(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) JUDGE LAKE: You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello.
This is a case of Kyles v. Lyte. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day! Ms.
Kyles, you have opened your case to prove to the defendant that her deceased son, James, is your 14-month-old daughter, Ava's, biological father. You state that you know the defendant is in pain due to the loss of her son, but so are you. Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: And you want nothing more than to give her closure. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor.
Ms. Lyte, you say, Ms. Kyles is a pathological liar and you claim that as much as you would love for a piece of your son to be here, you don't trust that baby Ava belongs to him.
Is that correct? JEANETTE: Yes, Your Honor. Ms.
Kyles, you say that you are hurt too. Explain. Ms.
Lyte isn't the only one that's hurt. I'm hurt too, and that's my child's father. She wasn't a mistake.
We planned her, and me and him was together. That was my boyfriend. And I loved him, and he loved me.
And he loved his daughter. We were his family, so I understand she's hurting and that's her son, but, me and Ava are hurting, too. Ms.
Lyte, I'm sorry for the loss of your son. Thank you. JUDGE LAKE: I know this is extremely difficult.
Very. Ava is 14 months old. JEANETTE: Correct.
Have you formed a bond with her? JEANETTE: Yes. That's my heart.
(JEANETTE SOBS) My son was raising her. If she weren't with my son, she was with me. But.
. . JEANETTE: I love her.
The doubt JEANETTE: But? is still eating away at you? It's killing me.
It was just a lot going on. He came to me so many times hurt after he moved her to Oklahoma, and got everything furnished, another man answered the phone, and tried to claim to be Ava's father, and be in her life now. And all of this other stuff.
That's a lie. So, another man answered the phone and told your son, "I'm Ava's father. "And I'm in her life now.
" JEANETTE: And he had a baby that wasn't even born yet. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) And so, Ms. Kyles, did another man answer the phone?
ANIA: That never happened. Me and James never had any fights or arguments about any females, any males. I was hormonal.
I was going through a lot, I was stressful. Our arguments have never been about other people in our relationship. And so, why would he make this up?
With his mother? I don't. .
. What motive would he have to. .
. Because he was mad, because I wasn't letting him around me. When I was pregnant with her, I didn't let him around me.
He went back, I was in Oklahoma. He moved back to Chicago. He was trying to reach out to me, and I kept ignoring him, and I wasn't answering his calls, he was calling my grandmother.
I told her, don't answer her phone because I didn't want to deal with him. And from my understanding, he didn't move back to Chicago. He was kicked out, from my understanding.
He came to go to a court date that he had in Chicago. And that's when he found out he no longer had a home in Oklahoma. His stuff had been supposedly thrown out.
And what wasn't thrown out, the man supposedly kept what he wanted. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) That's not true at all. That's not true at all.
He got mad because I don't like everybody in my house. He brought some other guy with him to my house. I told him I don't want anybody in my house.
My child. . .
I'm irritated right now, and I have my 2-year-old here. I don't want anybody in my house. He furnished the house, he can't bring whoever he wanted in here.
I said, "No, you can't. This is still my house. My name is on the lease.
" So, I said, "You can't come in. " Locked my door. He can't come in, he kept calling my phone, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, babe.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen, "but, why you just got me out here like that? " I said, "I don't want anybody in my house. I told you that.
"Respect me. " All right, so you were having relationship issues in terms of boundaries you set for your home. ANIA: Yeah.
That was always the issue. And this was all happening when you were pregnant. Take me to the point at which Ava was born.
Was Mr Miller with you at the hospital? ANIA: No, it was just me and my 2-year-old daughter. JUDGE LAKE: And you were still in Oklahoma?
ANIA: Yes. Did you call him to say the baby's being born? No, Your Honor.
He would've been there. He would've been there. That's something he never would've wanted to miss.
When do you let him know that the baby is here? I decided to give Ava away to a family member, and she named Ava Skylar. JUDGE LAKE: Why are we calling her Ava?
Because that's the name that me and James wanted to name her. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. ANIA: She took her back to Chicago, a week later, I wanted my baby back.
She didn't want to give her to me, so I had to call my mother to get her back. She got her immediately. My mom went to go get her.
My mom dropped Ava off to Ms. Lyte's house, where James was staying at. JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
Did the birth certificate ever get changed? Is Ava on her birth certificate, or is. .
. ANIA: Me and James, on the phone, we discussed this. Only me and him, no one knew about this.
Only me and him. But did he know you were planning to give the baby up for adoption? He knew afterwards, when I got her back.
After that week. I called him on the phone and said, "I'm sorry I did this. " Me and him talked about it.
Me and him were both crying on the phone. He said, "I still love you. "We're gonna get through this.
" We need to get her back. Honestly, my son died not knowing his baby's biological name. Because my son had tattooed on his face "Ava Jashea.
" My son would have told me something. My son would have got the baby's name changed if he had known. ANIA: We couldn't get her name changed because we were living in Oklahoma.
They said we had to wait till she turned one years old to get her name changed. He died in May, her birthday was in August. He was raising her before then.
(JUDGE LAKE SIGHS) She was with her daddy. Y'all is at Illinois at this point. JEANETTE: She was with her father when he passed away.
She was in a car. What happened? All I know is, something happened, girls arguing, and another guy came and shot my son.
And the girl tells me that all she could do was try to pull him into the car and drive off. And they kept shooting, so, I know it was God. But, I don't know what stopped the bullet hole from hitting my grandbaby other than God.
'Cause it was a bullet hole that either, the door or her car seat, stopped it from hitting her. Dear God. (JEANETTE SIGHS) And the only reason I know that is 'cause I seen it on the news.
JUDGE LAKE: And so, your son was raising her. He was her dad. She was in the car with your son.
JEANETTE: Yes! JUDGE LAKE: He in the driver's seat, she in the back seat in the car. He'd just came and got her from me.
JUDGE LAKE: So, you all were raising this baby. Like, this is your biological grandchild, this is your son's child, and he had her name tattooed on his face. JEANETTE: On his face.
Did he ever tell you that her legal name was Skylar? No, Your Honor. No.
How did you even find out? We were supposed to. .
. I kept asking about doctor's appointments, 'cause I felt like she may have needed her shots and things like that. And that was the last thing me and my son talked about when he came and got her that day too, also besides her birthday that was coming up.
She wanted to talk to me in person. And I do believe to let me know. I was supposed to take her to a doctor's appointment, and then, we didn't make it to that doctor's appointment.
And I received the texts letting me know that. . .
She didn't have to tell me this, but my grandbaby name is not Ava Jashea. JEANETTE: Her name is Skylar Angel. And that's how I found out a couple of weeks ago.
On my son's obituary, and everything, it's Ava Jashea Miller. But, in fact, her name was Skylar Angel? And she did not have your son's last name.
JEANETTE: Miller? No. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) (JEANETTE SNIFFLES) And my son would've.
. . He was a good father.
Can't nobody take that from him. He did everything for his baby. Cash, milk, clothes, everything!
Everything! For that. .
. Everything! For.
. . For Memorial Day he asked me.
. . He brought her clothes and stuff over there.
"Mama, can you, um, do her hair in a couple of ponytails? " Because he didn't allow nobody to touch her hair. Couldn't touch them curls.
JEANETTE: He couldn't. . .
They couldn't touch her hair. And she hung out with Grandma. She was with me.
You never received any word from your son? "We discussed it. Ms.
Kyles and I. "We decided that we're gonna name her this. "But her name is actually something else.
" No, I think my son died thinking her name was Ava Jashea Miller. And you believe she has a different name because another man is her biological father? Yeah, I think it's possible.
I mean. . .
The situation where she say it never happened, where some man answered the phone. . .
Um. . .
Situation when I had to go find my grandbaby one day. You know? The guy that answered the door, to me, he.
. . He tried to favor my son.
He even got the tat. . .
Something tatted over his eyes. ANIA: Him and James met before. They met.
And so, you felt like the guy looked similar to your son. Somewhat. Not as handsome, but somewhat.
(JEANETTE CHUCKLES) Somewhat. And so you felt like the baby also looked like the other man. JEANETTE: The eyes.
JUDGE LAKE: And so, when you got the baby that day, and you took her with you, were you thinking in that moment, "Lord, is this my son's child? " Yes. Did you talk to Ms.
Kyles about how you felt? No, not really. And so, even knowing the difference in the name, even knowing that you picked up the baby and she was with this other young man, you still held out hope that this is your grandchild and your son's child.
JEANETTE: Yes. My son loved. .
. My son loved her to death. To death.
But, now, you're afraid to really get attached to the baby. I don't know exactly everything they was going through. You understand?
I wasn't there all the time. I can only know his side, when she was out there. When she went out there, my son asked me to call her and get close to her.
She didn't respond to my text messages. She didn't respond to my effort. So, for her to say, she felt like she didn't have anyone, she would have had someone if she would've responded and got to know me.
(AUDIENCE MURMURING) She didn't have to give that baby away, because that baby would've been. . .
And it is well taken care of. (VOICE SHAKING) I just want. .
. That to be my grandbaby, so we can do the right thing and get her name what it's supposed to be. Ava Jashea Miller.
And it meant so much to my son, and that's why I know it, because I lost a daughter and her name was Ashea. She was 15. They was very close.
So, that's where her name come from. Ava Jashea. ANIA: My baby needs us.
She needs me, she needs her grandmother, she needs us. And this is not how James would have wanted it to be. It's not.
It's not. I don't want to have animosity, I don't want to argue. But, you do understand, Ms.
Kyle, that Ms. Lyte's position is, she wasn't around you all in the relationship. Her son expressed doubt.
He expressed that he had experiences that led him not to fully believe that this child was his biological child, and yet he loved this child. But, James never, ever once denied Ava. Never once denied Ava to me, never once said that to me at all.
But you do understand that she's having a difficult time believing that James would ever allow Ava to have a different name. To be named Skylar in this entire. .
. I told him. I said, "Don't tell your mom "because I don't know how she will react.
" So, just keep it between me and us. My son don't. .
. Just keep it between me and us. He knew I would have did what it takes to get whatever done that needed to be get done.
I know how to take care of things. That's what I know how to do. Well, he wanted to just keep it to himself, me and him.
'Cause if he wanted to tell her, he would've told her. Obviously, he just wanted me and him to take care of our business, as a father and a mother. JUDGE LAKE: But, you do understand how all of these facts grouped together, it creates doubt.
Do you understand that, Ms. Kyles? There's a lot going on in this beautiful little girl's short life.
JEANETTE: And then she, I gotta change. She don't know. .
. She don't know Skylar! So, Ava doesn't even know her name is Skylar.
No! No! She knows Ava Jashea.
JUDGE LAKE: That's what everybody calls her. JEANETTE: Everyone. (CRYING) I can't lose nobody else in my life.
I had lost a daughter, I had lost a son. I can't lose nobody else. I can't.
And my daughters, it'll break them too. They're already hurt. (JEANETTE SIGHS WEARILY) JEANETTE: I just.
. . Want this to be my grandbaby and get this done and over with.
And get her name changed. To what it's supposed to be. JUDGE LAKE: Ms.
Kyles. I'm about to go to the results. Before I do, I just want to make sure that there is not any other piece of testimony that you've left out that you would like to share, or you feel like you need to share.
No, Your Honor. I said my truth. I think it's time we get the results.
Jerome. JEANETTE: Yes. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Thank you.
You're welcome. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics, and they read as follows. .
. In the case of Kyles v. Lyte, when it comes to 14-month-old Skylar, Ava, it has been determined by this court, the percentage of relatedness between Ms.
Lyte and Skylar, Ava is 99%. JUDGE LAKE: You are related. (AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING) Thank you.
(SOBBING) (SNIFFLES) (LAUGHS) Oh, thank you. We can do what we gotta do. And get her name.
I'm very happy I could deliver this result today. ANIA: Thank you. Me too.
Thank you. JUDGE LAKE: Very happy. Not just for both of you ladies, but for Ava, and for James.
JEANETTE: Yes. JUDGE LAKE: And I hope he's smiling in this moment. He is.
JUDGE LAKE: If you all would like, I would love to meet you in my chambers and give you an opportunity to hold your grandchild without having any doubt in your mind that she's yours. JEANETTE: Yes! JUDGE LAKE: Would you like that?
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Are you okay with that, Ms. Kyles?
Yes. I'll meet you there. Court is adjourned.
