Man Denied First DNA Test Proving Paternity (Full Episode) | Paternity Court

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

This is the case of Mason v. Malone. Thank you, Jerome.

Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mr Mason.

You previously appeared in court when you proved that the defendant's one-year-old daughter was not your child. You now here questioning the paternity of the defendant's five-month old son, Ace. You previously received results from a prenatal paternity test which stated you are the father.

You are here petitioning the court to re-open your case and order a paternity test now that Ace is born. Ms. Malone, you claim to be certain that the plaintiff is Ace's dad and plan to prove it today.

Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr Mason, tell me why you are here for the second time again in court?

I'm here for the second time, Your Honor, because I feel like, still, that Ace is not my child. I feel like that's impossible to get a DNA for a child that's unborn just from a swab of the mother. I guess that's the only way I'm still acting the way I am toward him.

Well, you don't get the DNA of the child that's born just from a swab of the mother. Do you understand what a prenatal test is? Not for real, Your Honor.

JUDGE LAUREN: Okay. All right, look. I'm listening to your case, because I want to understand why you don't believe the results.

So I ordered a new paternity test just for you. So you believe that the mother was swabbed, and it's impossible to tell the DNA or the paternity of an unborn child. CLARENCE: Yes, Your Honor.

What other reason do you have? Every time I held Ace, it's like, all he did was just cry. And there was just no connection.

LAQUISHA: That's what a baby does. They cry when they first. .

. CLARENCE: There was just no connection. Even when I look at Ace, I still see.

. . I don't see me.

So what part of this situation relates to the fact that you don't believe the prenatal testing results? Now he think, Mr Haynes, my fiance, is. .

. the dad of Ace. CLARENCE: I believe.

. . Oh, you believe Mr Haynes is Ace's biological father.

Yes, Your Honor, I believe Mr Haynes is the father. JUDGE LAUREN: Why? Because when I'm over there visiting my other kids with Ms.

Malone, She'll, she'll. . .

He feels like that they get a bond. Ace'd be crying, and first person she'll give them to is Mr Haynes. She'd be like, "Go to your daddy.

" If I was Ace's father, she would hand Ace to me. LAQUISHA: And the reason of that being. .

. She'll hand him to Mr Haynes. The reason of that being, Your Honor, is.

. . It's like she doesn't even want me to be a part of his life.

we got into an argument over the phone. (STAMMERING) These were his exact words. "Ace is not my son, I just gave him.

. . "my middle and last name.

" So this is after you all left the courtroom. He said, "Ace is not my son. "I just gave him my middle and last name.

" LAQUISHA: Yes, Your Honor. I met Mr Haynes February 22nd, 2017. I don't believe that, Your Honor.

She could have kept him a secret or anything. LAQUISHA: No, no. Technically, I didn't know her when the time she had Ace in her stomach.

You didn't even know her when she was pregnant? COURTNEY: No. Never know anything about each other.

So you don't believe that to be true, Mr Mason? No, ma'am. I feel like.

. . Why don't you believe it?

Because if that was the case, Your Honor, when I was in the hospital when she gave birth to Ace, she had put my name in the birth certificate. Removing my name off the birth certificate to put Mr Haynes name on it. LAQUISHA: Reason of that being is, I asked him.

JUDGE LAUREN: So wait a minute now. She took your name off the birth certificate? CLARENCE: Yes, Your Honor.

And you put Mr Hayne's name on Ace's birth. . .

The same day after I left out of the hospital, after she had already put my name on the birth certificate. LAQUISHA: Your Honor. .

. I left to go to work. JUDGE LAUREN: So hold on, I'm looking at this.

. . Your Honor.

JUDGE LAUREN: Hold on. Your Honor. I'm looking at your evidence submitted to this court.

LAQUISHA: Mmm-hmm. JUDGE LAUREN: Ace Marcus Mason. And father's full name.

. . Courtney Tyron Haynes.

(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING) CLARENCE: You don't put a complete stranger's name on a birth certificate. So how is it you met in February after Ace was born. .

. Your Honor, he was not on the real birth certificate. He's not on the hospital.

Like, they give you a piece of paper in the hospital. And you have to fill your information out on that. And so what is this you submitted to the court?

That's just the birth certificate that the hospital gave me that I could take home. And on the back of that. .

. Oh, that's the thing that comes. .

. LAQUISHA: . .

. that's what he signed. Oh.

So, in the record, he has no father. It's nobody's name on his birth certificate, really. But if you've already determined that Mr Mason is the biological father, then why would you put somebody else's name in that.

. . He wasn't acting like one.

Mr Haynes acted like more of a father than Mr Mason did. He was there. So you're saying it was a statement that this is the man that's acting like Ace's real father.

Yes, ma'am, and. . .

that and he act like he didn't want it. He act like he didn't wanna be on the birth certificate, so I was angry and hurt. And I can see you still have tears in your eyes.

You moved on with your life but this still upsets you. LAQUISHA: Yes, Your Honor. And why does it upset you so much?

He's still dwelling on the past. I know what I did. And I confessed up to that.

I owned up to it. And he's still bringing the past in. He just needs to own up to Ace, be a father to Ace, be in his life.

CLARENCE: She has not, lately, gave me the chance at all. Hold on. Technically, she has gave him the chance.

He never picked up Ace whenever he came home. Whenever he came and visit, it was always about my two-year-old. Whenever he came over, it's always about the toddler.

Ever since she's been with Mr Haynes, it's always just been about her and Mr Haynes. LAQUISHA: That's how he feel. That's all it's been.

I'm always over there visiting my kids. And the only reason why he feels that way is because I moved on and I'm not with him anymore. And it's always just about them.

You say you need to come back to this court and you petitioned this court to re-open this case. 'Cause you said, "I have no bond with this baby. "I don't believe in the prenatal test.

"I feel like Mr Haynes was in Ms. Malone's life "before Ace was born. " CLARENCE: Yes, Your Honor.

"And I believe he's the biological father. " Yes, Your Honor. It's something I just need to know.

Well, I gave you the answer. But you're still standing here. Yes, Your Honor.

Because he's dwelling on the past. That's all it is with him. It's the past.

What is it about the past you can't let go of, Mr Mason? Me and Ms. Malone, we were together for five years.

And for five years, I feel like it was nothing but just. . .

dishonesty. And it was more bad than good. And it was on both of our behalf.

And so that's why we came the last time. It was not just me. CLARENCE: Because of the same situation as basically this time.

Even when we was in the hospital before, before Ace was even born, she was. . .

she was sending ultrasound pictures to another person. No, I was not, Your Honor. I do not recall that.

You were sending pictures to another person. LAQUISHA: I do not recall that. And this was before Ace was born or after?

CLARENCE: It was before. I just feel no connection at all. No connection.

Like the baby's supposed to talk back. JUDGE LAUREN: So when you went back home with the baby, you just felt like you felt absolutely no connection. Yes, Your Honor.

And that troubled you. A lot. And then the doubts you had just kept building?

CLARENCE: Yes, Your Honor. And what else was happening? Um, well, me and Ms.

Malone, we had. . .

we had went our separate ways. JUDGE LAUREN: You did? Yes, Your Honor.

Yes, Your Honor, because when we got back, he cheated. CLARENCE: And when we went our separate ways. .

. . .

. after we agreed that we was not gonna dwell on the past. He still did it anyway.

So I took your advice and I left him. And now, I'm starting to. .

. I didn't necessarily cheat. JUDGE LAUREN: What was it?

I didn't cheat. I didn't cheat at all. He left me for another woman.

I didn't leave her at all, and I didn't cheat. JUDGE LAUREN: Before the baby was born? A stripper at that.

It was. . .

(LAUGHS) Yes, Your Honor. Did you leave her for a stripper? No, Your Honor, I did not.

Yes, Your Honor, he did. He did, Your Honor. I had a friend that I was talking to.

He was. . .

It was not a friend, Your Honor, it was way more than what he said it was. . .

. with Ms. Malone, so I was just talking to her.

One night. . .

I was going through his phone. I came back and. .

. One at a time. I was going through his phone one night.

I was wondering who this woman was. She kept calling, she kept calling. One night, I caught him slipping.

He left his phone on the table, and she kept calling that night. I picked up and asked her who she was. So she asked me, "Go ask your man.

" JUDGE LAUREN: Oh, really? LAQUISHA: Yes, Your Honor, she did. So, with no questions, I packed his clothes, throw 'em down the stairs.

He wakes up, asked me what I'm doing. I told him he was cheating. And did he admit to it?

LAQUISHA: He denied it. Like he is now. 'Cause I was not cheating at all.

So, Mr Mason, you're here saying you don't trust the results when you're the one that's not being trustworthy. I wasn't cheating, Your Honor, at all. I went to a friend who I could talk to about my situation.

Because I can never go to Ms. Malone and talk about my situation. JUDGE LAUREN: What was your situation?

It was about the whole relationship situation with Ms. Malone, about her past, and all of those other stuff. I couldn't bring it to her, so I brought it to somebody who can relate and could understand.

And like I told her, every time I see Ace, I don't see me. I see Mr Haynes. LAQUISHA: And that's only because he does not.

. . That's only because he doesn't want to.

Even if I wanted to bond with Ace, Ace is always with Ms. Malone and Mr Haynes. LAQUISHA: Does nothing for you to come take him and bond with your son.

He's the only one. She grabs the baby, Ace, and she hands him to Mr Haynes. It's like.

. . He doesn't cry.

The only reason why is that. . .

because I'm more of the father figure for Ace. He wasn't there for Ace, I was. He's not more of a father figure to me.

I feel like. . .

I feel like. . .

he picks favorites also out of all three of the kids. I don't pick favorites. .

. No. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Not at all, he.

. . He love my kids.

All three. All three. Okay, Mr Haynes doesn't have kids.

So when we get engaged, he see my kids as his own. Of course, it's a new thing to him trying to show all three of my kids attention. Um, he's fantastic with it now.

Since the baby's so young and you spend more time with the baby, the baby is more comfortable and more attached than you. Because you are the consistent father figure. But, Mr Mason, you're interpreting this to be.

. . "Well, we only had the test done in vitro, "a prenatal test done.

"Now that we back home, "You got Mr Haynes listed on this piece of paper as the daddy. "Every time you say, 'Go to your daddy,' "you give the baby to him. "I don't feel a bond when I look at the baby.

"Something's wrong here. " That's what you've been feeling like? Yes, Your Honor.

And Ace is five months old. CLARENCE: Yes, Your Honor. And as I sit up here on this bench, it truly troubles me that this baby, for five months, has gone without truly the love and attention he deserves from his biological father because of your disbelief, your mistrust of the testing.

This is the exact reason why we performed a prenatal test. And so that when this child was born, the question would be answered, so that he could have the love, affection, support and protection of his father. CLARENCE: But I tried.

. . And that's why this courtroom exists.

Let me be honest with you, Mr Mason. As a judge, as a woman, I practiced law for over two decades. I have every reason to throw this case out because you have not presented any evidence here today that would suggest something was wrong with that prenatal test we've previously performed which determined that you were the father.

So, as a judge, I should throw it out. But if you don't understand the process, I do understand how you can't trust the result. I don't want you to leave this courtroom with any lingering doubt, So standing by on the phone is Dr Baird.

He is the Chief Science Officer at DNA Diagnostics, and he can further address the validity of the earlier DNA test. Dr Baird, are you there? DR.

BAIRD:Yes. Hello, Judge. I'm here.

Thank you so much for joining us today, Doctor. Doctor, I have a question concerning prenatal paternity testing. Can you please explain to the court and to our plaintiff how a prenatal test is performed.

DR. BAIRD:The non-invasive prenatal paternity test is performed using a blood sample from the pregnant mother. In her blood sample, there is DNA from the fetus that she carries.

We then take a look at the DNA from the fetal sample as present and compare it to alleged father to see whether or not he is or is not the biological father of that fetus. Thank you so much for your time, and for giving us that very important information. Thank you.

We did not just swab Ms. Malone. And you may not understand what that means, so I hope you understand what this means.

Jerome. Here you go, Your Honor. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics.

And they read as follows. "In the case of Mason v. Malone.

. . " When it comes to five-month old.

. . Ace Marcus Mason.

. . it has been determined by this court.

. . Mr Mason.

. . you.

. . are the father.

. . again.

LAQUISHA: There we go. So that's your son. You need to just start taking care of your son.

LAQUISHA: Start bonding with your son. . .

. the same way I do with the other two. The same way I do with the other two.

Okay, and I hold you to that. And I hold you to that. That means my name would have to go on that birth certificate and his name's coming off, tomorrow.

No problem. JUDGE LAUREN: Mr Mason. I would say you wasted my time today.

But the truth is, I don't believe that. And that's why I heard you out. Because I could tell you had worked yourself up into doubting this baby.

. . over your own misunderstanding of science and the law.

And that's why I let this play out, because this is an important lesson for you and for many people. Your lack of understanding. .

. of the process which was obviously performed correctly, like I already knew, has robbed Ace of five months of love, care and bonding time with his daddy. But I'm glad we got the answer for Ace's sake.

And I hope you will be the father you say you will be. We have counseling and resources if you need it. We are here for you.

Court is adjourned.