Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of<i>
Thomas v. Zachary.</i> Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE:
Good day. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Thomas, you claim you've been
petitioning the court system for a DNA test, for 15-month-old Hannah Thomas for more than a year now. Yes, Your Honor. Now, you've been notified
that you'll be paying support because you signed
the birth certificate, but claimed it was
under false pretenses. Now, the court will decide
whether there is
reasonable cause to grant you a DNA test today. JUDGE LAKE:
Ms. Zachary, you claim Mr. Thomas is
the father of your daughter and it's time
he step up to the plate and bring
your family back together. Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr. Thomas,
when did you learn you were going to be put
on child support? Uhm, two weeks ago,
Your Honor. (SCOFFS) I went to the mailbox thinking
I'm getting a check and unluckily, I end up getting
a paper from Child Support saying that half my wages is
gonna be took and... Excuse me, Your Honor.
I don't mean to cut him off but that is a lie,
what he's saying. He knew that he was
going to pay child support because I received,
a medical card, I also received,
cash assistance. And, I have to
corroborate with Child Support in order to receive
those assistances. Your Honor, me and Rickiya
were separated towards July, <i> maybe for a couple of weeks.</i> <i> Um, August we got
back together, you know.</i> Um, towards the end of August,
beginning of September, she told me she was...
"Oh, I feel pregnant, man." We went to buy like,
maybe four or five pregnancy tests that day. Your Honor, I found out that
I was pregnant, September 18th
to be exact with you. And I went to that doctor's
appointment, and I came home,
I handed him the papers. "This is my result at
the doctor's. This is my
proof of pregnancy here." And what did he say
when you handed him that? He didn't have much to say.
He just said, "Oh." No, Your Honor. I... I never received
any paperwork, Your Honor. I never received any
paperwork at all. She said she was between
three to five weeks. I believed her with
three to five weeks. We got back together
in August. We were having a lot of
make-up sex, you can say. So, I'm like, "Okay. "Yeah. It's probably my baby
if it's three to four weeks. <i> "Three, four, five weeks,
it all adds up.</i> <i> "It's very...
It's possible, you know."</i> So, you're doing the
calculation in your mind and you say, "If this baby
was conceived in August... Yeah. "...then, I am more than
likely, the father." I was more than likely...
I didn't have any doubts
that it was my baby. After a couple of months,
you know, I'm looking, like, "Wow," you know.
"She's getting
kinda big kind of fast," you know.
She doesn't look like... "She's no five, six weeks.
What's going on?" So, as you were there,
living in the house with her,
you start saying, "For five or six weeks,
she's really showing." Yeah, I'm like,
"She's really showing."
That's when... I'm thinking for myself... Your Honor,
I was carrying twins. That's why I was
getting big so fast. It was my first time ever,
having twin children. And I didn't know
at the time that
I was even carrying twins. We went to the doctor,
maybe, probably was about
three or four weeks later and the doctor was telling her,
"Yeah, you need to
stop smoking cigarettes." You know,
and he was telling me like, "Look, you need to be on her
about smoking cigarettes.
Here's her paperwork." And he showed me the paperwork
and it said, "15 to 17 weeks,"
or something like that
and I'm like, "Hold on. Wait a minute,"
Your Honor. No. JUDGE LAKE: So,
you were at the... THOMAS: You know I can count. ...doctor's appointment
with her. No. Yeah. Doctor's asked her, told her, encouraged her
to stop smoking. But, you also got a look at the paperwork. No, he did not. And when you saw,
it had how many weeks? I received the paperwork
in my hand and it had between 13 and 15 weeks. But, you're not sure of that, how are you sure
what the paperwork said. And at that time, when
you were at the appointment, how many weeks
did you think she was? She was supposed to be
around nine weeks at the time. JUDGE LAKE: This is going
through your head? This is going through my head. So, in it's just, everything
that's been building up. It just was building up
and building up and
building up like, "Okay. "So, she couldn't have been
three to five weeks when
she first told me, you know." So, that means
she deliberately lied to me
about the situation. No, Your Honor. I did not lie
about how many weeks I was. Yes, she did. I did not lie about anything. Yes, she did. During the whole pregnancy,
I was with him. I was honest about
everything with him. She is correct about that.
She was honest with me, uh... What did she say? At the beginning of August, she told me,
when we got back together, she told me,
"I've been having..." I told you before August. "I've been having... I told you before August. "I've been having..." I told you. She basically told me she's been having
unprotected sex... What? ...with that guy. That was July,
beginning of July. With a... That was the
beginning of July. ...with a guy that she has
previously been with before. I was with... JUDGE LAKE: So, that...
That right there,
is your doubt. Because, as you were
in that doctor's office and saw the calculation and it led you back
to that time... I didn't just check, I triple-checked, Your Honor. ...when you were on a break. Can I please
speak, Your Honor? I did it in my head,
I got the calendar
on my phone I looked at the doctor reads. Your Honor,
we was on a break. "Hold on, wait a minute,
let me triple-check." We were on a break. And it led you back to the
time when you were on a break? It led me back to exact...
I'm like, "No. "Lord, you can't be telling me
this is the exact time." We were on a break.
We had been on a break
for over a month and a half, when I was with
the other guy in July. Your Honor... We got back together
the end of July, beginning of August. Rickiya's a dirty fighter,
Your Honor. And that's when I
conceived my child. We've been together... We've been together
almost six years. Right. (STUTTERS) A break for us is, "Oh well. I'm leaving
out the house, going to my
parent's house for a while," or "You leave and you go
with your mom or something." RICKIYA: No, that's
not a break. (STUTTERING) That was a break
between us and we're always back together
within a month's time. So, it was...
There was no excuse. A break is not an excuse
to go sleep with someone and have a child
by someone else at all. And so, after this
you still stuck by her? RICKIYA: Exactly. JUDGE LAKE: And then you
signed the birth certificate
when you were at the hospital, am I correct? Yes, I did. Tell me about that day. I had... She had her sister come
get the children, I came up to the hospital.
I was with her
the whole night. All until she had the baby.
I was there.
It was no problem. The agreement was... This was the agreement
from the beginning. If the guy that I believe
is Hannah's dad, if he didn't have any part,
of any part of anything, I would sign the
birth certificate and Hannah
would never know a thing. Nobody would never
know a thing. This would be
the biggest family secret that we ever had.
And I had no problem
with that. And I had no problem with
that, 'cause I'm not gonna
let just someone come in and destroy my family
like that, you know. You destroyed your family. It just don't be... It just don't be that easy. Your Honor,
he destroyed his family! He destroyed his family
from the beginning. You had doubts
and that's why you're here. Because, you kept on
saying you didn't know
if she was yours. And I was honest. I told him
that it was a possibility. Your Honor, Rickiya's a dirty fighter.
She's a dirty fighter. We just can't fight,
and I go sleep on the couch
and she's in the bed. No. She brings the deepest,
darkest secrets and
they're true, to the light. And she will... "These not your kids anyway. "Why you helping take care..." JUDGE LAKE:
Wait, hold... Hold on. Really? So, at some point,
she said that to you? Yes, to my face. Really? We had twins.
Hannah is a twin.
It was Hannah and Heather. One of our twins...
Hannah was the smaller one.
Heather was the bigger one. She end up...
She end up passing away
a month after she was born. I'm sorry to hear that. Why? What did you put me
through the whole time? We grieved in
two different ways. Were you supportive on that? <i> She grieves like,
"Oh, my God. I don't want to
leave the house.</i> <i> "I'm stressed,"
she's going through...</i> <i> Like... Like women do,
I understand that.</i> I didn't grieve
that type of way, you know. She was looking at me like
I didn't have any
type of sympathy about what was going on... He didn't, Your Honor. You're saying he barely even
grieved the loss. Do you believe that because
he doubted the children? Right. Like, he doubted them
from the minute that
I told him I was pregnant. Like... Like he's sitting here
like I wasn't honest with him. Just 'cause you saying
you didn't do nothing
on your break with me but we were broke up. We wasn't supposed
to get back together. So, I was doing me.
What's wrong with that? And I was honest when
we did decide we were
going to be back together. After all that, after she was
honest with me,
I respected that. <i> "You were honest with me.
Let's get this right."</i> RICKIYA: <i> Right.</i> <i> She was still
sleeping with this man</i> after Hannah was born. (AUDIENCE MURMURS DISAPPROVAL) AKEEN: Your Honor,
matter of fact... Is that true, Ms. Zachary? Yes, I was. Yes, I was. Because we decided
that we wasn't
gonna be together. We just been on a break... We've been on and off
for five years! ...for about a month and... We've been on and off
for five years! ...the guy, that's
Hannah's dad, he just slept with her
two weeks ago. Two weeks ago! We're on a break for a month. RICKIYA: Really, Akeen? She just slept with him
two weeks ago in my bed. She didn't go to his house.
She didn't go to a hotel. It was the bed that we share. Really? It was the bed that we share. How do you
have this information? You told him this too,
Ms. Zachary? Yes, I did. She told me
the information but... Oh! ...you wanna know how
I really know the information? Yes, I did. And it's not your bed,
it's my home. When I came in,
my daughter... That's my house. My daughter which is
her daughter,
not my biological daughter. My three-year-old daughter
was like, "Man, it was...
Somebody over here
that wasn't right. "I didn't know him." I mean, I'm, "Well, okay.
So what's going on, Rickiya?" What do you mean,
"What's going on?" She told the truth
after I convinced her. That she had another man
around my children. Your Honor... And... He did some
messed up stuff to me. And another thing is, the
children referred to her... Why do you expect me to be loyal to him, when he ain't
got to be loyal to me? ...as Hannah's dad. He ain't ever been
loyal to me. The children referred to him as Hannah's dad. JUDGE LAKE:
Let's bring it down a notch. So, Mr. Thomas, Ms. Zachary says you
weren't loyal to her, too. Were you cheating? No, I was not... Akeen. Really? Your Honor, I go to work,
I come home... Really? I cook,
I take care of the kids. Okay. That's what I do, Your Honor.
Every day. Okay. Every day. Okay. I'd like to hear from
your witness. Please stand, sir. (CLEARS THROAT) State your name
for the court. Pierre Hill. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hill,
you are Mr. Thomas'... Uncle. Yes. Uncle. What do you know
about this situation? You know what, Your Honor?
This whole situation
is just crazy like from the fighting
to the arguing
and stuff like that. I don't think that
he is the father of Hannah. JUDGE LAKE: You don't. And the reason why
is because... Why? ...she just don't
look like him. And another reason, one time, me and,
you know, uh... Rickiya was hanging out
in her house. They had got into it. He had left to get some air and, uh, she actually
showed me pictures. I don't know if she was mad, I don't know if she was
in her feelings or something. I had never
told him this, ever because I just didn't want
no part of it, I didn't wanna
get into it. But she showed me pictures of, who she really thought was,
the baby's dad. JUDGE LAKE: <i> Really?</i> <i> Yeah. I mean, so,
when I seen these pictures,</i> <i> I didn't really know
how to take it,
I didn't know what to do.</i> Did you show Mr. Hill
a picture of someone
you said... RICKIYA: Yes,
I did show him a picture but that was after the fact
that he already let me know that Mr. Thomas had
already been talking to him
about, uh, Hannah. Right, but the way
she told me though,
it was like... It was as if
she was sure, though. <i> The way she told me
was as if she was sure.</i> <i> That's the way
I took it, at least.
I could be wrong.</i> I wanna submit this.
This is... RICKIYA: Really? JUDGE LAKE: Jerome, may
I see this, please.
What is this, sir? It's uh... It's uh... You know, I was
going through her phone
the other day. I'm thinking...
I see Hannah's dad. Really? You know, I see Hannah's dad. I see the number under
Hannah's dad, you know. It put a smile on my face,
you know. I'm like, "Yeah,
I've been gone for
a couple of weeks, you know. "She got my name under
'Hannah's dad', you know. "We're getting there,"
you know, and... And I look at it and I'm like,
"Hold on." I'm reading the text messages
and I'm like, "This isn't me.
This isn't even
my phone number." <i> The rest of the kids
come in and tell me
Hannah's dad was here.</i> <i> Like, where did they come?
Like where did they come... ?</i> The kids are saying that
Hannah's dad was at the house? Yeah, they said "Hannah's dad"
and I'm like, "What you mean,
Hannah's dad'." No, the kids did not
tell him anything. Mr. Thomas was
going through my phone
and that's how he knew. So, you are admitting
that you have a person
logged into your contacts as "Hannah's dad." No, I do not. So this isn't from your phone? I don't know what
that document is, so
I can't answer that for you. I do have messages... That's a screenshot
of the text messages that's been printed out,
Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You can look. Are you familiar with
the number that's listed here? Your Honor, I wear glasses,
so I can't see
from right there. What's the number? 2-2-4 and then it's 5-7-2 and we can't say the rest. That's possible
that that's his number. Is that your phone number,
Mr. Thomas? No. No, my number
starts 2-2-4-6-1-9. He has two
different numbers,
Your Honor. My other number is 7-7-3. All right. He has two
different numbers,
Your Honor. Like, for real. All right. You, Mr. Thomas, say that this entire saga, leading up to the point
where she admitted that she had slept with
this other gentleman, this entire doubt
is the cause why you believe
you deserve, and you need,
to have a DNA test. Yeah. Yes. This is
the cause of everything,
Your Honor. This is the cause of
relationship problems. This is the cause
of me denying Hannah, and I wouldn't even say
"denying her." No one knows about this
in my family. My mom, my dad,
they all like, "Oh, well, you have
another daughter." Even my... My oldest daughter,
she always like, <i> "When I'm gonna
see my little sister?"
you know...</i> <i> "When I'm gonna
see my little sister?"</i> <i> See, no one... I...</i> I don't walk around
telling people
this is not my daughter. All of her kids
look at me like their father. I'm their father. Not even
look at me like their father.
I'm their father. When I get in from work,
it can be 2:00 in the morning, it can be 5:00
in the afternoon,
they're choking me to death trying to get up to me
and hug me. Hannah, she's
jumping up and down
when I come through the door. I love the kids just like
they're my kids, and they
are my kids, you know... I have raised those kids
from the beginning. And I'm not going to
stop raising those kids. So, what happens if Hannah is not your
biological daughter, today?
What happens? I'm really not sure. Like, the way
I'm feeling right now,
Your Honor, today is like... Really, the last
couple of hours that
I'm able to think in my head, "Okay. Well, the 'maybe,'
you know." <i> I've been okay with
that "maybe," you know.</i> <i> I've been okay with saying,
"Maybe she's mine,
maybe she's not" but...</i> But, maybe she's mine,
you know. I've been okay with that,
you know. When I find out these results,
it's gonna be like, "99.999" like... "There's no 'maybes' anymore,
you know. It's nothing." I don't know
what that'll do to me, 'cause I love this girl
just like she's mine. I love her like... I've been
there for everything,
from birth and everything. <i> I've always been
there for her.</i> <i> And it's just like,
you know...</i> <i> This is like... It's just
been tearing, like...</i> I've always wanted a family
since I was younger. This is like... This is
tearing away my family,
my children, everything. This is not just
the relationship that
I'm leaving, like, you know. They my life,
everything to me. Waking up to my son
in the morning, you know.
Going to sleep with my son. Seeing Hannah laugh and play,
you know, even with Rickiya.
I'm sorry. You don't have to apologize. That's my life.
They my life. All I do is work
and have them. I have my job
and I have them,
you know. And if they're gone, it's just
gonna be like, my, my job. And I mean,
that's not enough for me. Your family
is important to you. My family is
very important to me. JUDGE LAKE: And that's... That's how it should be. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) That's how it should be. You never have to apologize for feeling emotional
about your family. Not in this courtroom. All right. Given the testimony
I've heard thus far today, I believe there is
a reasonable legal basis, cause to order a DNA test. I want you both
to immediately go and submit to that testing and we will reconvene
for the results. Are we clear? BOTH: Yes, Your Honor. Jerome, please
escort them out. Court is adjourned. JEROME: Go ahead, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: Hello, Mr. Thomas
and Ms. Zachary. We are back in court. You have submitted
to DNA testing. Is there anything
you'd like to say to the court before I read these results? We gotta hear
what you got to say but... No, it really don't matter.
I already got my mind made up. Anything you'd like to say,
Ms. Zachary? I just want to say, I made mistakes, you know. I never meant to hurt anybody. I'm nervous,
I'm scared, like... I just want him
to be her dad. That's it. I understand. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. "In the case of<i>
Thomas v. Zachary,</i> "when it comes to
15-month-old "Hannah Thomas, "it has been determined
by this court, "Mr. Thomas, you... (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) "...are her father." (LAUGHING JOYFULLY) (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) (RIKIYA SOBBING) (AKEEN LAUGHING) Oh, my God. Oh, my God. JUDGE LAKE: Great news, right? I'm so happy
for the both of you. Your daughter is
the most important thing. You have other children
that rely on you both. Do what it takes to create
a strong family bond. Because that's what's
gonna help them really have a great future and that's what you both
want for them, right? I wish you
the very, very best of luck. Court is adjourned. RICKIYA: Thank you.
