Man in Court to Prove He Is the Father (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

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

This is the case of Walker v. Devost. Thank you, Jerome.

Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day! Mr Walker, you claim the defendant led you to believe you fathered her son, Ky-Mani, for an entire year, but just six months ago told you you are not the father and refuses to let you see him.

You are here to prove that Ky-Mani is your biological son. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.

Miss Devost, you admit you allowed Mr Walker to sign the birth certificate and led him to believe he is Ky-Mani's father, but now you say he definitely is not his biological father. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.

All right, so Miss Devost, he hasn't seen your son in six months? Yes. Tell me about that.

Um, the reason why he hasn't seen my son in six months is because he is not the father. AUDIENCE: (GASPS) That simple. DEVOST: Yeah, um.

. . I regret letting him sign the birth certificate.

And I just feel. . .

I feel bad because I let him do it. But I just wanted to get the truth out today and just figure out he's not the father, so I can get him off the birth certificate. So you are certain he is not Ky-Mani's biological father?

Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And you feel that you have regret for allowing him to sign this birth certificate? Yes.

Well, Mr Walker, you are certain this is your biological child? Yes, Your Honor, this is my son right here. And so, you had a relationship with him before?

WALKER: Yes. And then, for the past six months you have not seen him? I haven't been allowed to see my son in the last six months because, uh, Miss Devost claims that I am not the father.

But you are on the birth certificate? WALKER: Yes, Your Honor. I was there the whole time.

The whole pregnancy and there at the hospital. AUDIENCE: Wow! JUDGE LAKE: And so you were here the day he entered this world?

WALKER: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And you admit that, Miss Devost. Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE LAKE: Take me back to this relationship, how'd you all even meet? Um, we met when we was in foster care. It was like this group home setting for, like, older youth to live on their own independently.

We met there, we became friends, and when I went away to school, we had lost touch or whatever. And then I came back, we had. .

. I don't know, somehow we got back in contact. And I was, like, over his house every day.

It was like a getaway. We wasn't in a relationship, but it was a situation, like we was together. So it wasn't a committed relationship, but you spent a lot of time together?

DEVOST: Yeah. And you were intimate? Yes, Your Honor.

Did you use protection? DEVOST: No, Your Honor. All right.

When she first told me she was pregnant, I was excited. And I asked her if it was mine, and she said, "Yeah, you're the father. " She did?

Yes. And so you asked her point-blank, "Is this child mine? " And she said, "Yes, you're the father.

" Yes, Your Honor. Miss Devost, do you remember that conversation? Yes, Your Honor.

Did you tell Mr Walker he was your child's biological father? Yes, but at the time I thought he was the father. He was the one I was with, when the doctor asked me.

. . When I took the pregnancy test and then I got it confirmed by the doctor, he was the person I was with at the time.

Okay, well, it doesn't matter who you're with when the doctor tells you you're pregnant, it matters who you're with when the child is conceived. DEVOST: Right. Who were you with then?

Um, I was with him and someone else. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. AUDIENCE: Oh!

So that's why we're here. So you admit you were also intimate with another person during the window of conception. Yes, Your Honor.

And that's the person you believe is Ky-Mani's biological father? Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr Walker, take me to the point when you find out she's pregnant.

What do you do? When I find out that she's pregnant, um, I really just start to prepare myself, mentally, and I also was just looking for work. I had two jobs at the time.

I was just really. . .

I was really tryin' to just prepare myself for everything. I know what it means to have a child. I din't really have a dad growing up.

And I grew up in the system, and, I don't know. . .

I like babies. So this is your first child? Yes, Your Honor.

And after going through a difficult time where you said you grew up in the system, in the foster care system. You were excited about being a father to a child? The kind of father you did not have.

Yes, Your Honor. So, throughout the pregnancy, were you there for her? Yes, we were always living together the whole time.

Even when Ky-Mani was born, you were living together? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: What do you have there?

I actually have the birth certificate that I signed when he was first born. JUDGE LAKE: I'd like to see that. Jerome, will you hand me Mr Walker's evidence, please?

And so, you were there? Yes, Your Honor. She told you it was your child, and you lived up to what you were supposed to do.

This is the birth certificate for Ky-Mani Dominique Devost-Walker. He has your last name. And you are listed as "father.

" Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Willingly and voluntarily? Yes, Your Honor.

As he was signing this birth certificate, and being there for the child and going to doctor's appointments and witnessing the birth, Miss Devost, you knew all the while that there was another possible father? Yes, Your Honor. But you had not shared it with him?

I was. . .

I was scared. Being a first-time mother, I went through the system too, (VOICE BREAKING) and it's just. .

. I just never wanted to tell him that it wasn't his because I knew the situation that he'd been through and. .

. It was just hard. I didn't want to go through it alone and.

. . Uh.

. . I didn't wanna go through it alone and he stepped up to being there and got two jobs.

I had. . .

And I couldn't work when I was pregnant 'cause I had. . .

He was a big baby. And I, um. .

. I could hardly walk, I couldn't really do nothing. So when he stepped up, I just felt like, "Okay, he's doing the right thing, "and maybe he might be the father, I don't know.

" So, he just. . .

AUDIENCE: Aww. . .

Oh. . .

I just didn't wanna. . .

I didn't wanna hurt him. Like, I already felt like. .

. Like, I regret lettin' him go through it because when I looked at my son when he was. .

. After I got through my surgery and everything, I thought he's seen my son before I did. After I looked at my son, I just knew, like.

. . (STUTTERS) He'd been here all this while, I can't turn back now.

Not gonna tell him that he's not the father. He'd been there the whole pregnancy, he was there, so I'm like, "It's too late. " It felt.

And so, like we have seen over and over and over again, when you tell a lie, you just have to keep telling more lies. Right. And more lies and more lies.

Because the truth is you knew all the while there was another possible biological father. DEVOST: Mmm-hmm. Did you tell that man you were pregnant or that the baby was born, and he could potentially be the father as well?

Yes, Your Honor. And what was his response? He.

. . His response was like no other.

It was just, "Okay. If it's mine, I'll take care of it. " And so why is it you chose Mr Walker instead of him?

If he said, "I'll take care of the child," too? Why did you make the choice of Mr Walker? My ex was in another city.

He was in the same city as me. So it was just. .

. He's here. He'll help, he's the father.

So you really are telling the truth when you say you didn't wanna do this alone? So you just chose the man that was closest to you and was ready to step up? DEVOST: Mmm-hmm.

So you would have someone to go through this process with. Yes. Mr Walker, did you have any idea any of this was going on after you saw your baby come into the world?

Where were you in this situation? I really got hold of the situation when, um, she went out of town to a concert. And when she came back, a friend of hers inboxed me saying that I wasn't his father.

That she's dirty. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) So her own friends were coming and telling you, "Hey, this isn't your child? " Yes, friends, family members, my family members.

So, take me to the moment when you found out from Mr. Devost that you may not be Ky-Mani's biological father. When did she finally tell you that?

It was probably maybe around June. DEVOST: It was May. May.

May, June, around one of those times. Um. .

. I believe we were arguing. And I also have some text messages to, um, show.

. . You have more evidence?

Yes, ma'am. JUDGE LAKE: Jerome, can you please hand me the evidence? And so, Mr Walker, you're saying that as you would argue.

. . Whatever argument you'd be in as a couple, it would always come down to, "Well, you don't have any right to see Ky-Mani.

" Or, "You don't have any right in this situation "because you're not his father. " Correct. This is evidence of a conversation between you and Miss Devost?

WALKER: Yes, ma'am. And this is a conversation via text? Um, yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE LAKE: Okay, all right. So it says. .

. You say, "You kicked me out with damn near no place to go. "You wasn't thinking about our son or anything.

" Miss Devost, you write back, "He's not your son. " (AUDIENCE GASPS) Then you respond, Mr Walker, "So as long as I'm on the birth certificate, I'm not going anywhere. "You ruined my whole life.

" And, Miss Devost, you respond, "You are not his father. You ruined your own life. " (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) You cold-blooded!

Because you told him he was the biological father. Yes, I did. He had the option if he wanted to be there or not.

I didn't. . .

(AUDIENCE GASPS) I didn't beg or ask him to be there. He had the option. Miss Devost, I let you stand here thus far and state your testimony.

Now, you sitting up here actin' like Satan's sidekick in here, talkin' about, "You ruined your own life. "I had nothin' about it. Nobody told you to stay.

" What's goin' on? (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) 'Cause see, I'm not gonna let you go back too far from center. Now, you can come in here and tell the truth and say you made a mistake, and you lied, and you did something for your benefit, and you were scared, and you didn't wanna be by yourself.

But what you're not gonna do is sit up here and convince me that, "Oh, he could've left. " Why? He could've left the baby that he thought was his biological child?

He could've repeated a cycle that has affected him and you and that's why both of you are connected on that level? Because you both were in a system where no child should ever have to spend their life? Let's be honest.

It's okay if you just wanna say, "I made a mistake. I did the wrong the thing. "And after I did it.

. . " But do not look at this man and say, "You could've left.

You ruined your own life. " When you know you put this scenario in motion. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) Did you ever do a paternity test with the other man.

. . DEVOST: No.

You haven't? No. So how are you certain he's the child's biological father?

He looks just like him. His family. .

. They got family members that look. .

. They look identical too. So, it's just.

. . It's just given, like, that's his father.

Despite that, you still allowed Mr Walker to believe, for the first eight months of Ky-Mani's life, he was the child's biological father? Yes. Don't you think it's a little unfair that even though you say you had a conscience and you just couldn't do it anymore and it was eating at you, it's almost as if you don't understand that the day you got done with the lie, it was almost like, "Okay, I'm done with this lie.

"This lie has served me. "Now it's gettin' on my nerves. "I'm gonna tell the truth.

" Now you just want him to let loose. Like, like, like. .

. Okay. .

. But do you understand now, he's so invested in the child. .

. DEVOST: Right. He still understands that there's a possibility he could be the child's biological father.

So now he's not letting go. Right. JUDGE LAKE: Is that true, Mr Walker?

My assessment of your position? Yes, Your Honor. And so, now, for the past six months, you've been without your son?

You haven't contacted me. . .

Asked me to see Ky-Mani none of the time. Since May when you left, you haven't contacted me. So, that's why.

No one's in Ky-Mani's life. I'm the only person. Me and another family member's in Ky-Mani's life.

There's nobody else. After all that, this other guy is not a full-fledged father in Ky-Mani's life? 'Cause he can't be there.

We in two different cities. My son, he talks to him over FaceTime, via videochat all the time. Every day, if he get a chance to.

He's there. . .

Like, he know who he is. But he's not. .

. And Ky-Mani is 14-months-old now? When he sees your ex, he refers to him as "Daddy"?

Yes. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) JUDGE LAKE: Did you know that, Mr Walker? No, I didn't.

But from the time that I left the house, he was already getting ready to start saying, "Da-da," to me, so. . .

AUDIENCE: Aww. . .

I don't know. DEVOST: No, he wasn't. You say, "No, he wasn't.

" DEVOST: He wasn't even talking then. All he knows is me, so. .

. It's fine. That's what you think.

There is a reason why when you are pregnant with a child, that they tell the mother and the father to talk to the child. So that the child gets to know the mother and the father's voice. Mmm-hmm.

So when that child comes out the womb, that voice he's heard, those vibrations he's felt, that happens in real time in the real world, there's a reason why we do those types of connections when we're having babies. So you're not gonna tell me that Mr Walker hasn't been there all that time, been talking to that baby, rubbing the stomach, kissing the stomach, having a conversation, and then the baby come out, and now you tell me, "He don't know nobody but me. " He don't.

No! No! That's what makes you more comfortable with what you have done.

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Mr Walker, have you prepared yourself? Yes, I have. If he has.

. . His biological father that's gonna be in his life, I'm not about to play a second role of step-day or anything like that.

He's not even my blood or anything, so. . .

She could just. . .

She would. . .

If he's not mine, she. . .

Guess she's moving on with her little family or whatever. AUDIENCE: Aww. .

. And I can see that hurt you very much to say. I think we've heard enough.

It's time for the results. Jerome? (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Thank you.

You're welcome. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. He had the option if he wanted to be there or not.

JUDGE LAKE: In the case of Walker v. Devost, as it pertains to 14-month-old Ky-Mani Devost-Walker it has been determined by this court. .

. Mr Walker, you. .

. Are not the father. (AUDIENCE GROANS) DEVOST: I'm sorry.

I'm sincerely sorry. I'm sorry, Mr Walker. Thank you, Your Honor.

I'm sorry I couldn't give you the news you wanted, Mr Walker. You have been a stand-up guy in this situation. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) For that you should be very proud of yourself.

Now, with that said, you signed an acknowledgment of paternity. There is also no guarantee when you go home to your home state that the court will remove you from that birth certificate. I cannot guarantee that.

So we have to get this worked out, okay? If you need help from this court, you let me know. If you need to have another test with the man you believe is Ky-Mani's biological father, this courtroom is here for you, because sometimes having the absolute clarity is what you need to be able to move forward.

And we're not gonna let this cycle repeat itself and allow the father figure to be stolen from his life. Right? DEVOST: Yes.

The way it was from yours. And you're in charge, okay? Go talk to Dr Jeff.

You young people, I'mma check on you. All right. DEVOST: All right.

I wish you the very best. Court is adjourned.