You may be seated.
Hello, Your Honor.
Hello.
This is the case of Grier v. Thompson and Toles.
Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone.
AUDIENCE: Good day.
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Grier, you are the mother of one-year-old Laniyah.
You say, you regret cheating on the defendant Mr. Thompson
as an act of revenge to hurt him.
Yes, Your Honor.
(AUDIENCE GROANS)
Because of the mistake you made, you now claim
you have no clue who fathered your child.
AUDIENCE: Wow!
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Thompson, for the first six months of Laniyah's life,
you took care of her, you bonded with her.
Because you were told she was your daughter.
Yes, Your Honor.
Then, you had your heart ripped apart when you learned
through a posting on social media
that she could be another man's child.
Yes, Your Honor.
Now, that man is waiting outside of the courtroom
and will be joining us momentarily.
Ms. Grier?
Yes.
Why did you wait six months to tell Mr. Thompson
he may not be your child's father?
I found out that he had cheated on me and I wanted to get revenge.
And, um, I met this man on a dating website.
I slept with him, and
I found out I was pregnant, and...
(AUDIENCE GROANS)
(SIGHING)
I didn't have nobody and I just wanted to do it.
And you didn't use protection, even with a man you barely knew.
No ma'am. No, Your Honor.
Mr. Thompson? So how'd you find out she was pregnant?
Um... Well, I was in Tennessee...
Me and my family had moved to Tennessee.
And, all of a sudden, I get a Facebook message
from Ms. Grier saying that she's pregnant.
And I told her that she was lying, that I didn't believe her.
So I told her to send a message of the pregnancy test
that she took with it. And she did.
And after that, me and my family
had moved back to Atlanta, Georgia,
so they could help me take care of my child, because...
Because it was my first child, and I always
wanted to have a child ever since I was little.
All this time, you find out she's pregnant,
you had no idea she had slept with somebody else
even though you cheated?
No.
JUDGE LAKE: You knew nothing?
No, I never knew she cheated. She never told me anything.
You were there for the birth, Mr. Thompson?
Yes, and I have proof right here.
JUDGE LAKE: What do you have? Please pass that up.
When she was... When we was in the hospital after she had the baby.
As you can see on the picture I was exhausted
'cause I was up with the baby all night while she was sleeping.
AUDIENCE: Aww.
Mmm hmm, yeah, there you are.
Both of you all look tired. That's about how you look.
So, you were there through it all.
Yes.
This very moment, where you're exhausted,
you all been up all night.
And yet, you're excited and joyful.
You have no clue...
THOMPSON: No, Your Honor.
...that she had slept with another man.
I didn't know nothing about it. This one is... This is after I
cut her umbilical cord, when she was in the hospital.
Would you like to see it?
Let me see that, please Jerome.
So you stayed at the hospital, you cut the umbilical cord.
Yes, Your Honor, I was there until she left.
JUDGE LAKE: You stayed until the baby and, and her mom
they were released.
THOMPSON: Yes.
You were there?
THOMPSON: Yes, Your Honor.
And after they got home, have you been there? Oh, she's beautiful.
Have you been there?
Your Honor, after she left the hospital,
she moved in with me and my family.
JUDGE LAKE: Oh!
So after you left the hospital, you and baby Laniyah
moved in with him and his family?
Yes,
because I didn't have nobody, I have no family
who care about me. I was moved from foster home to foster home.
So, it was like really bad for me.
I really couldn't trust nobody. I didn't have anything.
I still don't. But I try, I try for my child.
So when did you find out?
When one of her family members posted it on Facebook
about that, the baby... The baby's not mine, that
it can be two other people, I guess, she was sleeping with.
JUDGE LAKE: Wait, her family member posted this on Facebook?
On my page.
JUDGE LAKE: On your page!
(AUDIENCE GASPING)
After you've been at the hospital
with the baby and everybody knew how excited and happy you were?
Yes.
Why would somebody do that
in your family, Ms. Grier?
They was jealous.
And so, you didn't say anything until Laniyah was six months old?
That's when you told Mr. Thompson?
Yes, Your Honor.
Six months!
So that's six months of him believing that's my daughter.
Loving her, bonding with her, caring for her, providing for her.
His family, loving her. Six months!
What made you tell? And why'd you wait so long?
I didn't want to ruin the relationship that we had.
And when I told him, he started crying.
And it made me feel bad, 'cause this is the man I love
and it just like...
It just tore everything apart.
If your family member never posted this on Facebook,
would you have ever told him the truth?
GRIER: Yes, yes, Your Honor. Until she was a year old.
JUDGE LAKE: When she was a year?
GRIER: Yes.
And is that because you felt like, let me get him get attached to her,
so he can't walk away from her.
Then I'll tell him and it won't matter then
because he'll already love her and be back in love with me
and everything will be okay.
Yes, Your Honor.
The stakes are high today. You really
love this baby.
Yes, Your Honor.
And you have a bond.
You've been there. You've changed the course of your life.
You were living in another state and turned around and headed back
because you wanted to be there for the child. Then you follow through
on that intention. Then you were there through the birth,
provided a place to live. Your family did, at least.
Yes, Your Honor.
What does it mean to you to not know
whether or not you really are the biological father?
Well, it hurts me a lot 'cause I really want to be her father.
Because I've been taking care of her. It's gonna be two years.
(AUDIENCE MURMURING)
She's been living with me for the last three months.
JUDGE LAKE: She's been living with you?
Yes.
And where's Ms. Grier? She lives with you all, too?
No, she lives with my brother and his baby momma and his family.
And her family.
JUDGE LAKE: Oh, wait a minute!
So, you have had the baby,
Laniyah, at your house with your family, and she's living in a different house?
GRIER: Yes.
THOMPSON: Yes, Your Honor.
So, you really have been full-time dad.
Yes, Your Honor.
And so, if baby Laniyah...
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
...Is not your biological child, what are you going to do?
Because this baby,
she believes you are her daddy.
THOMPSON: Yeah, uh, she knows daddy so...
I wouldn't know what I would do if she's not mine.
(AUDIENCE GROANS)
Jerome, I think it's time we speak to the other possible father.
Please escort...
AUDIENCE: Ooh!
...Mr. Toles, into the courtroom. (SIGHS)
I'm gonna have you go up right next to the judge.
Watch your step.
Hello, sir.
TOLES: Hello.
Thank you, for joining us today.
Mr. Toles? Am I correct?
Yes.
All right. You have had a relationship, a sexual relationship
or what type of relationship have you had with Ms. Grier?
Let me start from the beginning when I first met her.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
It all started,
when I met her on the website.
We was talking for a minute, and then
after, like a week of talking, she came over to the house.
Uh, she already knew
that she just want to have fun
and it was nothing serious.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
We ended up having sex. She was kissing all over me.
After that, I know she had her pants off, so...
Okay, I need detail but not that much.
Okay.
So bottom line is, you all did have sex?
Yes, we had sex...
Without using protection?
Yes, we had sex on the floor.
The first time, we used a condom.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
The second and the third time, we did not use a condom.
She stayed over my house, the whole weekend.
Some kind of way, her and my sister became close friends
and ended up hanging out and conversating with each other.
Okay, a few weeks after that I found out she were pregnant.
She told me she were pregnant. I asked her was it mine,
she said no, it was her boyfriend,
Mr. Thompson, which I did not know she had a boyfriend.
JUDGE LAKE: So, you had no idea...
TOLES: No.
...Mr. Thompson was her boyfriend.
No, she...
She's a compulsive liar, for one.
She lied about her age. She told me...
What did I... I never lied about my age.
TOLES: Yes, you did.
I told you I was 18.
TOLES: She told me she were 21
and I found out she were 18.
GRIER: You're a liar.
Then she told me that she didn't have a boyfriend. I find out she had a boyfriend.
When she told me she were pregnant, I asked her was the baby mine?
And she said no, it was Mr. Thompson's.
So I left it alone. A few months later
her relative calls me and invites me on Facebook
saying that they think the baby mine 'cause
it look like me, and I told her to send me a picture.
I have evidence of the picture.
Let me see that.
This is my son and Laniyah.
They look, kinda look like twins on there.
JUDGE LAKE: And how old is your son in that picture?
TOLES: Two.
JUDGE LAKE: And then this is Laniyah?
TOLES: Yes.
And now, you have another picture.
This is a picture...
TOLES: This is a...
...of you...
TOLES: Laniyah and me.
And Laniyah?
Yes.
Now, when you look at that picture...
I don't see no resemblance.
You don't see it and so you are truly doubtful.
You don't know what to believe.
I don't know what to believe because she's a compulsive liar.
She say that he, uh, Mr. Thompson was her boyfriend,
that I did not know about.
Then I comes to find out around the time that I was
messing with Ms. Grier,
I found this on Facebook where she hooked up with another dude
what isn't... That's not me in the picture
or Mr. Thompson in the picture.
Okay, hey, that's my ex-boyfriend. So?
TOLES: That could be
the baby's father.
He's not Laniyah's daddy.
And, so what? He's my ex-boyfriend.
Okay, so you see this picture posted,
with "True Love" by it.
(AUDIENCE TITTERING)
So, now you think there's a third possible father.
TOLES: Yes.
And I done have her relative...
GRIER: Really? Really?
...telling me that I need to get custody of the baby
if it's mine. Because she's a unfit parent.
She's a child herself that can't take care of herself.
I try.
So, how do she...
I try every day.
How do she gonna take care of the baby?
How you gonna tell me I'm an unfit parent. I ain't gonna...
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Grier.
Well...
This man in this picture. You say, that's your ex-boyfriend?
Yes, Your Honor.
Were you in a relationship
with him during the time you also were having sexual relations
with Mr. Thompson and Mr. Toles?
No, Your Honor.
So, there's no way, when I read these results...
No, ma'am.
...this young man is going to factor in.
No!
Or any other man, for that matter.
No, Your Honor.
You're positive, one of these two men...
Yes, Your Honor.
As I was looking at TV one day, I seen that there was an app
that can tell when your baby was conceived.
And I put in Laniyah's date
and you can flip through the next page and see that
the date that's up there, I was not in Atlanta, Georgia,
at that time.
AUDIENCE: Oh!
Jerome, hand me that evidence, please.
GRIER: Yes, he was.
Yes, you was.
So the baby was born on September 27th, 2012.
And if we hit "calculate"...
Possible date of ovulation is January 5th, 2012.
Possible dates of conception
are January 1st through the 9th of 2012.
THOMPSON: I was...
And you just said you were not in town
on January 1st through the 9th.
No, Your Honor, I was in Tennessee.
AUDIENCE: Oh!
I think it's time for the results.
AUDIENCE: Yeah. (CLAPPING)
Mr. Thompson, as I look at you, you seem very nervous.
Are you just...
Yes, Your Honor, I am.
...very hopeful?
Yes, I hope she's mine.
AUDIENCE: Aw.
In your statement to the court,
you said you really wanted to be the father.
Yes, I want to continue taking care of her.
And you say it was your mother's wish.
THOMPSON: Yes, to have a grandchild.
And when I look at her, I think of my mom.
AUDIENCE: Aw.
JUDGE LAKE: You do?
She's beautiful.
THOMPSON: Thank you, Your Honor.
Ms. Grier, what are you hoping for today?
(SIGHS)
Hoping for... He be the father.
He always wanted...
He always wanted to be the father of my child.
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Thompson?
Yes.
Mr. Toles, what are your hopes?
I do hope,
if it's mine, then I'm gonna do
whatever I got to do to get custody.
(VOICE BREAKING) 'Cause I got three other kids
and I do feel like I missed out on her life if she's mine.
AUDIENCE: Aww.
JUDGE LAKE: Are we ready?
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows.
When it comes to one-year-old Laniyah,
and whether Mr. Thompson or Mr. Toles
is her biological father,
it has been determined by this court
that her biological father is...
Mr. Thompson.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
You're happy. I can see it in your eyes.
THOMPSON: Yes. (SNIFFLING)
I'm proud of you for stepping up to the plate even when there was doubt.
Mr. Toles, I'm sorry
that this did not turn out the way you had hoped.
And, Ms. Grier...
Yes, ma'am.
I'm not sure what the circumstances are or were
that led you to leave your child and...
Yes.
...have her be raised by Mr. Thompson and his family.
What I am thankful for is that that in fact is her biological father
so she belongs there.
Yes.
Now, I'm not done talking to you both, although court is finished.
So I wanna see you in my chambers.
Are we clear?
Yes, Your Honor.
THOMPSON: Yes.
Court is adjourned.
(GAVEL THUMPS)
Now, we realize you all are young,
we've got you some parenting classes,
and we want you to take advantage of that.
You seem happy.
Yes.
Mr. Thompson, help her, encourage her to go through these classes.
And help her be a better mother
to this beautiful, little girl, okay?
GRIER: Okay.
I'll be checking on you.
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