You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello.
This is the case of Tillis v. Jalik. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms.
Tillis, you claim the defendant got you pregnant and now refuses to do anything for your two-month-old son, Jaidynce, leaving you in financial distress, is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. You claim that today's DNA test will prove that he is Jaidynce's father.
Yes, Your Honor. Mr Jalik, you say you are 100% certain you are not her child's biological father, and have medical evidence to support your claim. Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor. So, Ms. Tillis, you say, the defendant's paternity denial has left you in financial trouble?
Yes, Your Honor. Explain. The day my son was born, he has done nothing for my child.
JUDGE LAKE: Nothing? TILLIS: Nothing, at all. JUDGE LAKE: Not a dollar?
Not a dollar. Tell the court what that has been like for you. I'm struggling, I have to do it all by myself, I'm not working right now.
JUDGE LAKE: So precious. Ms. Tillis, I know this has been difficult.
I can only imagine. I'm a mother. Two months in, you are still dealing with postpartum issues, you're still dealing with trying to put yourself back together, your mind back together, your body back together.
And you're doing this all by yourself. Yes, Your Honor. Tell me, how has this affected you?
Uh, it hurts. Before I was pregnant with Jaidynce, I was having issues that I told Mr Jalik about and I was hoping that he would be there for me but he turned his back on me. Mr Jalik, did you turn your back on the baby?
Uh, no, Your Honor, uh, basically, we had a conversation, and like I told her, I refuse to take up the next man's slack for a child that's not mine. We wasn't even having relations when she got pregnant. So, what was the nature of your relationship?
We were having sex because we got history. What's the history? JALIK: Uh.
. . TILLIS: (LAUGHS) When I moved to Oklahoma City from my home state, I was going to college for my Associate's in Business where I met Ms.
TIllis. So you met in college? JALIK: Yes.
Okay. And at that time, I had long hair, so, she was in a school for nursing at the time, but she's a cosmetologist, also. So, she started braiding my hair, and she started, like, spending nights with me at my home.
I had a three-bedroom house, she used to come over. I moved in with him. JALIK: Uh, she used to come over.
JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute, she says she moved in. Did she move in or were you just braiding and bedding? JALIK: That's what it was.
Both. It was both, but over time I moved in with him. So this started a committed relationship?
You met. . .
TILLIS: I thought it was a committed. . .
Did you date or you just braid his hair then decided on moving in? Thank you. Braiding with benefits.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: Oh, okay. So obviously, you all had a relationship if she was over there all the time, Mr Jalik. We had a situation-ship.
The situation was she was the in-house braider, but at the same time-- (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) No, for real. I know it sound crazy, but even back then, she was going through things. So my place was a safe haven.
And like I told her, in the situation-ship, I paid all bills, I paid all rent. You do my hair. So you can't trip on what company comes through my front door.
No, Your Honor. That's the situation. This is a first.
This is a first. Jerome, I have never heard of this. JEROME: Me neither.
In-house braider. Brand new. With benefits.
Something to me is not adding up. So you move in. Do you think this is your boyfriend when you move in?
He made me feel like I was his woman. And tell me, what evidence do you have to support that? What did he do?
TILLIS: Uh, we slept together every night. Cooking for me, watching movies, it was just cuddle time. It was like.
. . a relationship.
How long did you live together? For at least two years until I went into the Job Corps. JUDGE LAKE: Two years?
Mr Jalik, now you had her living in your house for two years? Your Honor, I'm a Southern man. Uh, I cook, I clean, I do all of that.
So when she met me, she was dealing with guys, that, you know, hadn't showed her the basics of life. Like when it comes to social, and doing what you do. If I wasn't your woman, where did the jealousy come in it?
Because you sitting up there talking about you don't like when women come over. You said where the jealousy come in, so you saying, Ms. Tillis, he was jealous?
TILLIS: Yeah. Of what? TILLIS: I would talk to my friend on the phone-- JUDGE LAKE: What friend?
My friend from years before him. Why were you on the phone with him, living in his house and that's your boyfriend? JALIK: Thank you.
Why am I looking at your phone and you got nude pictures going to your ex, while you ain't with that ex? Oh. Ms.
Tillis, were you sending naked pictures to your ex while you were living in his house, and saying he was your boyfriend? I was. But only because he had females coming over to the house.
Do you believe she was also having sex with someone else during the window of time that Jaidynce was conceived? It's very possible, Your Honor, because, I say, we been doing this off and on since 2011. This is the time to let me know what else you got going on.
She sat there for a second, and she was like, "Well, "I did. . .
I'mma be real, I did mess with my ex, you know, "a couple of months ago when me and you got into it after I got my car. " So she confirmed and she admitted in that moment, I did sleep with my ex. Yes, Your Honor.
All right, I wanna understand what was transpiring during the window of time when Jaidynce was conceived. Were you all intimate during that time? TILLIS: Yes, this is the time-- JALIK: No.
We were working together. We were on and off. So you and your ex rekindled your.
. . Relationship, or friendship, whatever it was?
It was a friendship, we weren't. . .
JUDGE LAKE: But you started having sex with him as well. Yes, but it was just one time. And we used protection.
So safe. Were you 100% certain that the sex was protected? Are you 100% certain, Ms.
Tillis? Yes, Your Honor. JALIK: Not what you told me.
JUDGE LAKE: Did you tell your ex that he potentially could be Jaidynce's biological father? No, not at all. No.
JUDGE LAKE: You did not? Can I show you my pregnancy timeline? JUDGE LAKE: Oh, you brought some evidence?
Yes. Please step up. I wanna get this story.
This is the conception date that the lady, the sonogram lady gave me. Me and Mr Jalik messed around in October. More like early September.
This was around the time she got her car. No, it was-- It was in the middle of October. The end of October I messed with the other man.
JUDGE LAKE: Wait, say that again. TILLIS: The middle of October I messed with him, without protection. JUDGE LAKE: Do you agree with that, Mr Jalik?
No, no, ma'am. TILLIS: End of October, it was the other man. So you did mess with the other guy at the end of October?
TILLIS: Yes. So, why when I asked you did you think he was a possibility, you said no? Because, I.
. . We used protection.
It wasn't. . .
I messed with him in October, too. TILLIS: The beginning of February, I found out-- And the first conception date they gave you was October 25th? TILLIS: Yeah, but she wasn't accurate because she didn't know.
I asked her, does she know when I conceived? And she just threw me out a date. So, when the date was October 25th, Mr Jalik, you thinking that's the ex.
Mmm-hmm. TILLIS: I went to my OB/GYN, and he gave me the conception date of November 14th. That's the last time me and Mr Jalik messed around.
We wasn't even having sex then. Let me show you something, Your Honor. Okay, you can step back to your podium, Ms.
Tillis. What do you have for me, Mr Jalik? My father, myself, and my three sons all have, what the old folk call a wisdom hole, in our right ear at the top, we're born with it.
It's a handsome child that she has, but he doesn't have the trait that me, my father, and all my sons have. JUDGE LAKE: It's a preauricular sinus. Preauricular sinuses are inherited.
And also, one study says that the incidence of preauricular sinuses in the United States is estimated to be 0-0. 9%. Wow, that's less than 1%.
That's very rare. Yes, ma'am. So three generations of men in the family have this trait.
JALIK: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: But Jaidynce does not. Not at all.
But Jaidynce does not? Not at all. I went to the hospital, when he was, like, three days old.
She called me, and I went out there and I looked at him and I picked him up, looked at him. Yeah, he was looking at my baby, like. .
. Examining my baby in the light. That's what.
. . I mean, I want to see.
But the first thing I'm looking for is our trait. I don't see it. He like he examining a pineapple or something at the grocery store.
Looking at it in the light and turning it upside down. Is that how you did the baby, Mr Jalik? It wasn't that physical, but, I mean, I gave him a good lookover.
Were you looking for this wisdom hole or were you just looking for. . .
Traits that you feel resembled yourself? JALIK: In myself, traits of my sons. If that's my child, he need to resemble his siblings.
'Cause they resemble each other. But they don't have the same mother and our DNA is not the same. Okay, and that's a good point you making.
If they all have three different mothers and they all still resemble, that means it's coming from my side of the family. He looks like you. JALIK: I'mma do one more for you, Your Honor.
About two weeks ago, me and Ms. Tillis went to a cafe. With Jaidynce.
So, this is a cafe that I frequent. There's a woman that works there, she's about 60. She, at this point in time, is showing me a picture of a 10-year-old that belongs to the other guy.
This the other guy's son. So, while she's showing me this picture, the waitress walks up. Jaidynce is in the car seat and the picture is beside him because she's showing me the picture of the 10-year-old.
My son does not look like that child. Actually, what the woman said, the woman said, "Oh, my, "look at the little baby, he looks just like his big brother. " They resemble so much.
The other guy's 10-year-old. And that's the son of the other guy? JALIK: And this was a woman that wasn't privy to our conversation, this is a older woman, and she walked up and she was like, "Oh, they look just alike.
" Did that happen, Ms. Tillis? You down there smiling.
Yes, Your Honor, it did happen. So when Ms. Tillis said this is not my baby right here, this is not my son, she said, "Oh, that's not?
" She said, "Let me walk-- I'll be back. " She was embarrassed because he looks just like his big brother. All right, this court.
. . I wanna hear more about this preauricular sinus condition, 'cause I don't know much about it.
But I do know from the evidence you presented that it's very rare. So I'd like to bring in Dr Samantha Brown-Parks, uh, our expert to hear more about this. Jerome, would you please escort the doctor in?
JEROME: Have you go up on the witness stand right next to the judge. Watch your step. Hello, Doctor.
Hi, Your Honor. Thank you so much for joining us today, Sure. We are in a case concerning beautiful baby Jaidynce, and we are dealing with a paternity question Mr Jalik has concerning a physical condition he commonly calls a wisdom hole, which, he has presented evidence to this court, I've now learned it's called preauricular sinus.
Yes. But I don't know much about it, and would like to understand. .
. I know it's rare. Can you shed light on this and as to whether or not this is truly relevant in this paternity question?
For sure. So, a preauricular sinus is a small hole or opening that's a birth defect, it happens in less than 1% of the population. And traditionally, is inherited.
It's an autosomal dominant trait, which means you have two copies of a gene, if one is defective, or mutated, it will display, in most cases, as the wisdom hole. Um, but. .
. You have two copies of that gene. So, one from your mom, one from your dad, it sounds like your dad's side of the family is the one that had the wisdom hole?
But your mom's side did not, correct? Yes, ma'am. So, each child that you produce has a 50% chance of having that wisdom hole.
So, you've got a 50-50 shot with an autosomal dominant disease. So, what you're saying is, is the fact that his three children, now, they currently have the wisdom hole, does not necessarily mean that every child he would produce would have it? It's a 50-50 chance in each child.
In each case. It's just like the flip of a coin or roll of a dice. Your odds restart every time.
So each time it's a 50-50 shot. So, the doctor's testimony has shed a lot of light for me, because when I read the evidence you presented and we talked about how rare this is, 0-0. 9%, it's such a rare thing, that would immediately cause you to believe, well, if it's that rare, and they all have it, maybe there's something to his doubt.
But, now we understand further that it is a 50-50 chance in every child. After hearing what the doctor has said, Mr Jalik, and this clarification, do you feel any differently about the possibility that Jaidynce is your biological child? Do you believe he could be?
No, Your Honor. No, Your Honor, I do't feel any differently about this handsome child, because at the end of the day, the child's mother is still a little friendly out there, so. .
. So, you are. .
. You believe, without a shadow of the doubt, this child is not yours? I know he's not.
JUDGE LAKE: Now, Ms. Tillis, I wanna understand from you, you are two months in being a mother, and it sounds like you are not standing on solid ground. TILLIS: Yes, Your Honor.
With no help. What are your hopes? Um, my hopes are the results come back that he is the father and that he'll stand up and be in his life, like he needs to be, and help me with this child.
JUDGE LAKE: All right. Jerome, I'm ready for the results. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Here you go.
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. JUDGE LAKE: In the case of Tillis v. Jalik, as it pertains to two-month-old Jaidynce Tillis, it has been determined by this court, Mr Jalik, you.
. . Are the father.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING) JUDGE LAKE: That's your little baby. I knew it was somebody's nose. Now that I look at it, I can kinda see the.
. . I apologize.
How does that make you feel, Ms. Tillis? I'm happy.
JUDGE LAKE: Are you? But, I'm emotional at the same time, 'cause I went through a lot when I was pregnant. Yeah.
We could tell. I apologize. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) JALIK: And I'm proud of you.
TILLIS: (SOBBING) I apologize. This is why we're here. This is why we do this.
For you all. Most importantly for Jaidynce. So, I have to ask you.
. . Is it okay if Mr Jalik sees his beautiful son in my chambers?
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Let's do that. I will meet you in my chambers.
Court is adjourned. (BANGS GAVEL) JEROME: Here's your beautiful son. What's up, fella?
JUDGE LAKE: (GIGGLING) Hmm? It's been confirmed, you Daddy's little man, Can I get a little smile or something? (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) (LAUGHING) JUDGE LAKE: So cute!
Mmm-hmm.
