, yes. At first,
it was strictly sex, that's what we were doing,
having lots of sex, drink a lots of liquor.
Gonna be honest about it. That's what we were doing. And it progressed
into a relationship, where he was really nice,
he was moving in. He moved in with me
and I lived with him. So I'm confused, if you really feel like
this wasn't your baby when I first told you
I was pregnant you could've
stayed gone then. Mr. Dixon,
I want to understand
your doubt. You're saying
you don't trust her. You feel like
she's lying all the time. You also feel like
this conversation that the family member
had with the coworker where the coworker said,
"That's my brother's baby." MARVIN: Out of the blue. Do you know who
this brother is? I don't know. JUDGE LAKE:
You don't know but that... When they showed the picture,
they said,
"That's my brother's baby." And then the last part
of your doubt is centered around
the fact that
she's trying to say that this is
another miracle baby when it's with you. MARVIN: Right. JUDGE LAKE: All right. What is your hope
in this moment? MARVIN: The truth to come out. You just want the truth? I just want the truth. JUDGE LAKE:
I have that answer for you. Jerome, I'm ready
for the results. JEROME: There you go. JUDGE LAKE: Thank you. JEROME: You're welcome. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and
they read as follows. Don't pick and choose
your days. In the case of<i>
Spruell v. Dixon,</i> when it comes to
13-month-old Skyiah Spruell, it has been determined
by this court, Mr. Dixon, you... Are the father. (APPLAUSE) MARVIN: Thank you. Thank you. You are her father. Thank you. You feel relieved,
Ms. Spruell? I do. How do you feel,
Mr. Dixon? I'm excited. I have a beautiful little
baby... Beautiful baby girl. I'm gonna be
the best father I can. And I'm just glad
the truth is out. JUDGE LAKE: That's what
I wanted to hear. At this point,
what we have to do is figure out
how to move forward. I'm hoping, Ms. Spruell, you will start letting
the past be the past on this. You have literally, when I say literally, shouted at the top of your lungs
how desperately... No, and I'm not saying it
to be funny, I'm saying it truthfully
because I knew it came
from a place of pain. He is the biological father. He says he wants
to be that father for... No, don't shake your head no. See? Now, you got to get out
your own way. He says he wants to be there, just try to start fresh. We have counseling
and resources
for the both of you to help you figure out
how to get on that path. Court is adjourned.
