Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello.
This is the case of Gray v. Pierson. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms.
Gray, you say the defendant, Mr Pierson has ripped your family apart because of his denial that he is your 10-month-old daughter, Kamiyah's dad. You say he never denied your two oldest kids, but refuses to believe he is the biological dad of baby Kamiyah, your youngest, is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.
Mr Pierson, you claim that not only are you not baby Kamiyah's father but you know that her dad is actually a member of your own family. Yes, Your Honor. Is that right, sir?
PIERSON: Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Gray, you say, you have two older children together.
Yes, Your Honor. But he does not pay Kamiyah any mind. No, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: What are your hopes for today, really? I just want him to be a part of her life. Granted, I would love to have my family all together, because that's what I really came here for.
I just want him to treat her the way he treats the other ones. He treats them way more better than he treats her. He buys them things, he don't buy her nothing.
Is that true, Mr Pierson? PIERSON: Yes, Your Honor, it is. It is true?
Yes, it is. JUDGE LAKE: And that's because of the doubt you say you have. Yes, ma'am.
JUDGE LAKE: I don't know how you ignore a beautiful baby like that. GRAY: It's not right. JUDGE LAKE: The older children, how old are they?
One and two. Do you feel like they can feel or understand that something is going on? Or is it just because you know and you see the difference?
I know and I see the difference. Mr Pierson, why do you doubt Kamiyah is your child? She slept with my cousin, Your Honor.
What? Exactly, "What? " (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) How did you find that out?
PIERSON: Being the fact that he was at my house while I was leaving to go to work. And I just left it be. I didn't question it, you know, I thought I could have more trust in my cousin.
And we moved in with them. You moved in with your cousin? Yeah.
Because at that time I didn't have suspicions until we started to move out. And I started thinking, I said "Oh, I wonder what he was coming to my house for? "I'm leaving to go to work, so who is he there for?
" And then I moved out of there and I moved to a friend of mine's house. That's when they "allegedly" started messing with each other. But I look at it as if you did it once, you did it then, you've done it before, you'll do it again.
I'm a man, I know what it's like. We as men, we can be dogs. Well, all right, say that.
I'm gonna accept that into evidence, as fact. Ms. Gray, did you sleep with his cousin?
GRAY: Yes, I did. It was revengeful. .
. It was revengeful because he left me in North Carolina when I was pregnant with our son Dimonte to go be with his cousin's ex-girlfriend. Not only that, they have a kid together.
So yes, I slept with his cousin, several times, two. Because it was revengeful. PIERSON: There you go, now the truth come out.
Mr Pierson, you were never told it happened more than once? Actually, he the one that told me. And he told me that it happened, and I confronted her about it.
And she lied to me, and she lied to me, and she lied to me, and she lied to me, and she still lies to me about it, Your Honor. At first, she told you how many times, did she sleep with him? Oh, there's two different stories, then.
First it happened once and it happened at my aunt's house. Allegedly, and then the second time I asked 'cause she's the type of person you gotta ask a thousand times to get the truth. So I asked her again, I said, "So you slept with my cousin?
" "Yes, I did. " "Okay, where did it happen at? " "It happened at his house.
" "Oh, so how many times did it happen? " Because now I've got two different stories. Your Honor, I never told him that it happened at his aunt's house.
I never said that, that never came out my mouth 'cause I knew it didn't happen at his aunt's house. Neither the house that we was living in, that he's talking about, did his cousin come while he was working because he wasn't working I was the only one who was working in that house. Either way it goes, if they was able to build relations then at that present time, I'm quite sure they was able to build relations before.
There was no relation. . .
Like I said, I am a man and I know how the game rolls. Now wait, so in your court papers when you say you believe a family member is Kamiyah's father. .
. You believe that's your cousin? Yes, Your Honor.
I mean look at it, the baby looks like my cousin. GRAY: He accused me of sleeping with everybody, Your Honor. .
. PIERSON: Yes, I did. Even when I'm not sleeping with nobody.
Because she couldn't tell me the truth. Ms. Gray, did you ever tell the cousin you were pregnant, too?
I was already pregnant when I slept with his cousin so there's no way that that's his cousin's baby, but he's too dumb to realize science. So let me ask you this. Have you ever told the cousin that he potentially could be Kamiyah's father?
No, I told him that he wasn't the father. And he insisted to me that he was the father. And I said, "Well if you think you're the father, you go buy a DNA test.
" I told both of them to go get a DNA test. PIERSON: I have nothing to prove. She's the one that has to prove that this child is mine.
I don't have to prove that this child is mine. If she was so interested in telling me, proving to me that I am the father, why couldn't she get me a DNA test the day that baby was born. Like I.
. . I tried to do that.
JUDGE LAKE: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Mr Pierson, when she told you she was pregnant, did you know anything about the cousin when she told you she was pregnant? No, I didn't.
So when she told you, you immediately assumed that it was your child? Yes, I did. But this cousin says, Ms.
Gray, that he insists it's his child? Mmm-hmm. Jerome, I would love to hear from this cousin.
Yeah, let's hear from him. Wouldn't you? JEROME: Yes.
I have. . .
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Joining us from his hometown, we have the cousin. Mr Pierson. Thank you for joining us today.
PIERSON: You see the resemblance? JUDGE LAKE: Mr Pierson, we're here talking about the paternity relating to baby Kamiyah. Ms.
Gray has testified that you've indicated that Kamiyah is your biological child. And Mr Pierson, your cousin has indicated that he is aware that you were sleeping with Ms. Gray.
Are these things true? Yes, Your Honor, I was aware that she was pregnant. As being who the father was, neither one of us knew.
Because at that time, she did tell me that she was pregnant but the timeframe between when she had the baby and the timeframe when I slept with her, it felt like it could have been mine. When you say, "She told me she was pregnant. " Did she come to you and say, "I'm pregnant and this child could be yours," or you just found out she was pregnant through the family?
At first, no, she was like. . .
She's pregnant and I was like, "Well do you know whose it is? " And she was like, "It's your cousin, Theo's. " But when the baby was born, me and my cousin saw the baby and we had our own judgment as he thought, since he already knew about me sleeping with his baby mama.
. . He thought, well, that I could be the father, and I thought that maybe I could be the father, too, because look at the baby.
And so I asked her, I said, "Do you know if I'm the father or not? " And she said, "Well, if it's anybody's, it's between you and your cousin. " Did she ever tell you you were Kamiyah's father?
ALEXANDER PIERSON: Not directly. Basically how she say you get a DNA test to prove who the father is. JUDGE LAKE: So she admitted that she's gonna have to have a DNA test.
ALEXANDER: Yes. But if she didn't think that I was the father why would she need a DNA test in the first place? Exactly my question.
This is what I said. He said, before we even had sexual intercourse he said, "You're pregnant, right? " And I said, "Yeah.
" Then we had sexual intercourse. When I had my child, neither one of them two came up there to see her. He told me to send a picture of her.
That's when he started denying her. I'd constantly tell Mr Pierson right here that he is the father. And he insists that it's Alex's baby, so what I told them to do was, "How about you all go get a DNA test?
" 'Cause I know who I slept with and I know when I got pregnant. But you also told Mr Pierson it just happened one time. So in that way you weren't telling the truth.
Now you see where I get my doubts, Your Honor? And that's exactly what I was getting to, that I mean, we have to say that there is a level of credibility to this doubt Mr Pierson is expressing. Because he hasn't gotten a straight answer.
Never have, never will. And so if. .
. And look, I'm just saying if we're lying about how many times, why not also lie about when? And that is coupled with the fact that his cousin, the other Mr Pierson, has indicated that he counted back the dates from when you had Kamiyah and he felt like there could be a question of paternity.
GRAY: Yeah, but it's not his baby. And I told him that several times, that it's not his baby. Do you believe that, Mr Pierson?
No, I do not, Your Honor. Was your cousin coming over the house before that time? Yes, Your Honor, like I said, I would leave to go to work and he would be coming up from dropping his baby mama off at work.
And I'd be leaving out to go to work. PIERSON: What for? I don't understand, it don't.
. . Something don't add up here.
And the whole thing was if it's happened once. . .
Like she said, it's happened several times. If they build their relationship then how could it not have been built beforehand? It was just sex, it was revengeful.
No, it was not just sex. It was a revenge, there is no relationship. It was a relationship, too.
Every time I've laid down with a woman I've had to build some sort of a relationship with her. That's you. Correct.
You can't have sex with somebody and not show no type of feelings. Mr Pierson, how do you do that to your cousin? Now you know he's on his way going to work.
No, it wasn't like how he puts it. I wouldn't just come over there just because he'd be going to work or anything like that. They had a son there, I would always go over there to see Dimonte I would go play with Dimonte.
I didn't disrespect him until he disrespected me. In all honesty, it sounds like you went over to play with Dimonte and then you ended up playing with his mother. GRAY: No.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND APPLAUDING) That's what I call the ultimate playdate. Your Honor, we did not have sex until I moved. .
. We moved in with Alex. JUDGE LAKE: Mr Pierson, you get yourself in a position where you're alone with Ms.
Gray and you know this is the mother of your cousin's children. Was this for you just sex as well, or did you have some affinity for this woman? It was just out of spite because I felt I had such a strong bond with my ex and, when he went up there and had a baby by my ex it kinda.
. . It just kinda broke me down.
As in I just broke up with her, we're dealing with what we're dealing with, and I broke up with her and you're gonna go up there, sleep with her, move in with her and have a baby by her? It kind of. .
. You see what I'm saying? And it was months on end before I even did anything after he slept with my ex before I even did anything with his baby mama.
It was months on end, months on end. JUDGE LAKE: So the bottom line is, this is a three-way revenge. Because you had sex with his ex, moved in with her and had a baby with her?
Yes, Your Honor. (AUDIENCE GROANS) JUDGE LAKE: Okay, I'm getting a light bulb. Let me ask you this.
When was the last time you were intimate with Ms. Gray? More than like, seven months ago.
So that's since the baby was born, they were still having relations. And then she wonder why I don't want to be with her. I care less if you want to be with me.
JUDGE LAKE: You young people. You all making me nervous, now. You all just 21 and 22 years old.
With all of this going on? I mean, I can take care of my kids. No, that's not.
. . JUDGE LAKE: Listen I go to work every day, unlike this one.
You're gonna take care of the kids. The issue is you need to stop making them. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) I'm not.
. . I'm not gonna stop.
I'm not gonna stop, because I want, I want. . .
You're not going to stop making children? I want kids. The Bible says, be fruitful.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) Now hold on, don't start on the Bible with me. GRAY: You supposed to be married. .
. Are you married? Are you married?
No, I'm not married. Okay, so the Bible also says, get married. I don't mind you wanting to have children but you need to do it right.
And this is what I want to know, ultimately. There's been a lot of tit-for-tat. A lot of moving around, a lot of jokes a lot of, "You don't have to be with me, you don't.
. . " This is all child's play, you all are kids, you really shouldn't even be here right now, you need to be in college.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Actually, I need to be at work. JUDGE LAKE: So. .
. And you know what Mr Pierson, you're right you need to be at college and work 'cause you got to take care of all these kids. JUDGE LAKE: And you too.
I don't need to go to college. Yes, I can tell. And that's what I don't like.
Because you are three beautiful young people. You all going all around the town getting back at one another doing all this, that, and a third. At the end of the day when you stand here, Ms.
Gray, though, and you talk about your family I want you to talk to me about what your family, having a family means to you and why is it important for you? I just want him to be a part of her life. I grew up without my dad, so I know how that feels.
I don't want my child to grow up and be like, "Oh, where's my daddy, where's my daddy? " When he was there all along, but he just didn't want to be. A family to me means loved ones who can come together, who can sit at the table, talk to each other and tell them how their day was.
Waking up in the morning, you see that person every day, you see your kids every day, you feed them and everything. I want that, I want my family. JUDGE LAKE: And I believe that.
And you know, Mr Pierson, you've had a tough road to toe. I'm gonna be honest with you. Mmm-hmm.
Because you have not done right all the time. No, I haven't. But the point is you also had reasonable doubt in this particular situation.
And I can only imagine if you have two children with someone. And then you truly have that doubt about the third, how do you handle it? I don't think you handled it to the best of your ability, but I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't think you're old enough and possessed the maturity necessary.
. . To handle it.
. . .
to handle it, and that's my problem with all three of you. But when you can't get a straight answer about a relationship. .
. PIERSON: Lead to assumptions . .
. and you're catching lie after lie after lie, then that doubt really festers. And so I have the answers for you all today.
And I hope this truth will be a seed for you all. To grow a better future, for you and this baby. Jerome, I'm ready for the results.
There you go, Your Honor. Thank you. You're welcome.
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. In the case of Gray v. Pierson, pertaining to whether Mr Alexander Pierson or Mr Theodore Pierson is the father of 10-month-old Kamiyah Pierson.
It has been determined by this court, the biological father is Mr. . Theodore Pierson.
Can I see my daughter, Your Honor? I wanna go. .
. I wanna go be with my daughter now. I'm ready to be with my daughter now.
JUDGE LAKE: Good. So listen, you all got to figure out how to have real relationships. And that requires a level of maturity that you may not possess, but now that you have all of these children we've gotta grow up.
'Cause we're kids raising kids. And I know one thing. I can see the look of sadness and sorrow in her eyes and the look of intensity in your eyes.
You don't want your children in a courtroom like this. You want their testimony to be that, "My mother and father "overcame every obstacle necessary "to be good parents to me. " That's what you want their story to be, right?
PIERSON: Right. That means you all gotta do the work. I wish you all the best of luck.
Court is adjourned.
