You may be seated.
Hello, Your Honor.
Hello.
This is the case of Bailey v. Green.
Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone.
AUDIENCE: Good day.
Ms. Bailey.
Yes, ma'am.
JUDGE LAKE: You state you've brought
your ex-husband, Mr. Green, to court
to prove he is the biological father
of your nine-month-old son, Lawrence.
BAILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Though you freely admit to sleeping with multiple men
during the time of conception,
you say you believe the defendant is your child's father
because you kept an ovulation calendar
and you've narrowed it down to him.
(AUDIENCE MURMURING)
Yes, Your Honor.
Mr. Green, you say you've always
had unprotected sex with Ms. Bailey
and yet, she never got pregnant.
That's true, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Now, all of a sudden
she claims you somehow fathered her child.
Yes, Your Honor.
You argue you are 100% certain
you are not her child's father.
Yes, Your Honor.
So, Mr. Green,
what makes you so certain this is not your child?
Well, we went on a four-month drought,
and the first time I'd seen her in four months,
she already had a little pudge, a little pouch,
like, she already looked pregnant.
Your Honor, I always had a stomach.
Obviously, I still have a stomach, and I'm not pregnant now.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
JUDGE LAKE: All right.
So let's state as fact
that you're beautiful just the way you are.
Thank you.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
JUDGE LAKE: And Mr. Green, I'd like to hear you please explain
to this court, why are you so sure?
But she also admitted that she had been with somebody in February
right before she had sex with me.
Yes, Your Honor.
I was supposed to be in a relationship, which he left me,
which he did the same thing
and it was, like, two-three weeks
before me and Mr. Green even slept back together.
I had a cycle and everything.
All right, so I wanna understand this.
Somebody gotta take me back.
GREEN: All right.
You are married...
Very fast.
BAILEY: Six months.
Very fast. Shouldn't have been married.
Six months.
JUDGE LAKE: You were married for six months?
GREEN: No, we wasn't, Your Honor.
No.
We was together about seven months.
We were... We dated for six months.
We got married. We were together for three months.
We dated for six months.
And she went missing for a whole year.
I tried to get a divorce.
I tried to get a...
When did you...
Look, I tried to get a divorce...
When did I go missing? I have never gone missing.
We stayed in contact to this day.
...and the lawyer... No.
We've had sex to this day.
No.
No, no. That is...
We're still having sex.
Our last time having sex was in April.
In April?
We still, to this day, even if I wanted him,
I can get him.
So therefore...
Listen... No, no, no, no.
I never went missing.
Look, there is no getting me.
Look, Your Honor...
I never went missing
a year afterwards...
No, no, no, no.
You're not gonna sit in this courtroom...
...period.
...and just talk your talk like that.
He knew where I was.
He always knew where I was.
All right, let's get
some order, 'cause I wanna understand your story.
So I'm trying to understand this relationship.
How it got to the point that you were sleeping together
but you were also, admittedly,
sleeping with other people during the time
so much so that you don't know who the father of your child is.
Those are the facts I need. The rest of this...
BAILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
...is irrelevant to me.
Okay.
JUDGE LAKE: So...
At the time you got together,
you were divorced.
Right?
Yes, Your Honor.
We got a divorce March 25th,
and we was together April 1st.
No, we wasn't, Your Honor.
I ain't even seen you.
I even went to Albany with him over to his family's house...
So the bottom line is after your divorce,
you all were still sleeping together.
Yes, we were.
Two times.
More than twice.
Two times.
More than twice.
Mmm-hmm.
GREEN: Two more people.
And two other people.
BAILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
Admittedly so.
Mmm-hmm.
JUDGE LAKE: All during the window of conception.
Like, the same month...
GREEN: Yes, Your Honor.
...but not the same windows of conception.
GREEN: Hmm.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
And then when you find out you're pregnant, you tell Mr. Green?
Yes, I told him. I asked him
if I found that I was pregnant,
would he believe that it was his child, and he told me, "Yes."
Your Honor, she disappeared.
How can she talk to somebody when she weren't around?
She was gone for five months.
Your Honor, if I told him I was pregnant...
She did not tell me she was pregnant until she was 5.5 months pregnant.
...in March.
No.
After I told him I was pregnant.
I did not see her any more.
And then I went with him again when I was three months pregnant
to his house. So that was what?
Three times after I told him I was pregnant.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
So when she tells you she's pregnant,
Mr. Green, what was your response?
It ain't mine. It can't be mine.
Like, she moved to Alabama.
Like, sex can't go on from Georgia to Alabama.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
And she... Like I said, like, uh...
She already had admitted to me to two guys prior...
Like, in February you already had sex with two other guys...
Your Honor, he came to visit me in Alabama
when I was seven months pregnant.
You were seven months pregnant.
I can't make you pregnant when you're already pregnant.
That's over with.
Pregnant? I was already...
GREEN: That's over with.
I was pregnant in February.
I was pregnant in February.
GREEN: Exactly.
We slept together February, March and May.
JUDGE LAKE: But Ms. Bailey, respectfully,
you slept with him and two other men.
So do you blame him for not being sure or...
No, Your Honor, I don't blame him at all.
Did you know at that time, Mr. Green, that she had slept with two other men as well?
Yes, I did, Your Honor. I did.
She told... I mean, like...
She tells me stuff that think is gonna make me mad.
I just let it go over my head,
get what I want and move on to the next.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
So in your statement to the court,
you said throughout your relationship and your marriage,
you were having unprotected sex
with Ms. Bailey, and yet she never got pregnant.
Never got pregnant.
JUDGE LAKE: So that fuels your doubts.
It really does, because...
And we used to lay in the bed,
and we used to try to find reasons why she couldn't get pregnant.
After a while, you know, we talked on the phone several times.
She was trying to get me to, you know, buy into the fact
that this was my child. So she sent me a picture.
He had red hair. He's, like, almost white.
He's like...
BAILEY: And he still do.
GREEN: Come on.
BAILEY: And he still do.
GREEN: Hey, look. I did some research.
JUDGE LAKE: He's a beautiful little boy.
BAILEY: Thank you, Your Honor.
Let me see your research. I'm glad we're finally getting to some evidence.
Okay. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
And what you're about to read
is about to state that, you know, unless the child
is an albino between two African-American people,
there's no way that a child should come out that light with red hair.
Why? Why?
GREEN: There's no way.
Do you know your whole family history?
Do you know if any redheads are in my family?
Your Honor, her hair is red because she bought it.
His hair is red because somebody else gave it to him.
Two different color reds. Two different colors.
So this is your evidence that pertains to the fact
you don't believe that you...
...or her together
could produce a child with red hair.
Not only that, Your Honor, he was born a month and a half early.
You claim, when you all kind of reconnected,
I'll say that, you thought she was already pregnant.
Yes, Your Honor.
So when the baby came out a month early,
you said to yourself...
That ain't my baby.
..."This adds up to
"it being the other man's baby, not mine."
Now, Ms. Bailey, how do you explain this?
Your child was just born early or...
Your Honor...
Were you sleeping with the other two men without protection as well?
Well, Your Honor, yes, I was.
I knew what I was getting into. I knew I was ovulating.
I knew what we was gonna lead to,
but I figured since I never did get pregnant
between the three years we was together,
that I wouldn't get pregnant then.
Yeah.
But when I asked him
would he believe if it was his baby, he told me, "Yes."
If you wouldn't have had no doubt about it,
you shouldn't have told me. Period.
You shouldn't have said yes, and we could've left it at that.
You don't have to know if that's your baby or not.
He don't need to know his father for real.
Why would you say that?
BAILEY: Because that's exactly how he treated my son.
Like he just don't care about him.
But, Your Honor, I do have a calendar that I have...
JUDGE LAKE: I would like to see that.
...of my fertility
that tells you the day that we have slept together and the others...
So this is your iPad that has your app.
In red are the dates of your cycle.
BAILEY: Mmm-hmm.
JUDGE LAKE: And then in pink, on the 25th is the day
this particular app says you would have ovulated.
Ovulated. Yes.
JUDGE LAKE: So now, going forward,
these are the dates that you were having sex
with the various men you had sex with.
Mmm-hmm.
On the fourth, which is outlined in blue,
you had sex with potential father number one without protection.
Then the week of your cycle is the next week.
The following week, you have sex on the 18th and 19th
with potential father number two.
Then we get to the week
where the ovulation date is outlined in pink, that's the 25th,
and you just so happened to have sex with Mr. Green on that date...
Correct.
...and the date before.
Correct.
No protection used.
BAILEY: None whatsoever.
So based upon this app and the calculations
you've done here and the app does for you,
it looks to you like
Mr. Green would be the father of your child.
Exactly, Your Honor.
It couldn't be. It was too crowded in there. My sperm couldn't do nothing.
(SCOFFS)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that.
And I'll pretend like I didn't either.
Moving on. Moving on.
When we first met, we got into a relationship.
First of all, he was already with a woman. Okay?
He broke up with her to be with me,
and then when Thanksgiving came along,
he told me he was staying with his sister.
So he asked me to spend a weekend with him, which I did.
And I walks in, and he took me
into another woman's house, not his sister's house. Another woman's house.
So from that point on, I should have stopped...
I should have stopped messing around with him then.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
Because how disrespectful can you be,
taking another woman in someone else's house.
I should have stopped then. I should have stopped.
(SOBBING) I don't understand you can do me like this
'cause right now, I still love you.
Even if you treat me like dirt right now.
I still love you. I still got love for you.
But that's your baby, and you're gonna take care of him,
point blank period.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
GREEN: That really sounds touching.
That really sounds touching.
I don't believe anything she says, because behind...
So you didn't take me to another woman's house?
Well, yeah. I mean, that is true.
Did you? Okay.
But I didn't take my wife.
And when a family member passed from her family, wasn't I right there with you?
Look, she wasn't my wife.
In her house?
Mr. Green.
GREEN: Yes, Your Honor.
Why is it everything this woman says you say is a lie
and then in your next sentence it confirms what she said is true.
No, I'm just saying...
BAILEY: Thank you, Your Honor.
I'm just saying that she's a liar, she accepted it.
Like she says, she could have left then too.
After I found out, I was already there, Your Honor.
He left... She left in the car.
You could've left.
JUDGE LAKE: Oh, Ms. Bailey.
Let's really be honest, because...
Although I can see that you're very hurt by Mr. Green's actions,
it seems to me that you are most disappointed in your own.
And you know your actions...
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
...have now affected
baby Lawrence.
BAILEY: Yep.
I've been taking care of him by myself along with two other kids.
And this beautiful baby does deserve to know
who his father is
and to have the love of his father.
BAILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
So has Mr. Green
helped you at all with Lawrence?
I mean, he bought two boxes of diapers...
JUDGE LAKE: Two boxes?
...and gave him hand-me-down clothes.
JUDGE LAKE: And he gave you some clothes.
Nothing wrong with some hand-me-downs.
There's nothing wrong with it.
Nothing wrong with that.
JUDGE LAKE: As long as they're clean,
they work. Babies grow fast.
Yeah. Especially him.
JUDGE LAKE: Right.
Right. And so, Mr. Green, what is your relationship with baby Lawrence?
Do you have one?
Oh, I, uh... Honestly...
Like I said, it is, you know...
I could be his father, because we used unprotected sex,
but you just can't put it on me
after you know and I know what you do.
But, you know, I'm real good to my kids.
You know, I just lost my daughter, Jasmine Green.
She died in a daycare van in 2011.
That was actually our demise.
I'm so sorry.
That was at the point where our marriage...
Just... I packed up and I... And I left.
Yes, Your Honor, he ended up leaving and going back to his ex.
GREEN: I became...
While we were still married.
I became in protective mode.
I needed to protect everything else that did belong to me.
So, honestly, Your Honor...
And I figured that's why you have a wife. Right, Your Honor?
...if Lawrence belongs to me, he will be in that circle also, but...
I can't give her respect for just calling me
whenever she comes from Alabama and say,
"If you want to see Lawrence, bring diapers and wipes."
Your Honor, that's not true because from, um...
I don't need anything from you.
He has diapers and wipes that I provide for him, okay?
Oh, so...
So if he needed anything...
So I never bought diapers and wipes for that boy?
All right, but let's... Let's be clear, just so you understand.
Your legal right to see a child, that is your child,
is separate and independent of the obligation to provide.
So...
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
...the mother of the child,
or if it's the father of the child that has custody,
can't just say to you, "You can't see him unless you bring him something."
That's not the law. So that's not the case.
Are any of the other men helping you with the child?
Do they think that Lawrence could potentially be their son as well
and they're stepping up to the plate to do something?
No, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: None of them?
None.
So you stand in open court
and you say despite everything he's done to you,
you still love him and you still have love for him?
Yeah.
JUDGE LAKE: Do you want him back?
Do you want a relationship with him?
Your Honor, no, I do not. I don't want to beg.
And no, I don't want a relationship.
I just want him and Lawrence to have a relationship.
Was that that love when you say,
"No matter what you've done to me, I still love you,
"I still have love for you."
Do you think that has any connection to you
maybe suggesting or believing
that he's the father of your child is because
at a time you really still wanted a connection to him?
No. It's just because my feelings never have changed for him.
Like, that's the reason why I live.
To get away from him, to stop these feelings I have for him.
To stop being in love with him, period.
But you call me and have sex with me.
(BAILEY SCOFFS)
You keep coming back to me.
It must be good.
Um, it ain't that good. It ain't that good.
It is what it is, Your Honor. I'm sorry, but it is what it is.
I'm gonna leave it alone.
(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)
Jerome, give me the results.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
You know, a part of me knows that she tried
to trap you,
because the dates line up, and she got a calendar.
AUDIENCE: Mmm-hmm.
The other part of me
is just so annoyed 'cause you just got a joke for everything.
I don't like how you downgrade her.
I don't know, there's something about the way
you act towards her that annoys me.
I was tortured, really.
And it's because what I think you do know...
You're not a dumb man.
So what I think you do know is that she does love you.
And you keep saying, "She offered herself,
"and she keep calling you, and she keep..."
She just yelled out in open court she loves you.
Of course she's gonna keep calling you.
The problem is, if you don't love her,
stop showing up.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
Because ultimately,
you just add fuel to her fire
and make her think there's a hope.
And that's where men and women have to get a clue.
You think you just going over there for sex,
but when she has sex with you,
she thinks that there's another opportunity
for you all to figure this thing out and maybe work things out.
JUDGE LAKE: Are we ready for the results?
Yes, Your Honor.
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics, and they read as follows...
(PAPER RUSTLING)
In the case of Bailey v. Green
pertaining to nine-month-old Lawrence Bailey...
Mr. Green...
...you...
...are Lawrence's father.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
In the infamous words of Mr. Green,
it is...
BAILEY: What it is.
...what it is.
(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)
And like we used to say in Detroit,
"So what's it gonna be?"
Meaning, are you gonna step up to the plate and be a father to your son?
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Do the right thing?
Yeah, she know I will.
JUDGE LAKE: Now, this court does have resources for you.
We're gonna offer those resources.
So you can maybe start sorting through and figure out
how to set up those boundaries.
How to engage in respectful dialogue.
And figure out how to do this together.
Are we clear?
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: I believe you can do it, and he's worth it.
Right?
BAILEY: Yes.
All right, court is adjourned.
(BANGS GAVEL)
Holding my son now, it feels great. I mean...
There is no doubt.
You know, I love my kids. I love my kids.
And I'll do whatever it takes to protect my kids and take care of my kids.
I'm just glad he finally got it out of the way,
knowing that he's his son
and maybe he can do better and be in his life,
and he'll know who his daddy is.
For more infomation >> Divorced Perspective - Duration: 7:04. 
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