You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor,
this is the case of<i>
Haysbert v. Howard.</i> Thank you, Jerome. You're welcome. Good day, everyone. HAYSBERT AND HOWARD:
Good day. Ms. Haysbert, you are suing
the father of your six-month
old son for a paternity test. HAYSBERT: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And you claim
the defendant, Mr. Howard, has never financially
supported baby Ricardo Jr. Yes. You also state that he once
led you to believe that
he wanted to marry you. And even asked you
to have his baby. Yes. But once you were
actually pregnant,
you say he abandoned you, and, has since,
fathered another baby... Mmm-hmm. ...who is only two weeks older
than your child. HAYSBERT: Yes, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Howard,
you argue that Ms. Haysbert told you that
Ricardo Jr. was not your son and, therefore, is not
your responsibility. Yes. You are counter-suing
for $1,000 in damages
for a ring Ms. Howard pawned that was given to you
by your late grandmother. Yes, ma'am. Okay, Ms. Haysbert,
please tell me
how your relationship began. I met this clown at the Washington Redskins
Stadium. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: Hold on
one second now. When we used to work together. Hold on one second. Let's use respectful language. We were co-workers,
and then, after that,
we became friends, like... JUDGE LAKE: Okay. We used to chill with
each other outside of work. It was to the point, like,
when something was wrong,
he came to me. After that, you know,
we started having sex
and we got drunk. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) And... So, yeah, we got drunk
and had sex, and that's how
I conceived my son. Got drunk and had sex? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) After that, like, I knew
he had a girlfriend and,
you know, I didn't mind because we were just friends.
Then it came to the point
where he told me because that when she was pregnant
when, you know,
we first started hanging out. And she had a miscarriage. So he told me... I told you
I had a girlfriend. You knew I had
a girlfriend. So Keyana... You know what you wanted. Keyana, you told me,
it was your girlfriend. Anyway, Keyana was
the girlfriend and then
he told me they broke up. So he was saying how
he wanted to marry me, how he wanted me
to have his son. HOWARD: Marry you? So he didn't mind.
He wanted to be
in the relationship. This girl is crazy. So once I got pregnant,
and I told him I was pregnant, he acted like
he won a lottery. He was so excited HOWARD: Oh... "Oh, Junior! Oh, I can't
wait for you to have my son." What? Where the money at? He was so excited.
Then, soon... Where's the money at
if I won the lottery? Then, as soon as... My fifth or sixth month
of pregnancy, he wanted
to change up the tables. He wasn't there.
He didn't even come
to the doctor's appointments. HOWARD: Girl, she's a liar. At about six months? Yes, and that's when
the girlfriend started calling
my phone, telling me, "Oh, they're still together."
That he never
broke up with her. That he was a...
That he lied, basically.
That she lived with him. I can't believe
she's lying in a court. That they live together. So I was like,
"Okay, well, he's telling me
y'all been broke up." I cannot believe that
you're lying in a court. I really can't believe that
you're lying in court. She asked me... When she called me,
she asked me, oh,
when did we start dating... And we were pregnant
around the same time. So she was asking, oh... Really? Yes,
pregnant around the same time. His daughter was born
December 27th. You know, this is
a good moment that I think
I wanna hear from Mr. Howard. Thank you, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) 'Cause I have to say
something. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Yes.
I wanna know, first off, You know... did you get two girls
pregnant at the same time? Yes, I did, Your Honor.
But... But... AUDIENCE: Ooh... I didn't mean to. (LAUGHING) I mean... He didn't mean to. That's the only thing
I can really say. He didn't mean to. But it happened.
But at the same time... He didn't mean to. ...she did call me a clown.
I want to respect your court. But she's looking like one,
for real. AUDIENCE: Ooh... Let's be respectful. I am being respectful,
but she... That's why you're so... The only person you are
making commentary about is yourself
'cause you just admitted... HAYSBERT: Exactly. ...that you slept with her. So it was obviously
something about... (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) You wanted this
so what are you saying? I didn't put no gun
to your head. I didn't put
no gun to your head. You found out
she was pregnant. Yes. When? How? She told you?
She called you? Yeah, she said,
"I'm pregnant." I said, "Oh, you is?"
I said, "Damn!" (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) So I said... Uh, Mr. Howard,
you're in the court. I apologize, ma'am. I was like,
"Oh, you pregnant? "Okay." And she was like, "Well, what you gonna do?" I say, "I'm gonna man up.
I'm a man about mine. Let's...
I'm gonna take care of it." I don't know why she lied
in court, but she knows
that I'm a good guy. I done tried to do
all types of things. I done
tried to take care of my son. HAYSBERT: No, he didn't.
No, he didn't. I asked for a DNA test. She didn't wanna give me
a DNA test. Okay. So now I'm trying
to understand your point.
She told you she was pregnant. Yes. You said, "If it's mine,
I'm gonna man up." Yes. But at some point,
you said to yourself, "This is important
that I get a DNA test"? Yes. Because you don't feel like you two were
in a committed relationship
when this happened? You felt like
this could potentially be
someone else's child as well? She was bouncing around. I wasn't bouncing around.
I was only with you. That's you. You were sleeping
with me and Keyana
at the same time. You had to lie and say
that you weren't with her... HOWARD: Lie? ...in order for you
to even talk to me. Yes, you lied. Why did I have to lie? You told me that
you weren't with her anymore. But, yet,
she was calling your phone,
blowing up your phone... You say, "I'm only gonna
be there for the baby. "That's why I'm talking
to her, for the baby." You told me that your daughter
wasn't yours because she was
sleeping around on you. Can I explain? You told me
you didn't even know if the daughter was yours. But now, you're claiming her.
You do more for her
than you do for my son. My daughter looks
just like me.
What are you talking about? So what? She... Mmm-mmm. I've been dealing
with a lot of stuff... Yes. ...with this female,
Your Honor. And this is all I hear. Blah, blah, blah. 'Cause you're not doing
anything... It's all I hear. ...you gonna keep
hearing it. If I'm not doing anything... Why don't you man up? I didn't try to... You won't have to hear it. Let's get some order
in the court.
Let's get some order. Now, we're gonna hear from
Ms. Lynch in a moment. That's Keyana, we're gonna
hear from her in a moment. Ms. Haysbert,
Mr. Howard contends that once you told him
you were pregnant,
he asked you for a DNA test. No, he didn't. He was happy.
Because when I found out
I was pregnant, first, I took
a home pregnancy test. Okay. And I sent him
the picture of the results. Oh, my God. After that... Yes. And you say he was
happy about it? She said, "Like a lottery." He came over to my house. She said, "Like a lottery." He used to rub my belly
and tell my son, while he was in my stomach, "Oh, I will never leave you.
I will always
take care of you. "I'm gonna always
be here for you." But he's lying
because he hasn't
been there at all. You crazy.
I've been buying you stuff and you've been
pushing nothing but
stuff away. First of all, you gave my son
hand-me-downs. Hand-me-downs? Do you think he's
about to wear that? What's a hand-me-down? I bought my son stuff. I've been buying him stuff. You got
all the hand-me-downs. Why would I give my son
hand-me-downs? You crazy. You bought him hand-me-downs. Come on. She crazy, Judge. I would never buy my son
no hand-me-downs. The clothes were... (GAVEL BANGING) ...my son no hand-me-downs. Ms. Haysbert,
after he says that he would
step up to the plate, you're saying he actually
denied your son. He did. Oh... He wanna play around since
he wanna act like he Madea,
tell me some, "Let's go get dinner.
Let's go to the clinic
to see who the baby is." HOWARD: Damn! And let me tell you...
Like, he don't... He said that he never
told me he loved me,
wanted a relationship. Here you go, right here,
Your Honor. He told me he loved me,
he don't wanna lose me... Jerome, will you
hand me that? So, you know... What is that you have
in your hand? How he was telling me
how I'm his life. Life? When we was together,
he said he loved me. He used to always say,
"Till death do us apart"
when he gave me that ring. That's 'cause I was... Uh... I didn't give you nothing.
You stole it. You said... You stole it. You's a liar... I stole it? How would I steal something
from you? ...up in this courtroom. That's all you do. Let me know how I'm gonna
steal something from you? (GAVEL BANGING) Order in the court. Now, are these the kind
of text messages you send to women that are
just your friend? (AUDIENCE GRUNTING) (MUMBLING) Oh, my God. "Love you, babe.
Kiss my son for me." Kiss my son for me. You acknowledged him.
How are you going to deny him,
then acknowledge him? Thank you very much. Okay, since we got so much
about my son, since you trying
to make it seem like
I'm just a bad guy, and all this stuff. Why do I have to catch a bus
if you have a car? Won't you see... When he was
in the hospital... Won't you see the text message
that she wrote me
to say that my son was dead? What about that? AUDIENCE: Ooh... Since you wanna bust out
talking about, "I love you and
I want you." Girl, please. Hey, let's get back.
Like I was saying... (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Bailiff, can you please
give this to Your Honor,
please? I don't know what in the world
you're talking about. She said she wanna show stuff
about text messages 'cause that's probably
been a brick ago.
But she's... Somebody sent me
a text message,
which I knew was her. She tried to make it seem
like it was somebody else,
but it wasn't, 'cause she plays it
like a game. Why would I tell you
that my son is dead and he's just fine? And she said
that my son was dead. These text messages
do indicate
that somebody was texting about a baby passing away. Your Honor, that don't have
anything to do with me. She's lying. No, no, no. No, I don't know anything
about that. I'm asking what do you know
about it. I don't know anything
about that.
Keyana called me the next day saying, "Oh, Ricardo wants
to know if his son is dead." And I let her know that
if something was to happen
to my son, I would not let him know
for the simple fact
he's not there for him. He has no right to know
what goes on in my son's life.
He's my son. But you just said
that I want you. I take care of him. He's mine. You said that I want you. (GAVEL BANGING) You're not doing nothing.
What is it you really doing? Let's get some order.
I almost can't believe
I have to do this, but I need to bring in,
and hear from, Ms. Lynch. As if the courtroom
was not already in an uproar. Yeah, bring her in,
'cause she's gonna tell you. JUDGE LAKE: Uh-uh... HAYSBERT: Let the slut
tell it like it is. JUDGE LAKE: Excuse me. Mr. Howard... Mr. Howard... Let the slut
tell it like it is. He has no respect for her,
anyway. Jerome, please escort Ms. Lynch... I will not be able
to step for him. ...into the courtroom. Your baby mother, dummy. Oh, you know...
You know her name. Your Honor,
this girl is a liar, because if she doesn't have
respect for me... (CLAMORING) (GAVEL BANGING) Were you guys on a break
or were you together? Explain to the court
what is going on. Yes, we had broke up one time. But when we broke up,
it was a week, so I really
don't call that as a broke up. HAYSBERT: Broke up? For one, she knew
we was in a relationship. She knew that. For them to get drunk,
she won't have respect
for herself to sleep with
somebody else's man. And Mr. Howard,
during that time,
you were with Ms. Lynch, but you were also
with Ms. Haysbert? Yes. So Ms. Haysbert
was your best friend. Best friend/sidechick. I'm never nobody's sidechick,
sweetheart. You were sleeping
with both women
is the bottom line. Yes. He think he Baby Boy,
Your Honor. AUDIENCE: Ooh... What? And at a certain point,
you two women were pregnant
at the same time? Yes. You're denying
Ricardo Jr. is your child? Or you have doubts? Yes, because she told me one time
when she was pregnant,
that I wasn't the father. She done told me that,
"You ain't nothing..."
like she said, "...a sperm donor." And I done tried everything
with this girl. I done tried to pour
my heart out to this girl.
I done gave my son such... You say "hand-me-downs"
but that was brand-new. His mother calls my son
"the boy." I put up with all
of this stuff. She calls him "the boy." She can't even respect my son. I put up with all this stuff
with her because of her mouth. It was times when...
When he first told me,
like, in the beginning, he told me, he said,
"He gonna come live with us."
Da-da-da-da-da. I'm like, "Okay, cool.
What's yours, I respect that. "If he your son,
I'm your woman,
that's my son too." I'm not gonna do anything
to hurt that child. Bitch, please, not ever. Now, that's me. I'm a woman,
I'm gonna be...
I'm gonna be a woman... I'm strong, I got faith.
That's just how I am. So there was times when
we came to the hospital we got him clothes
because she didn't have
no clothes for him. He had clothes!
You gave him hand-me-downs! We gave him clothes. You gave hand-me-downs. All the hospital stuff. Yeah, she brought him
out of the hospital
with a blanket. (CLAMORING) (GAVEL BANGING) Let's get some order. What outfit?
You talking about the diaper? That's what
you talking about? Let's get some order. Let's get some order. So, Ms. Haysbert... Yes. Is part of your anger and your inability to just
give Mr. Howard
any benefit of the doubt, is because you feel lied to
on every level? Yes. Meaning, from the beginning. Yes. You thought they were
broken up, you were friends,
and the next thing you know, you're sleeping with him
but you find out
they're really still together. Then, once they're still
together, both of you
are pregnant at the same time. He's paying attention to her
when she's pregnant, and not
paying any attention to you. And she calls my phone,
asking me, "Are you and Ricardo
still messing around?" She tells me, "I check his
voicemail, text messages..." You're doing too much,
sweetheart.
You're doing too much. All she does is harass me all
day every day. She texts me... Where my ring that you pawned? It's gone. It's gone. Where my ring at? It's gone.
You're not getting it back... (CLAMORING) Speaking of the ring, I'm glad
for once you brought up
something I wanna talk about. She got a motor-mouth. Mr. Howard, the ring
that you are counter-suing for the value of $1,000,
your grandmother's ring... Yes. Yes. ...you say that
Ms. Haysbert pawned... Which she did,
yeah. Why the smirk? Because I did. What was your understanding?
Was it your understanding
that the ring was yours? It was, because he gave it
to me because he said
he wanted to marry me. I didn't give you nothing.
You tripping. So, therefore... I gave you nothing. Therefore, I pawned it. It was in my right to pawn it. I didn't give you
nothing. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Haysbert... My grandmother
gave me that ring. You probably lied about that. It's priceless.
It's priceless. You lied about that. I would never lie
about my grandmother. She's in the grave.
She gave me that ring. You're a liar! You tripping. You're a liar! (GAVEL BANGING) Why can't you tell the truth
for once in your life? Get it under control. The lying
that you're talking about,
is what? What is the lie
about the ring? I don't think it belonged
to his grandmother,
for the simple fact that's the same ring
he gave to Keyana first,
and then he gave it to me. AUDIENCE: Ooh... JUDGE LAKE:
You gave it to Ms. Lynch... Mmm-hmm. ...and, Ms. Lynch,
you accepted... I gave it back. You gave it back to him? Yes, when I found out
about this chick. Now, Mr. Howard,
you then go and give it
to Ms. Haysbert? I didn't give it to her.
We was doing something
at the time, and, you know... We was not. You came to the
doctor's appointment... She confiscated my ring. ...and you gave me the ring. She's talking to me, booboo. JEROME: She's talking to him. I kept asking, "Can I get
my ring back?" "No, we ain't doing this.
Well, I left it at home. "Oh, my daughter
went into my room." She confiscated it? So, you're saying that
she basically stole your ring? She stole it. Look at her.
Look how she acts.
She's smiling. It's a joke to her.
Life is a big joke to her. What the court really believes
happened is, when she gave
you the ring back, you had an attitude. Uh-uh. That hurt you because
you wanted to be with her
and not Ms. Haysbert. But Ms. Haysbert
was your plan B. So, then, you went over there
and found yourself,
as you say, "We was doing something." And as it relates
to this evidence here, it sounds like you were doing
a lot of "I love you,"
and "love you too." That's what you were doing. So why is it that Ms. Haysbert
would not think that
that ring was given to her on the basis of love
and a relationship, or even
in anticipation of marriage, if you're telling her
you love her? And once you give a gift,
Mr. Howard,
it's not revocable. You can't take it back
unless she voluntarily
gives it back. So she did have the right
to pawn it. I did not give her no ring. That's crazy. Judgment for the plaintiff
in that. Moving on to the DNA... Now, we're first
going to get the results
of Ms. Lynch's child. These results were prepared
by DNA Diagnostics. In the case of<i>
Haysbert v. Howard,</i> pertaining to six-month old
London Howard, Mr. Howard, you are... ...the father. LYNCH: We know. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I don't sleep with everybody
like that broad do. JUDGE LAKE: We're now
gonna hear the next results. So, Ms. Lynch, now that
you know that your child
was fathered by Mr. Howard, how are you going to handle,
if, in fact, Ms. Haysbert's child
was fathered by him as well? We're gonna move forward. I'm gonna continue to be
with him, we will continue
to have faith, grow. We're gonna build our
relationship and, yeah,
we're gonna more forward. HAYSBERT: What relationship? He gonna take care
of his son like he was trying to do
in the beginning when
she was not allowing him to. So, yeah. JUDGE LAKE: And you're
willing to encourage him
on that level? I accept him. Yes, I do. (MUMBLING) JUDGE LAKE: In the case of<i>
Haysbert v. Howard,</i> pertaining to six-month old
Ricardo Howard Jr., Mr. Howard, you... In the case of<i>
Haysbert v. Howard,</i> pertaining to six-month old
Ricardo Howard Jr., Mr. Howard, you are... ...his father. Till death do us part. All right. I'm gonna be a man. So it is what it is. I'm gonna be a man.
I'm gonna be a man. Don't call my phone. I'm gonna be a man. "Put your baby on my phone."
Don't touch my phone. You will never see him. Never. Ms. Haysbert,
throughout this entire case, I have watched you wear
the hurt on your sleeve. All this pouncing around
and bouncing that hair
and acting crazy, you know, I almost allowed you
to do it more than I would
in any other circumstance, because a part of me
feels for you. You know, you're living that
typical home girl life. Hmm. The guy is with another girl
but he got a home girl. And the line is too blurred
between friendship
and more than friendship. I don't know why,
I don't know who hurt you
in your past, I don't know
what bad relationships
you've been in, or where you were
in your life, to where you
fell for the okey doke. But you did. You're right. And now, you have a child
because of it. You don't get along, fine,
but you don't keep that child
away from his father. Ricardo Jr., right? So, "I'm gonna name you
after a man I'm not gonna
even let you see." Stop the nonsense! Are we clear? Yes. You've learned your lesson,
am I correct? Oh, I did. Yes. And you need to learn yours. Quit running around
with your grandmother's ring, talking about who you love
and who you don't love. Decide, as a man,
who you love,
commit to that woman, and develop
a real relationship. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I want better
from all three of you. Are we clear? Yes. Court is adjourned. Yes, ma'am. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I feel like, you know,
I learned a lot from her. I'm gonna take her advice
and, you know, I'm just
gonna move on in my life. Me and my son
are gonna be fine. I'm not gonna deal
with this drama. You know, when I get back
home, we gonna do
what we have to do. Judge Lake told me that
I got a lot of growing up
to do, she's right. But, you know,
life goes on, you know. I'm gonna try and be a father
to my son the whole time 'cause I'm a man,
and that's what men do.
