You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello.
This is a case ofWhittier v. Reed. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms.
Whittier, you say that you are sure Mr Reed is the father of your 22-month-old son, Lukas. But the defendant's paternity doubts have led to constant fighting and tension in your relationship. You desperately hope to prove he is the father to save your family.
Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Mr Reed, you believe it is medically impossible that you are Lukas' father.
You say you bonded with him at birth and have taken care of him and loved him. But every time you look at Lukas, you are haunted by the doubts that you are not his biological father, is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.
All right, Ms. Whittier, if Mr Reed didn't have this doubt, where do you think the two of you would be right now? I think we would be married, moving on with our lives, getting away from the conflict that constantly drags our family down.
Really, and that conflict is all based upon a paternity issue. WHITTIER: Yes, ma'am. Shortly before Lukas' birth, we had an argument.
And that argument led to the ultimate gonna-shut-him-up kind of moment. So, I said, "Well, how do you know if it's even yours? " You say that in the argument?
Yes. I never doubted it was his, but I just kind of wanted to end the argument and let it be done. And I've regretted that statement ever since I made it.
JUDGE LAKE: So, talk to me about the nature of this relationship. How did your relationship begin? WHITTIER: He, um.
. . Tried to save my toddler that he thought was drowning.
He didn't realize she could swim. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, that's cute. Good reflexes, Mr Reed.
It was a baby and she was adorable. Cute little stubby thing running around the pool in her little swimmer diaper. (WHITTIER CHUCKLES) Jumps in the pool.
So, I'm lying in a lawn chair, you know, getting my tan on. I'm laying in the lawn chair, and here she goes. I look up, she jumps in the pool and I'm right behind her I come up looking for her and she's swimming around.
JUDGE LAKE: (LAUGHS) That's so cute. She's adorable. I love that child also.
JUDGE LAKE: And so, after that, you obviously introduced yourself to your real-life superhero. Yes, we had dinner later that night, and didn't see each other for about a week, and finally, I decided, "Well, give him a call. " You know, he was there for a reason and I couldn't get him off my mind, so I called.
And we spent quite a bit of time together for the next month. And then he left. He moved back to Tennessee.
And it broke my heart and it broke my daughter's heart. It was instantaneous and I just didn't realize it at the time. WHITTIER: And he was gone for.
. . about six weeks.
JUDGE LAKE:Okay. WHITTIER:And then at about 3:00 one morning, I don't know if you wanna call it a dream or a feeling, JUDGE LAKE: Mm-hmm. but I got up, and as I started down the hall, the family member that was staying with me kind of met me in the hallway and she said.
"It's time to go get Jo. " And I'm like. .
. "I feel the same way, but what do I do? " And so I check Facebook and there's a message from him.
Really? "Come get me. "It's time to come home.
" JUDGE LAKE: Oh. AUDIENCE: Aww. I feel like I'm in, like, a really cute romantic comedy right now, right?
This is awesome. I don't want it to turn bad. (LAUGHS) And so you went to get him?
We did. I was there before the sun came up. JUDGE LAKE: So, you packed up and jumped in the car.
. . We jumped in the car and I headed to Georgia.
And you headed to Georgia? BOTH: Mm-hmm. And, so, you all made a home there.
REED AND WHITTIER: We did. And everything was going great in this relationship? He moved in in mid-September and we found out we were pregnant the first week of November.
REED: I was terrified. You were? I mean, outright terrified.
I didn't know what I was gonna do. I mean, name me one parent that does know what they're doing, you know, first time. That's what my mom said.
Did you have any doubt during that time that child was yours? No. No, no.
Not at the time of the pregnancy, I didn't, no. Okay, when did the plot twist come? (BOTH SNICKER) With his ex-girlfriend.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay. (AUDIENCE GROANS) The conflict started between me and her. Well, then she starts whispering in his ear, "Oh, well, what if it's not yours?
" There was some arguments. JUDGE LAKE: There were some arguments? REED:Yeah.
WHITTIER:Yes. And an ex of mine decided to be disgusting and sent a very vulgar message to my phone. He found it and thought that maybe there was some continuing relationship there.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay. And then I moved in with my ex. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, and then you moved in with your ex during the pregnancy?
Yes, Your Honor, I did. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, my. .
. They keep trying to skip over the part I'm asking about. Now I know why.
'Cause this is where it got messy. So, wait a minute. So, you're pregnant now, your ex sends you a picture?
A text? It's a video. A video?
WHITTIER: Yeah. REED: Yeah, I couldn't. .
. Oh, man. JUDGE LAKE: What was in the video, Mr Reed?
He was having sex with somebody. Outright, it showed everything. WHITTIER: It did.
Your ex sent a video of him having sex with somebody else? I think he was trying to make me jealous and make me come back to him. I don't think.
. . (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) WHITTIER: I don't think it was gonna work.
REED: That was a pretty horrible concept. I mean, I don't know what he was thinking. JUDGE LAKE: And, so, wait, you see this video.
. . Yes, I did.
JUDGE LAKE: And then what do you think? Why are you still having contact? What goes through your head?
Well, I told her, I was like, "Why are you. . .
" "You know, I don't mind if you talk to him, "but if he's gonna send you videos like this. . .
No, I told her, "No, that's not okay. " JUDGE LAKE: Okay, that's fair. I mean.
. . Did you believe it was the ex and Ms.
Whittier in the video? WHITTIER: I think that's what he thought, and I tried. .
. I didn't think it was. I didn't see no faces or nothing.
JUDGE LAKE: Oh. WHITTIER: I tried and tried to tell him that's not me. I believe that it's a possibility that it could've been her.
I mean. . .
JUDGE LAKE: And your point was is why are you sending this video unless it's you and her. Yeah, why would he do it? JUDGE LAKE: All right.
JUDGE LAKE: So, after you saw this video, you left? He moves in with his ex who proceeds to attempt to convince him that that child couldn't possibly be his. And, of course, because he's known her longer, he buys into the story and it just got worse from there, until I got sick.
I had a. . .
A blood clot. And they put me in the hospital, put me on blood thinners. And they said the blood thinners carry a massive risk of.
. . Neither one of you making it through.
And I called him, I said, "You need to come home. " I've never been so scared in my life. And I told him that I didn't know if Lukas was gonna make it.
I didn't know if I was gonna make it. JUDGE LAKE:And, so, when you got that call, Mr Reed, what did you do? All I could do not to cry, too, but I knew, as a man, that I needed to be strong and I needed to be her rock.
He came home, we spent. . .
Yeah. . .
. the next month in the hospital. They finally sent us home and said as long as nothing else goes wrong from here to the end, maybe we'll have a healthy baby.
JUDGE LAKE: So, once you heard of this very-scary medical situation, you went and stood by her and the baby, even with your doubts. Yes, I did. WHITTIER: He was there for a lot of it.
But then, the same ex came back. "Well. .
. " You know. .
. "Look at your family. "Your family doesn't have these health problems, "they don't have these medical problems, "and these are, you know, only inherited things.
" Well, that's not entirely true, you know. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr Reed, you were there on the day Lukas was born as well? Oh, yes.
Oh, you were? I cut the umbilical cord, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You did?
I held one leg and folded her up, my mum had the other one and she pushed and the baby came out. And I instantly cried, as soon as. .
. He cried more than I did. I lost it and I held him in my arms.
That is my world right there. That's my boy. I'd do anything for him.
I need to know just so we can move on from this, and we can grow from this, and we can get stronger from this. Because I want it out of my household. It's a bad element.
Are you on Lukas' birth certificate? REED: No, ma'am. WHITTIER: He's not.
REED:That lady came in there and said, "We cannot put your name on the birth certificate "since she is still technically married," and she is. JUDGE LAKE: Oh! REED: Yeah.
JUDGE LAKE: We left that fact out. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr Reed was not able to put his name on the birth certificate because, by law, your husband is presumed to be the father of the child. .
. Yes, Your Honor. REED: A man I have never laid eyes on.
So they put your husband's name on Lukas'. . .
WHITTIER: They put "Unknown," because I wouldn't give them my husband's name. I left my husband and haven't been in contact with him. JUDGE LAKE: But you're not legally divorced?
No. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr Reed, at what point after the birth do the doubts really kick in? WHITTIER: When Lukas started getting really sick.
When he was two-weeks-old, he had his first grand mal seizure. Sometime during that three-week hospitalization, Jo's like, "How does this happen? "You know, nobody in my family has seizures.
"Nobody in my family has any of the feeding issues, "or the heart issues, "or the brain issues that Lukas does. " And I tried telling him, you know, sometimes it can be so far back in your family, you don't know it's there. So, Lucas was diagnosed with albinism.
Yes. On its surface, when they first told me, I laughed because I didn't realize how serious it was. We all hear the word "albino.
" Nobody actually thinks about what it means. And suddenly you realize it doesn't just mean that he's pale and blonde and blue-eyed. It means that his skin.
. . can't take sunlight.
The only huge doubt I have is the albinism. That was a physical proof. That's what's.
. . It means that.
. . Bleeding on his brain, his body's just not equipped to handle anything.
He. . .
He can't go outside. He can't take bright lights. REED: No.
REED:No flickering lights. WHITTIER:They're saying his eye movements are partially from a bleed on his brain. JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
And we don't know if that bleed is because of the blood thinners, or is it part of his albinism? The albinism is still giving me doubts I mean. .
. WHITTIER: But he keeps wondering, you know, "If he's this sick, "and if he's got all these problems "how can he be mine? My family's healthy.
" JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr Reed, you submitted a graph to the court, and you're saying on your side of the family your grandmother, grandfather, on both sides, maternal and paternal, your mother and father. . .
Yeah, nobody has albinism. I've never heard of anybody. .
. JUDGE LAKE: No one? Nobody.
JUDGE LAKE:And then, Ms. Whittier, on your side of the family. .
. WHITTIER: There's no one with an actual diagnosis, but there are several people who show similar symptoms. Do any of your exes have this albinism gene?
WHITTIER: Medically, I have no idea. Um, potentially, yes. The one that he's had issues wondering about is actually blonde and blue-eyed, too.
(AUDIENCE GROANS) So, listen, I've heard the testimony, and this court wants to understand albinism better. Jerome, will you please escort Ms. Rae Lowery into the courtroom?
Ms. Lowery is the president and co-founder of The Albinism Alliance Group. I'm gonna have you go up to the witness stand right next to the Judge.
Watch your step going up the steps, there. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Lowery, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me. We are here today discussing the paternity of beautiful baby Lukas, and this court wants to understand, is albinism passed genetically? Albinism is passed genetically from the parents to the child.
But depending on which gene is affected depends on whether both parents of one parent passes it. Oh. LOWERY: Normally, the albinism trait is recessive.
And when it meets a copy of itself, meaning both parents having the albinism, the same gene affected, then it becomes dominant. JUDGE LAKE: Can you have albinism and not know it at all? Yes, everybody can carry the albinism trait, but usually, you only find out when the baby gets it.
You can have two persons that have albinism and their children do not have albinism. Really? You have two people who do not have albinism and all of their children have albinism.
Because it's all about the gene combination. Exactly. JUDGE LAKE: So, with that said, Mr Reed, after you've heard the testimony from our expert.
. . Yeah.
Does that change your doubt, or affect your belief in any way? It does, I'm not gonna lie to you, it doesn't help the doubt. We're in court, I'm not gonna lie.
It doesn't help the doubt. JUDGE LAKE: And that's what I want, you to be as honest. Of course.
I'm always. So, you still feel doubtful, even with the information, you still have doubt. Saying it comes from both parents, I mean, to me, I don't know about anybody else, but, to me, that's absolutely mind blowing.
I mean, I just don't know what to think. Because you really want Lukas to be your son. REED: But the thought that he's not mine, it would destroy me.
If you were to read the DNA test results and you tell me that, "He's not the father," you're gonna watch me cry. AUDIENCE:Aww. JUDGE LAKE: Why do you have tears in your eyes, Ms.
Whittier? 'Cause it takes a lot for a person to love a child that way. To know he loves that kid the way I do, no matter what.
Let's get the results. Jerome. (WHISPERING INAUDIBLY) These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows.
. . JUDGE LAKE: In the case ofWhittier v.
Reed, when it comes to 22-month-old Lukas Whittier, it has been determined by this Court, Mr Reed, you. . .
Are the father. I can see how relieved you are. REED: I'm just shaking.
I'm shaking. Man, this is the happiest day of my life. Aside from him being born, this is the happiest day of my life.
I will be a father to him, if it kills me. Until it does, until I finally get old, and wear out, and then I'm griping to him about the TV remote or something, you know, 'cause he's wheeling me around in my wheelchair or something. JUDGE LAKE: Well, listen, I said to myself you've got this amazing, young man and beautiful young woman and they've got this child who needs both parents, who needs the love and the support of two people.
Love him unconditionally. I just wanted to be able to deliver that result to you, and I did not know what it was, but I am so very happy for you both. REED: Thank you so much.
Thank you. JUDGE LAKE: I want you all to move forward, I want you all to leave the past in the past. We have counseling and resources for you, because this is what's going to best serve Lukas, in the long run, is for you all to stay together, for your family unit to be together, and for him to have the love and support along his journey.
So, I wish you all the very, very best. Court is adjourned. REED: Thank you so much.
