Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Woman Claims Two Men As Baby's Father (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

JUDGE LAKE: You may be seated.

Hello, Your Honor.

Hello.

This is the case of Johnson/McIver v. Davenport.

Thank you, Jerome, good day everyone.

ALL: Good day.

Mr. Johnson, you are here today

to prove that you are not the biological father

of the defendant's three-year-old daughter, Malaya.

You and your fiancee say Ms. Davenport

is putting you on child support

even though she already confirmed another man

is the biological father. Is that correct?

Yes, ma'am. Yes, Your Honor.

Ms. Davenport, you say Malaya

was a planned pregnancy with Mr. Johnson,

and it wasn't until after he met his fiancee

that Mr. Johnson's doubts came into play.

Is that correct?

Yes, Your Honor.

So, Mr. Johnson, why do you believe Ms. Davenport is putting you on support

even though another man is the father?

Honestly, Your Honor, I just feel like, at the end of the day,

she knows that I am a good and a honest man,

and I'm a hard worker,

and at the same time, she knows that I've moved on,

and that I got engaged and I have a fiancee now.

And on top of all of that, she knows that I

definitely don't want to be on child support

to pay for a child that's not mine.

And so, Ms. Davenport, what is your position here today?

You know for certain Mr. Johnson is Malaya's biological father?

Yes, Your Honor.

And it's not about the support to you?

No, Your Honor.

What is it about for you?

Let him know the truth, and I want him to take care of his child.

Because you think it's important he knows the truth?

Yes.

Who does Malaya think is her dad now? Because she's three.

Um, my current boyfriend right now.

So you have a boyfriend right now?

Yes.

And Malaya calls him "daddy"?

Yes, Your Honor,

Because he's been there, before I, um, was pregnant,

and he was at the hospital with her.

JUDGE LAKE: He was there when you were pregnant?

DAVENPORT: Yes.

JUDGE LAKE: Was he there before you got pregnant?

No.

What was the nature of your relationship?

Were you all boyfriend and girlfriend, what's going on?

We worked at a job together.

Um, everything was copacetic at first,

until, like, years later,

I started noticing infidelity, a lot of lies.

So, you thought you were in a committed relationship,

but you say Ms. Davenport was having sex and dating

and out with other people.

Yes, but, at the same time, we were in a relationship.

No, Your Honor.

No, Your Honor.

'Cause we actually lived together.

He's lying.

JUDGE LAKE: Oh, so, you lived together?

Yeah, we used to live together.

Yes.

DAVENPORT: We stayed together.

So, were you cheating on Mr. Johnson, Ms. Davenport,

while you were living with him?

No, Your Honor.

He knows I wasn't.

So, where does he get this notion from?

He only... 'Cause, after I, uh, had the baby,

I posted pictures on Facebook of Chris and Malaya,

saying that he was a dad.

Oh, this is what you put on social media?

DAVENPORT: Yeah.

JUDGE LAKE: "Daddy and Malaya."

And he's in the hospital when she's born.

Yes.

'Cause I didn't have no dealing with Malik at the time.

She did, she just don't wanna speak on it,

but basically, we were in contact,

she said she will let me know when Malaya was born.

And I did not let him know.

And I did not find out until the next following day on social media

through everybody else, and family members,

that she's got pictures of another guy on social media,

and that's who the daddy is.

I did, because he was gonna come,

but me and him got into an argument.

JOHNSON: That wasn't the case, Your Honor.

DAVENPORT: I did not wanna deal with Malik.

She didn't want me there to sign the birth certificate,

and still, even having another person there

she didn't have him sign the birth certificate either.

JUDGE LAKE: So there's no father listed on Malaya's birth certificate right now?

No, Your Honor.

You do realize that once someone told him,

"Ms. Davenport has a picture up on social media that says,

"Daddy and Malaya," that would fuel his doubt,

"That Malaya's not mine, that's her daddy."

Mm-hmm.

And it did, it did, it hurt me and it had me confused.

DAVENPORT: It didn't have him confused, Your Honor.

I didn't know.

I was pregnant way before I met Chris, so he knew.

When I found out I was pregnant, I took a pregnancy test.

I showed him.

But the whole time she was cheating.

He was happy.

The whole time it was infidelity.

She sat up there, was trying to rekindle relationships with her exes.

MCIVER: That's her pattern, that's what she does.

No, Your Honor.

Even now, she'll try to rekindle the relationship with Malik.

DAVENPORT: No.

She will?

Sending him naked pictures.

No, Your Honor.

Ask for proof.

Texting him what she made for dinner.

JUDGE LAKE: Wait. Hold on, hold on.

Ms. McIver, what did you say?

Yeah, she'll send him pictures of her in her lingerie.

Send him pictures of what she done cooked for dinner.

Talking about, "Oh, you wish, your girl could cook like this."

Malik was texting me all the time.

And you were calling him all day, all night.

Talking about the baby at three o'clock in the morning.

JUDGE LAKE: Wait, hold on, hold on.

Texting at three o'clock in the morning,

sending him pictures of lingerie?

From the get go, it was drama.

Every time we get into it, Malik is like,

"Okay, she's not mine, she's not mine."

I'm not gonna deal with that.

MCIVER: You say the same thing though.

You'll sit there and tell him that it ain't his either.

JUDGE LAKE: And so, this makes you upset?

Yes.

Because he knows, we planned Malaya.

You said you planned her?

Yes, and he knows this.

And so, what are you feeling, Ms. Davenport?

You feel frustrated or betrayed?

What are you feeling?

Betrayed.

And why?

Because Malik knows, like, all the stuff we've been through

just to have a child.

That you went through a lot to have a baby.

Yes.

I had two miscarriages because of Malik.

Like, he's stresses me out.

I've been there for Malik through everything.

I took Malik in when he didn't have nobody.

See, something about this, to me, is so personal,

like I... I want it to just be about Malaya,

but I can see it's about a lot more.

Mm-hmm, yes.

And that she still has feelings for him.

No, I don't. I don't want him.

Yes, you do.

You still got feelings for me.

Yes, you do.

DAVENPORT: I don't even wanna talk to him.

He is always texting my phone.

Like, when she's not around.

So, the bottom line is... The bottom line is,

you still had some personal feelings for him

and he was stringing you along?

No, Your Honor.

JOHNSON: That's exactly...

JUDGE LAKE: Well, that's what it sounds like.

No, Your Honor.

Why is it you doubt

Malaya is your biological child?

Uh...

Were you there for the pregnancy?

Were you there supporting her through the pregnancy?

Um, yes, ma'am, in the beginning,

but she also sat up there and told me that I wasn't her dad.

I even have text messages over this.

Have you told him he was not the biological father?

Yes, Your Honor.

You have done that.

Yes, Your Honor.

Okay, so you rang that bell, now he can't unring it,

'cause once you said that, now he's got doubt.

Right. But he knows, he was there, we planned this.

I don't...

Malaya was a planned...

Just because you planned it, doesn't mean you couldn't

have been having sex with somebody else.

Once you tell him, "She's not your biological child,"

he's not gonna forget that.

Mr. Johnson, you actually submitted a text message to the court.

She said...

(JUDGE LAKE READING)

Your Honor, that's when I was like,

"Do you even have an inkling in your mind that this could be your child?

"Step up for her, 'cause when it gets said and done,

"and she 18, and she comes to you,

"you wanna be able to say, 'I did something for you.

"'I did everything in my power, despite your mother.'"

But he hasn't done anything.

So, I pushed Malik to start paying for the daycare.

Daycare.

She did came back and said,

"Oh, thanks for paying for all my kid's daycare."

That's why we stopped.

DAVENPORT: 'Cause he don't wanna step up and do what he supposed to.

That is not true, I am not the type of woman

that's gonna let my man not step up.

And you know he stepped up.

But you gotta step up for your son.

So don't sit here. And I don't.

You did.

It's you, it's not us.

No, it wasn't.

You the drama queen.

JUDGE LAKE: Okay, ladies, ladies.

Let's get some order.

(INDISTINCT) It be Malik.

That's why me and her stay in touch because of Malik.

And I had told her, plenty of time,

"Malik is doing this, Malik is texting me, can you tell him to stop?"

He's doing all this stuff, and I had told her plenty of times,

but she wanna believe everything that Malik says.

Then she'll go and she'll text Malik.

She'll say I'm not texting Malik, and I'll be sitting right next to Malik,

and she'll be texting him.

Because the whole thing was, they were supposed to go through me,

because they be at each other's throats.

This is not emotional, they were trying to embarrass me.

"Oh, can you meet me here? Can you meet me there?" And all that stuff.

And he got mad because I wouldn't.

And that's why they stopped, again, seeing Malaya.

MCIVER: No, that's a lie.

Yes, Your Honor.

Okay, so once you said that, now he's got doubt.

Mr. Johnson, do you have a relationship with Malaya? She's three.

Yes, Your Honor.

What kind of relationship do you have?

Um, basically, when I first started getting to see her,

or getting her, she was still very small and very young.

She calls the other guy "daddy".

Does she call you "daddy" too?

JOHNSON: No.

And so, how does she refer to you, "Mr. Johnson"?

No, she don't say none of them.

JUDGE LAKE: She doesn't say anything, she's just three.

Right, she understands my authority, and she listens to me.

JUDGE LAKE: So she knows that you are someone that's in her life regularly?

As much as possible, but not regularly,

because, of course, Tiffany, every time she gets upset

or every time her boyfriend are at good terms with each other,

I can't get my daughter.

Because he feels insecure.

DAVENPORT: Lies, Your Honor.

Because it was a situation where Tiffany set it up,

where she wanted me to have sex with her, in order to see my child.

DAVENPORT: That's a lie, Your Honor. That is a lie.

That's not true, because you called my phone back in October

and said y'all had sex in my car.

Yes, he lied about that, right?

With that being said, you just told him he's not telling the truth.

You're not telling the truth.

JUDGE LAKE: Wait, hold on, Ms. McIVer.

What did... What happened?

MCIVER: She called me a year ago, in October,

and I'm like, "Tiffany, what do you want now?

"What drama are you going today?"

And she was like, "I just wanna get it off my chest, cos I feel bad,

"but me and Malik had sex in your car."

JUDGE LAKE: In your car?

In my car.

Do not.

'Cause I let them get the car

to facilitate a new beginning for their daughter.

I've been trying to help them co-parent

and be copacetic with each other.

Not that... Not that copacetic.

Not that copacetic, Your Honor.

Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE LAKE: So, wait a minute.

You let them use your car

so they could work on exchanging of Malaya

and make sure everything was safe,

and they could get along and things could be going on schedule.

And they end up having sex in your car?

Mm-hmm, yes, Your Honor.

Is that true, Ms. Davenport?

Yes, Your Honor.

Is that true, Mr. Johnson?

Yes, Your Honor.

(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)

But that was her stipulation.

He couldn't... She texted his phone and told him,

he couldn't see her daughter unless he had sex with her.

They are lying, Your Honor.

I was just trying to be a stand up guy at the end of the day.

JUDGE LAKE: Oh, you was trying to be a stand up guy.

Yeah.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

DAVENPORT: Malaya wasn't even around,

Malaya wasn't even around.

So, he would call me and text me.

He would even try to pick me up from work.

Mr. Johnson, your credibility just sunk.

This relationship is a mess.

It's a hot mess. It is, I mean...

So, Ms. Davenport, do you truly believe

Mr. Johnson is Malaya's biological father,

or are you just hung up on this man

and caught up in this net he's thrown out?

DAVENPORT: No, Your Honor, I believe...

I believe, and I know in my heart, that he is the father.

Well, your heart is...

JUDGE LAKE: And if you had moved on, and you got the new boyfriend,

why are you having sex with him in the car?

'Cause that's what she do,

that's why there's doubts now,

'cause that's the type of stuff that she does.

She does.

Yeah, so he starts texting and calling again.

JUDGE LAKE: Well, no, no, no.

JOHNSON: That ain't gonna happen again.

Hold on, hold on.

DAVENPORT: Okay.

Now, after I've heard what I've heard,

yeah, I know he probably was texting.

You all were texting back and forth.

We're not even going to trip about that,

you're having sex in cars.

Yeah, you texting.

And if you're gonna do that,

you gonna keep texting,

you gonna send pictures, all of that...

All that was happening

It's a fact.

But another fact, that I think is of paramount importance,

is that, Ms. Davenport, you're here

because you're trying to break a generational curse

Yes.

because you didn't have your father.

Yes, Your Honor.

A young woman doesn't operate like this

unless there's some very, very deep wounds.

And even though the testimony may have been hard,

at the end of the day, we have to go through this

to make sure Malaya doesn't.

Because if you don't confront generational curses

and things that affect you...

You pass 'em down.

What are you feeling in this moment?

DAVENPORT: Hurt.

Why?

I don't know, all the stuff I've been through.

And I didn't think he would do this.

JUDGE LAKE: Well, I think, it's important in this moment

that we begin to see how we move forward.

And, I think, one of the best ways to do so,

is start with getting the truth.

Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE LAKE: Before I go to the results,

I have to ask you, Ms. Davenport,

have you considered, have you thought about

if he isn't the biological father?

I know that in my mind, and I know in my heart, that he is.

You haven't even thought about what you will do?

No.

How about you, Mr. Johnson?

I mean, you all have developed a relationship with this baby,

she may not call you daddy, but...

But my daughters call her sister.

My daughters still, when they say yo-yo...

My daughters are being affected

'cause they look at Malaya like she's their little sister.

Absolutely. It affects the whole family.

MCIVER: We haven't been able to see her,

and they're like, "Where's our sister, when she's coming over?"

JUDGE LAKE: And have you considered,

"If I'm not the biological father,"

what then will you tell the children?

MCIVER: I just want the crazy dysfunction and yo-yo-ing to stop,

because it's affecting my kids.

JOHNSON: Yeah.

JUDGE LAKE: I am concerned for Malaya, I'm not gonna lie.

There's a lot going on here,

and I wanna get the answers for you and for her now,

so we can figure out how we pull this thing together.

Jerome, I'm ready for the results.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics,

and they read as follows.

In the case of Johnson/McIver v. Davenport...

I mean, you all have developed a relationship with this baby.

When it comes to three-year-old Malaya Davenport...

It has been determined by this court...

You are the father.

Mr. Johnson, you...

Are the father.

DAVENPORT: Told you.

I know, I know.

JUDGE LAKE: Now he finally knows.

(CHUCKLES)

You are the father.

Does it feel good to finally know?

Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.

JUDGE LAKE: How do you feel, Ms. Davenport?

I'm happy.

You look happy.

JUDGE LAKE: Tears of joy?

Yes, ma'am.

Just glad it's over?

Yes.

Nobody has to doubt your baby anymore.

She can have the love of her entire village.

And you can have some support.

To be a mother, it's a lot of work.

It's a lot.

And it's important for a child to have their father,

to be able to step up and just help raise her.

Teach her how a young woman should be treated.

I say that, Mr. Johnson, because I'm turning to you next.

You can't teach a child something you don't know.

(AUDIENCE CONCURRING)

You're right, Your Honor.

I mean, I feel, like, Ms. McIver has put herself out there,

as far as she can go.

You gotta take it from here.

And I don't mean using her car

to have sex with Ms. Davenport,

when she trusts you to be dropping off your child.

Nuh-uh, this is real talk.

Yes, Your Honor.

You would never want somebody treating your little girl

the way you're doing these two women.

You gotta straighten up. Yes, Your Honor.

Because you're gonna be the example to her

as to what a man should be, how they should treat me...

WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

What I should expect.

And what I see my daddy do,

is what I'm gonna think is okay for a man to do.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

Right?

Right.

All right.

We have counseling and resources for you.

And I wish you all the very best.

JOHNSON: Thank you, Your Honor.

Court is adjourned.