You say this is the third
time a woman has claimed you
are her child's father. The first two times,
DNA testing proved you
were not the father. And you now doubt your
girlfriend, Ms. Stembridge's
6 month old daughter is yours. Yes, Your Honor. You state, she is engaged in
several sexual affairs outside
of the relationship including with your former friend
and roommate. Yes, Your Honor. Now, Ms. Stembridge, you
argue that you have always been up front and honest with
Mr. Buchanan. Yes, Your Honor. You said that his roommate
made up the whole story
of you sleeping with him. And furthermore you claim
Mr. Buchanan has a history
of women lying to him so now he trusts nobody,
especially you. Yes, Your Honor. First, the best friend tells
you he slept with your girl. Then you go home and you see
that they have been partying
together again. He couldn't get laid off of
beers so he going to
go to liquor, alright. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Check this out,
check this out. Check this out, alright.
First day we got together,
you know what we drank? What? Lemon drops. Ahh. Lemon drops, alright. I didn't want you to say that. You know what I got that night after I drank
lemon drops with her? I don't want to know. AUDIENCE: Oooh. Alright. So what
do you think Eric got when they drank lemon
drops first time? This guy is weird. JUDGE LAKE: So, wait a minute.
Mr. Buchanan, so... You're basically saying
that these lemon drops are an aphrodisiac
for your girlfriend? Oh yeah. So, you don't need her to be drinking lemon drops
with anybody but you. Oh yeah. Alright.
But check this out. Okay. Mr... Okay, so I get back, I get
outta jail alright and
I get back, who calls me? I get a phone call from my ex,
alright. My ex is who I was
dating before her. I get a phone call, I'm like
"Yeah. What's up?" Oh, I need to check my girl?
Why I need to check my girl? "No, you need to
check your girl. "She was laid up in your best
friend's bed while you were
locked up, "laid up there sideways in
some booty shorts and a
spaghetti strap." What? Wait... (AUDIENCE HOWLING) Wait a minute, and you
have a witness to that? These are my booty shorts. They are not that short,
Your Honor. They are not
that short. I'll put 'em on
right now, Your Honor. If you can see the McDonald
arches and the booty line,
that's booty shorts. I want to deal with
the issue at hand. All right. Two weeks
after all this went down, all right, we take a pregnancy
test, 'cause Jess is talking
about how she's late. Late? Late on what? "I ain't bleeding...
I'm late." All right, so we took
a pregnancy test. Boom. Pregnant.
Positive, all right? Not like positive
as in, like, good job, positive as in like, there's
something growing in there. All right? Two weeks later! All right? That's why I'm
denying that little girl, man. Because, I'm gonna
tell you what. Two weeks later
and she's pregnant?
We took three of them. They all came back saying
there's something growing in
there. Look at that! I mean, I'm gonna
tell you what, I love
that little girl. All of my heart. All right? I love that girl.
I don't care if Eric
is the dad. I'm the father. (CROWD CLAPPING) Financially, physically,
mentally, I take care of that child. And I've been taking care
of Jessica for the past
24 months to make sure we have
a place to lay our head
with that baby. All right. So, you've been stepping up
to the plate and doing
the right thing? Oh, yeah. But you have doubts. Oh, yes. So it could be
your baby or it could
be your best friend's. It could be Eric's, it could
be probably some other people
that I don't know about. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Buchanan. What are your hopes?
Do you have any feeling that this could be your child? I hope
that little girl's mine. JESSICA: Hopes are granted,
she's yours. JOSHUA: She loves me
to death, man. He's a great father to that
little girl, Your Honor. That baby has to have me every night
to go to sleep. That baby will not go to sleep
unless she has me laying
in that bed with her. STEMBRIDGE: He is a great
father, Your Honor. You have tears in your eyes
as you speak about her. Yeah. That's my life. If she's not your biological
daughter, what will you do? If it ain't mine...
(CHUCKLES) She gonna have to
get a good lawyer,
is all I got to say, 'cause I'm gonna fight
to take that child. In the case of <i> Buchanan v. Stembridge,</i> when it comes
to six month old Sophia, Mr. Buchanan... You... Are her father. (CLAPPING) Thank you! That's a blessing! MCNEIL: Not enough
lemon drops. Not enough lemon.
They ran out of lemons. Thank you. He must have done something,
but I already got her
knocked up. Thank you, thank you. They ran out of lemon,
or you already... It's obvious that you're happy
and you're pleased. Oh, yeah, that's... Yeah, I love that baby
to death, I'm glad she's mine. JUDGE LAKE: Good. She got a good father. Yup. (CROWD LAUGHS) Mr. Pierce Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You are summoning
your ex-fiance, Ms. Covell, for a paternity test to prove that
her one-year-old son
Julien is not your son? That is correct, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You claim
Ms. Covell deceived you into believing you were the
father and it was not until
Julien was six months old when she finally confessed
that she had cheated and
you may not be the father? Correct, Your Honor. Now, you're suing for
fraudulent misrepresentation. Am I correct? Correct, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Covell, you
admit that you cheated around
the window of conception but you still say
you have no doubt Mr. Pierce
is your child's father? Yes, Your Honor. All right, so Ms. Covell,
how do you feel about being
dragged into court today? I am a little upset.
I want to prove that
he is the father. I want to show him
that I have been
telling the truth. I know
I made a mistake. But I have been paying for it
every single day since
I have told him. You've called off
your engagement. Correct. We, uh, when I found out
I just had to call it off. I mean, there's no
sense in really trying
to go for a marriage because it's not true. How do you feel when
you hear Mr. Pierce say
these things, Ms. Covell? It really hurts me. Um, I know
I made a mistake at one time, um, we were both going through
an emotional rollercoaster
at that time period. I made a mistake one time.
I understand that my son looks
nothing like him, but he looks identical to
me when I was a baby. PIERCE: <i> You don't see
no color in that baby.</i> JUDGE LAKE: <i> Take me back.</i> I want to understand
how you uncovered and discovered
that Ms. Covell was cheating. Well... (CLEARS THROAT)
Around Valentine's Day, around her birthday,
we got engaged. I proposed to her.
She was pregnant
with Julien at the time. And, uh... (CLEARS THROAT) It was after he was born,
you know, we were going
really good. And, I don't know
what came over me,
but I was just like, "You know, we are doing
really good right now.
We're, whatever. "If there's anything
you got to tell me, "you know, let's get it out
in the air right now. "I am not going to get mad
because we are so, in
a good place right now." It was like, you know,
here's your free pass. She told me, you know,
that she had cheated
on me back. (CLEARS THROAT) You know,
I can't remember the exact
month that she cheated on me. And I lost it, I mean,
I started crying.
I was very upset and I asked her,
I was like so was it
around the same time? You know,
is it possibly his? And so, Ms. Covell,
why did you finally come
clean in that moment? Why not say
something before? Um, from day number one,
I had been wanting
to tell him. Uh, my conscience
was eating at me,
it was killing me. But because we were
in such a good place, I didn't want to ruin
everything that we had. So, that was my perfect
opportunity. I didn't want
to continue lying. He asked me directly. So
I wanted to make sure that
I told him the truth. I told him. I tried to
tell him the whole story
in one night. He wasn't having it. So,
it took about three days for everything to
finally unfold, and for me
to finally tell him yes, it was about
the same time period, as when I got pregnant
with my son. How did you end up
in the arms of another man? Um, after I lost
that baby, um, he was very supportive
on and off while I was
in the hospital. I didn't feel like he was... PIERCE: I was there. COVELL: I didn't feel like
he was there for me. You say you were there.
You might have been there
physically but not emotionally. PIERCE: You know... You were not there. And the other guy was
asking me, you know,
"Are you okay? Have you, you know,
we missed you at work." You know, he...
It felt emotionally like
he was more there for me and when we hung out
the one time, just one thing led to
another and it got to be... How do we know that's
the only time though? Can anybody just
say any couple of words
to make you feel good? Go ahead and take
the lie detector test. It was only
a one-time thing. And I want a lie
detector test. I mean, even after the baby,
if he does prove to be mine,
how do I know that it's not happened
any other time? I mean, you are
the queen of being late. (CHUCKLES) PIERCE: You always... Okay. You work five minutes away
from home and every day
there's something. "Oh, I had to take
this person home. Oh, I had
to stay and finish this. "Oh, we got busy.
I had to do this." I do my job. Okay, but... I make sure that
my work is done. When you're five minutes away
and every day you come home
at a different time. And you cheated with one
of your ex-coworkers. How do I, how am I
not to think that, that time that you were
coming... Or, "working"... Do I not ever bring
time punch slips home? If you ever have a question... Not all the time,
I don't... I don't want the... Because I understand. Time slips. That's not... I shouldn't have to
feel that way. I shouldn't
have to feel like I have to... COVELL: You are right.
You're right. You shouldn't. See a time slip to... Every time I look at him,
I just... It's a reminder. You know, I want to be able to
look at him and see me,
not see a question mark. It's a beautiful thing to know
that this matters so much to
you as a man, as a father. I don't want to be
a bad dad. It's just... You know, I realize
I am hurting him,
affecting him by not developing that more
personal bond but sometimes
you got to be greedy and think about how can I
be happy knowing that and feeling that way, to be
happy for my daughter? You got to be happy
with yourself to be happy
for your kids. And so when those moments
where maybe you're
pulling away, my concern is maybe
he feels that pull. And I don't want him to feel
that. I don't want to take it
out on him. He's never done
nothing. It's not his fault. I mean, that's the worst thing
that can happen. JUDGE LAKE: It has been
determined by this court, Mr. Pierce, you are Julien's father. Yes! (APPLAUSE AND WHOOPING) Great news, right? Thank you, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE:
You are so welcome. (EXHALES SLOWLY) I am sorry. I really am sorry for
putting you through all this. I am sorry too
and hopefully we can just
move on from here and build back to
what we had and what we
can have. (APPLAUSE) I also have
the lie detector results. Because your concern was
that this was not just
a one-time thing, that potentially
there were more lies,
or instances of cheating, and at this point this has
warped your sense of security
in the relationship. Correct, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Are you sure
you would like to hear
the results? I might as well go back
with no regret. JUDGE LAKE: All right. I mean... Ms. Covell met with
a licensed polygraph expert and she was asked,
"Ms. Covell, "have you had sexual
relationships more than once "with the man
you cheated with?" You said, "No." The lie detector determined
that was the truth. (WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE) Ms. Covell, you were asked if
during your relationship
with Mr. Pierce, had you had sexual relations
with any other man besides
the one you admitted to. You said, "No." The lie detector determined
that was the truth. (APPLAUSE) I love you. I love you too. I am sorry. Sorry. (CRYING) 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." 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. 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. 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> 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. "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.
