35 Year Old Woman Meets Potential Father for the First Time Ever (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello.

This is the case of Jones-Henry v. Jackson. Thank you, Jerome.

Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. JUDGE LAKE: Ms.

Jones-Henry, you say that the defendant, Mr Jackson, swept you off your feet only to dump you after finding out you were pregnant. But you are positive he is the biological father of your daughter, Melanie. Is that correct?

Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Jones-Henry, this will be your first time seeing Mr Jackson since you claim he got you pregnant.

And Melanie, you are meeting your alleged father face-to-face for the very first time today, is that correct? BOTH: Yes, Your Honor. Are you ready to see him?

BOTH: Yes, Your Honor. Jerome, can you please escort the defendant into the courtroom? Ms.

Jones-Henry. Yes, Your Honor. I can feel the anger.

I can cut the tension with a knife in here right now. And, Melanie, how are you feeling right now in this moment, Ms. Jones?

I'm hurt. I feel a little lost. I wanted.

. . This is my first time ever even seeing him.

I've never even seen him up, hugged him or anything and I called him when I was little and asked him to come and see me. And he told me he would come and he never came. And that hurts.

How can you not want. . .

I just don't understand why, I'm a good. . .

I was a good child, you know. I just don't understand why he don't want me. I can see how much that hurts you and.

. . I don't believe I'm the.

. . I'm her father.

I never did. I know she's been with other people even while we were together. So.

. . Excuse me, may I just say that is not true.

JACKSON: She admitted that she was with someone else. I tricked her into admitting. .

. Admitting that she was with someone else. So, wait a minute.

You're saying you tricked her into admitting that? JACKSON: Yes. What did you do?

Explain to the court. When she told me that she was pregnant, I knew that I wasn't the father, but I said, "You need to go check with that other guy "that you were with the last time. " She said she didn't know that I was lying about that.

I was just speaking out of my mind. She admitted that she was with someone else. Did you admit you were with someone else, Ms.

Jones-Henry? That's not true at all. JACKSON: Yes, it is.

It's true. I've never admitted that I was with anybody else. As for me, I've always, always told her Clarence was her father.

That Clarence was her father, I knew. That's because I was the only one she could get hold of. The guy that she was supposed to have been with, she couldn't find him, so then she came to me.

So, Ms. Jones-Henry, was there any other guy. .

. Were you with any other guy during the time. .

. JONES-HENRY: No, Your Honor. .

. . your daughter was conceived?

No, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So take me back to this relationship, I wanna try to understand. What was the nature of your relationship with Mr Jackson?

When I met Mr Jackson, I met him at a club. He was in the military. We were together all week long while he was there.

We wouldn't have flied by night. We were just together. And I had no reason to believe that he is not my baby's father.

JACKSON: No, Your Honor. I met her at the club, yes. I was in the military, I wasn't even 19 yet.

I met her. We had a good time. We talked that night that I met her, by the time I got off the phone she was telling me, "You know, I could fall in love with you," which was a red flag to me.

That's not true. Like, "Oh, no. Here we go.

" So wait a minute. How. .

. Okay. .

. But did you sleep with her after that phone conversation? After the phone conversation, yes, we had.

. . Well, we were together for a while.

Not that night, though. So that red flag obviously wasn't that bright? (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) JACKSON: Oh, no.

It was only for just to be together. That's it. That's.

. . And so how soon after this did you find out you were pregnant, Ms.

Jones-Henry? A few months, and I told him. He wasn't even ecstatic, or he just didn't give a reaction.

So no reaction? No. No joy?

JONES-HENRY: No. Nothing? JONES-HENRY: Nothing.

Did he deny it at the time? He didn't deny it, or he just gave no reaction. Mr Jackson, what were you thinking when she told you she was pregnant?

That she was lying. I just figured she was lying. I knew she was lying.

And then when I said what I said that, "You need to talk with the other guy that you were with," all of a sudden, she admitted it then and I was like, "Okay, I know what's going on here. "She's just trying to trap another military man. " (AUDIENCE GROANS) So.

. . Your Honor, may I speak?

JUDGE LAKE: Yes. I didn't need to trap a military man. I was in love with the man.

'Cause we were together every day. I was thinking that we were gonna get married, and go. .

. I spoke with his mother. I sent pictures to him.

I didn't know what to believe. All I know I was in love. And you don't remember him asking you about any other person?

This question he says where he tried to trick you? He never asked that question. And so after you told him you were pregnant, were you still around, Mr Jackson, did you participate at all with the pregnancy?

Oh, he never participated. He left. JUDGE LAKE: He left?

And you went off to serve? I was in the Marine Corps. I went off to.

. . I mean, my duty station changed.

It wasn't that I left. I got. .

. You know, I had to leave. That was the end of my time.

Exactly. And we thank you for your service. So this is a certificate of live birth for Melanie Jones.

And I see "Mother," signature. I see mother's name. Under "Father," I see nothing.

JONES-HENRY: He wasn't there. He started to pay child support. .

. JUDGE LAKE: Mr Jackson, so how did you find out, if you weren't there for the birth, and you weren't there to sign this birth certificate, how did you find out you were on child support? I got a letter, the letter from the child support agency stating that I had a child.

Well, I talked to my supervisors, my superior supervisors. They asked me, "Are you going back to Tennessee? " I said no.

They said, "Are you the father? " And I said no. They said, "Well, then don't worry about it.

" So I didn't worry about it. I said, "Okay, no big deal, "she'll go after the guy that she was supposed to have been with. " So you got a letter?

At the time. And my checks started getting garnished. I was getting like $35 every two weeks.

Well, while at that time, a girl in our finance department told me. . .

She asked me, "Why are your checks so small? " So then I said, "Because I'm paying child support. " And she's like, "Well, I tell you what, "why don't you sign up for BAQ," which is dependents pay.

I signed up for dependents' pay, but the only way I could get that is if I sign saying, "I'm the father of Melanie. " Legal lesson number one, when the court calls, you answer. JACKSON: Right.

Right? JUDGE LAKE: When they give you a date, you show up. So there was a default judgment probably entered against you.

JACKSON: Exactly. But then at some point, you get another piece of advice that since your checks had been garnished, they were small. .

. JACKSON: Right. In order to get more money, you had to sign up for what was called "dependents' pay.

" Right. But you had to get some dependents? Right.

And so what you did is, you said you signed an affidavit of paternity. . .

Meaning, you basically signed an affidavit of. . .

Acknowledging paternity? Right. I was 19, and.

. . MELANIE: And if you feel that strongly about something, you take care of it then.

JONES-HENRY: Right. You fight. (APPLAUSE) You fight.

. . JACKSON: That's what I had.

JONES-HENRY: That's not a meal ticket. She was a child. JUDGE LAKE: And so at this point.

. . So, wait a minute.

She was a meal ticket. No, she wasn't. But for $35 a check.

She's my child, I've been here. I stood with her. I was there when she cried.

I was there when she asked for you. I was there when she wanted you, and you didn't want to be with her. JUDGE LAKE: And so, Mr Jackson, you just said something in open court right now.

You just said in court, she was your meal ticket. Do you believe that Ms. Jones-Henry was just trying to set you up to be the father because you were this military man?

I believe so, and that was my problem right from the start. I said she just want me just because I'm in the military. And she couldn't find the other guy.

What I feel just. . .

There was no other guy. I have relatives of hers. .

. Of friends of ours, they call me and apologize. .

. What did these relatives say? They said that Melanie was not my child.

I have two kids. I couldn't imagine leaving a child. Leaving a child.

Look at that picture, I look like my kids. And I couldn't imagine leaving my kids abandoned. With nothing, with no emotional support, or anything else.

And to then have no emotions whatsoever. None. As a man.

JUDGE LAKE: Did you know he had doubts? When he signed that affidavit acknowledging paternity, did you think that that was basically an acknowledgment even to you like, "Yes, Melanie is mine, after all these years, I just want to say. .

. " Yes. And the other person I know would have fought.

They would have came. They would have fought. So you're saying you never had any doubts because there were no other men?

I never had any doubts. JUDGE LAKE: But were there any other men? No.

That's a two-part question. JONES-HENRY: No, there were no other men. I don't know what he's talking about, about what he told me, there was no other men.

She can attest even to this day, I had great thoughts of him, I never had anything negative thoughts of him. 'Cause I still, to this day, felt that way, that he was a man I was in love with. And that we were gonna go off into the sunset with each other.

And I never. . .

I spoke to Melanie the same way about him. For 35 years, and she can attest to that. MELANIE: And you know what, at the time, I didn't even want to hear anything about him.

It took me till last year to say, "You know what, for my kids, "I'm gonna go ahead and go through with this. " And that's when I contacted the courts. (APPLAUSE) JONES-HENRY: And I went on Facebook, and I looked his name up, 'cause I remember his name and everything about him.

For me, I didn't know any of that until now. And it hurts for me to see and hear what he's saying 'cause that's not how I feel. This is demeaning to me.

Because I was in love with him. Whether he was in love with me or not, I was in love with him, and that was true. And I told my daughter this.

And I told her it was her father. And all these years, to realize that he never thought anything about me? Do you know how hurtful that is?

How much that hurts? Do you understand how much that hurts, Mr Jackson? I knew I wasn't gonna stick with her.

And yet, you just. . .

Listen, this happened in large part because of you. Because of your actions. JACKSON: Right.

All because of me. Because I could have said no. I could have held her back.

We got a young women who's experienced 35 years of pain and confusion. And let's be honest, it even got worse. You tried to make it better for you when you signed that affidavit acknowledging paternity.

Right. But you just made it worse for her. They thought that was an acknowledgment that, "Now I really do have a dad.

" So now where are you? And so then that was another level of disappointment and trauma for a young girl. But you were only doing it because you were just trying to make ends meet.

And you were trying to get the extra pay. So this saga, quite frankly, has gone on 35 years. MELANIE: And I would like to ask him is that the same reason why you wouldn't come to my college graduation?

JACKSON: I did not want to come there. . .

MELANIE: When I asked you, why not be honest, why not? 'Cause I. .

. In all actuality, I was coming. But at the last minute, I said no.

Always at the last minute, he want to cop out. That was just. .

. It wouldn't be right if I didn't know for sure. And you know what, it's like, even if I wasn't his.

. . Even if he had a doubt, that I wasn't his, he still could have gave me a chance of knowing who my real dad is.

And by him signing and not coming to acknowledge his fault in everything else that's gone on, it did not leave me anything but. . .

Disillusion. (JUDGE LAKE SIGHS) I think the only way we can possibly move forward is to get the answers. It's time for the results.

Jerome. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case of Jones-Henry v.

Jackson, when it comes to 35-year-old Melanie Jones. . .

It has been determined by this court, Mr Jackson. . .

You. . .

Are not the father. Really? (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) JONES-HENRY: I didn't have anybody else.

He is not the father. I did not. .

. You point all that blame on me. And you put your daughter through all that, for nothing.

That's just. . .

I don't blame you. I just wish you would have taken care of your business then so I wouldn't have to suffer now. I mean, I came here today for closure, and although he is not my dad, it's still closure for me because you know, it's other situations that's involved in this, but he is.

. . Like to me, he don't even have a heart to even ask, "Hey, what was going on at that time?

" He could have did anything, but. . .

I'm not trying to make you feel bad and I'm not saying that. . .

JACKSON: Well, I feel bad. I'm gonna tell you, I feel bad. I'm truly sorry.

Even though I know you felt like all these years, you weren't wanted and you weren't loved. . .

I think he came here today out of love for you. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, that's nice. (APPLAUSE) JUDGE LAKE: We have counseling and resources for everyone.

We want you to take advantage of it. And I want you to figure out how to move forward. I know it's gonna be difficult but you can and you will.

I wish you all the very best of luck. Court is adjourned. Melanie, let me see you for a minute, honey.

(APPLAUSE) I know that was hard, but I'm so glad you got at least one level of closure, all right? You're strong, you can get through this. We have a counselor waiting for you right now.

And we can figure out how to take this step by step. Right? And so even though this particular part of the story didn't go your way, there are still many more chapters of your life for you to write, do you understand?

Yes, ma'am. And I believe you're strong enough to do that. I'm so sorry I couldn't give you the answer you wanted today.

But I'm here for you if you need me in the future, okay? Yes, ma'am. All right.

Take care, okay? Thank you, ma'am. Bye.