Please be seated. JEROME: Hello, Your Honor. Hello.
This is the case of Benskin v. Haskett. Thank you, Jerome.
Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Ms.
Benskin. . .
BENSKIN: Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You have opened your case today because you say the defendant refuses to accept that your four-year-old daughter, Kenzley, is biologically his. You are here to prove he is her father before he gets locked up for unpaid child support.
Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: All right.
Mr Haskett, you are here with your girlfriend and claim the plaintiff is a money-hungry liar. (AUDIENCE MURMURS) You don't believe you fathered her daughter and plan to prove that in court today. Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Benskin, I wanna start with you.
You say Mr Haskett's freedom is on the line? BENSKIN: Yes, Your Honor. Explain.
Um. . .
We've. . .
He's about $7,000, $8,000 behind child support. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) He cannot hold a job. He has not held a job for a very long time.
He's already been to jail once for it, and he's still not paying. JUDGE LAKE: So you say you're here to do him a favor? Mmm-hmm.
JUDGE LAKE: Because you need to get this legal situation out in the open, get the paternity confirmed because you fear Mr Haskett is about to go to jail. BENSKIN: Yes, Your Honor. So, Mr Haskett, you have not been supporting the child?
No, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You have not? No.
No, let me explain that. All right? Okay.
Whenever he has a job, it does get taken out of his check automatically. She'd have to have received money. It's not like she hasn't got anything.
So how is it he is already under an order to pay child support, and yet he's standing here, denying he is the biological father? Take me back and fill me in on those facts. Because we had a court date set, and first they had got, uh, changed, and then.
. . BENSKIN: It didn't get changed.
He didn't show up. (AUDIENCE GASPS) SCOTT: No. He called in, he.
. . He did not show up.
SCOTT: That is not how it happened. The first one was rescheduled, and then we had to go again, and then they said that it was. .
. They changed it, and then he rescheduled it. I wrote him on Facebook two days prior and the day before and the morning of, telling him.
. . And I talked to his family member to let them know that he was supposed to be there.
"Well, he's not here. So we can't tell him. " Okay, well, if he doesn't show up, that's his fault.
That's not mine. So, after a series of rescheduling of the court date, you missed the court date and were named the father by default. SCOTT: Yes.
Yes, Your Honor. So, now that you are named the father by default, you are now responsible, legally, for child support for this child. SCOTT: Yes.
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Even though you have never had a DNA test? No.
You've even spent time in jail. . .
SCOTT: We've had two options. . .
SCOTT: Two times. Yes. .
. . for failure to pay this support.
Uh, I've never actually. . .
SCOTT: He actually did. You went to jail, and you got out right after. Remember?
JUDGE LAKE: You don't remember going to jail, Mr Haskett? (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) HASKETT: I bonded out. He bonded out right after.
So it wasn't like he was set in jail. He bonded out right after. I don't care if my pinky toe stepped foot in jail, I ain't gonna forget it.
(AUDIENCE AND HASKETT LAUGH) JUDGE LAKE: So were you arrested for failure to pay child support? SCOTT: He turned himself in. No, I had to turn myself in for failure to appear.
JUDGE LAKE: You had to turn. . .
Okay. So you had to turn yourself in, and then you went through the process, and then you were bonded out. HASKETT AND SCOTT: Yes.
But now you are behind in the child support. Yes. And you could go back to jail again.
. . SCOTT: Yes.
. . .
for failure to pay child support, but you still don't believe you're the child's biological father? No. JUDGE LAKE: And to this date, Kenzley is four years old, you have never had a DNA test?
No. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) And he's had two times. Two times to do it, and he's not done it.
He could have come to the hospital. I told him the day I was getting induced, the day she would be here, and everything. And I even told him Maragret was more than welcome to come.
They never showed up. I had to have an emergency C-section because. .
. JUDGE LAKE: Do you remember her reaching out to you to come to the hospital, Mr Haskett? HASKETT: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Oh, Lord. How did I know that? (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) What.
. . You don't remember nothing.
So. . .
So now listen. Take me back, Ms. Benskin.
How did this relationship start? We never really dated, um. .
. One of my exes is friends with him, and we've known each other for a long time. And he had wrote me on social media, asked me to come hang out.
We hung out a couple of times. We went to a party. JUDGE LAKE: So, okay.
So you went to a party. What was the nature of the relationship in your estimation, Mr Haskett? Uh, friendship.
JUDGE LAKE: Just a friend? Yes. This was not you trying to start a relationship?
It started out to be something different. But. .
. BENSKIN: Him and Maragret came back into the picture, and he wanted to be back with her, which I understand. They have a daughter together.
But doesn't mean he has to push my daughter off to the side. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. SCOTT: It is not like that at all.
JUDGE LAKE: So hold on. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) SCOTT: It is not like that. Hold on.
But let's cut to the chase regarding the paternity question. Because you're admitting that you all went from a friendship, knowing each other through your ex. .
. BENSKIN: Yes. .
. . to being in a sexual relationship.
Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Were you using. .
. Now, Mr Haskett, I'm gonna need you to answer the questions, okay? HASKETT: Okay.
Not your girlfriend. (BENSKIN CHUCKLES) HASKETT: All right. Okay?
JUDGE LAKE: So you were having sex with her, am I correct? Yes. JUDGE LAKE: You were not using protection?
No. JUDGE LAKE: You were not using protection? No.
JUDGE LAKE: All right. So now we're on the same page, that we can make a baby with a paternity issue. (BENSKIN LAUGHS) So.
. . So you had sex without protection.
How long did this relationship go on? Uh, months. JUDGE LAKE: So months?
HASKETT: It wasn't months. JUDGE LAKE: It wasn't months? No.
JUDGE LAKE: How long was it in your estimation? Uh. .
. Probably maybe a month to two months at the max and she. .
. More than one month is "months. " (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) So, now, why did you all end this sexual relationship?
Because he got back with Maragret. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. So you were in this sexual relationship.
It wasn't a commitment, you all weren't boyfriend and girlfriend? No. JUDGE LAKE: And how long after this did you realize you were pregnant?
Six weeks and three days. JUDGE LAKE: Okay. Six weeks and three days.
And at the point you found that out, did you contact Mr Haskett? More than once. And I got blocked on Facebook.
(AUDIENCE GROANS) I called his family members and they knew everything about it, and they are still in Kenzley's life. He just chooses not to be. So you've talked to his family members.
They accept Kenzley. You told him you were pregnant. And he just didn't.
. . You couldn't get an answer from him?
Yes, Your Honor. SCOTT: He's. .
. So was he the only guy you were having sex with at the time? Yes, Your Honor.
HASKETT: No. I had an ex-boyfriend prior to this, but it was a month or two before I even started talking to Brandon. So, Mr Haskett, you said, "No," when I asked her that question.
Yes. How do you know that? She'd, uh, came over to my house, but she told me she had to pick up her friend from work, and, uh, after we had picked him up, he got in the car.
He kissed her on the cheek and said that he loved her. And you know, I just kind of stepped back from the situation. .
. Right. .
. . and looked at her like, "What?
" You're in the car, and this guy kisses Ms. Benskin and says, "I love you"? HASKETT: Yes.
That never happened. JUDGE LAKE: And he doesn't think anything's going on between the two of you? No, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: So you're just sitting there as a friend? Yes. Did you ever just ask this guy, "Were you sleeping, are you sleeping with Ms.
Benskin? " Yes. He did.
He told me he was. JUDGE LAKE: And he said yes? Yes.
(AUDIENCE GASPS) BENSKIN: And that's a lie. JUDGE LAKE: But you say this is a lie, Ms. Benskin?
Yes. It is. And the guy he is referring to is one of my good friends.
And he didn't have a way to work. I gave him a ride to work in my car. And if there was sexual intercourse with this other guy, why would I ask you to go with me to pick him up at his work?
JUDGE LAKE: He sees a guy get out, kiss you, and say, "I love you. " BENSKIN: That never happened. JUDGE LAKE: Oh, that never happened?
BENSKIN: Never. Is this. .
. This guy that he's referring to, have you ever been intimate with this guy ever? No.
Never. But this guy says to you, Mr Haskett, that he has. Yes.
(AUDIENCE GROANS) Somebody's lying. (AUDIENCE MURMURS) BENSKIN: Yeah. JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms.
Benskin, there is no doubt in your mind that Mr Haskett is your child's biological father? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You have no doubt?
No doubt. I'm just ready to prove it to him. My daughter's four.
She deserves to know who her dad is. And she doesn't. Right?
We've lived three houses down from him for two months. Two months we've lived down there. He did not see her, not one time.
JUDGE LAKE: This beautiful child is potentially living three doors down from her biological father and doesn't even know that he is her father? No, Your Honor. She has no idea who he is.
JUDGE LAKE: And so, Mr Haskett, I wanna ask you, has there ever been an occasion where you believed or had been told that someone else is the child's biological father or there may be a question of paternity? How did you all get to the place. .
. I was at the bar, and I'm talking to this girl. She's one of my friend's friends.
We're sitting here, and she realizes that, "Oh, Brandon's my child's dad. " And she's like, "Oh, well. I know so-and-so, "and she already had two guys tested, "that she.
. . "She claims that she got Brandon "because he has to pay child support "on this kid that he don't even know if it's his.
" (AUDIENCE GASPS) And that's a lie. I've never been to court other than with Brandon, and he didn't show up. That's his fault.
Not mine. JUDGE LAKE: Well, we do know now you don't have to go to court to have a DNA test. BENSKIN: Yeah.
So did you test anybody else? No. Yeah, I have proof where she says that she did.
If they would have tested. . .
JUDGE LAKE: I'd like to see that. If I would have tested somebody else, then child support would have been dropped 'cause I didn't order child support, court did. JUDGE LAKE: All right.
Ms. Scott, you've presented evidence to the court. What is this evidence?
It's a. . .
Oh, a text exchange between Megan Benskin. It says. .
. (JUDGE LAKE READING) And then, Ms. Scott, you say.
. . (JUDGE LAKE READING) There wasn't no court date.
JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute. Ms. Benskin, you just testified that you've never ever had a question or an issue with any other man being the biological.
. . BENSKIN: And I didn't.
So what is this text about? Um, they had made me mad, and I didn't want Kenzley to be his. SCOTT: She's lying.
And I just made up some story so they would leave me alone. And I just wanted to prove Brandon, and that's what I'm here for today. JUDGE LAKE: Wait a minute.
So you lied here, which, if you lie here, that means you lied in court. BENSKIN: I was talking about. .
. No. SCOTT: Thank you.
But you did lie in court, 'cause I just asked you a question. I said, "Have you ever given him any reason to believe. .
. "Have you ever had any reason to believe that anybody else "could be Kenzley's biological. .
. " And I don't. I just said.
. . Like I said, I just made that up.
But then you should have answered the question, "Yes, Your Honor. I did tell him at one point "that I had somebody else tested, but I lied. " (AUDIENCE MURMURS) You never even admitted you lied.
Yeah, well, I didn't. . .
JUDGE LAKE: That still doesn't make any sense. Yeah, there was never no other guy tested. Because you're saying you sent that message because they were getting on your nerves.
. . I.
. . .
. . and you wanted them to believe that somebody else was the father.
It's not. . .
It's. . .
JUDGE LAKE: But the text indicates that you are saying that the other man was ruled out so only Mr Haskett could be the father. I've offered to pay for DNA. I offered to pay.
We didn't even have to go to court. I was gonna pay for a DNA test. He wouldn't do it.
He wouldn't show up. He had. .
. He could have done it when she was born. He didn't do it.
He could have done it when we went to court, and he didn't show up. JUDGE LAKE: And Ms. Benskin, I get that.
And Mr Haskett is wrong for that, and, you know. . .
But this happens That doesn't negate the fact that Mr Haskett still has doubt. It also doesn't negate the fact that he's on the hook being named the legal father by default to pay child support. But he's still, four years later.
. . He still does not know if the child is his biological child.
And on top of that, you now feel like it's appropriate, because people have gotten on your nerves, to play games with words and telling people that somebody else got tested and it's not his, so it only leaves. . .
You spinning lies that only furthers the doubt. (AUDIENCE GROANS) JUDGE LAKE: All right. So I'm about ready to go to the results, but before I do, Ms.
Benskin, I'm. . .
Listen. Can I show you this picture of them two when they was little? Show me your picture.
Jerome, hand me the picture. Your own picture. This is a picture of Kenzley as a baby on the left, and Mr Haskett as a baby on the right.
And you feel the resemblance is uncanny. SCOTT: Where? The ears, the nose.
. . (CHUCKLES) They were.
. . Kenzley was bald when she was born.
And his family members have said the same thing about him. He had no hair when he was born. Do you see a resemblance, Mr Haskett?
HASKETT: No. (AUDIENCE MURMURS) JUDGE LAKE: Well, as I said, I have the results for you. But I do want to ask you, Ms.
Benskin, one more time. No lying. No lying.
Just tell the truth. Is there any other possible father. .
. No. JUDGE LAKE: .
. . for Kenzley?
No, Your Honor. All right. Jerome.
Here you go, Your Honor. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. JUDGE LAKE: In the case of Benskin v.
Haskett, when it comes to four-year-old Kenzley Benskin, it has been determined by this court, Mr Haskett, you. . .
Are the father. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) You are the father. Now, how do.
. . Like, so we get to see her, right?
Yeah, I told you, you guys. You guys went for visitations. .
. SCOTT: Without you. (AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS) JUDGE LAKE: Listen.
Listen. Uh, that can be. .
. JUDGE LAKE: Listen. Listen, listen.
. . (AUDIENCE MURMURS) We've gotten the answer.
Now, as we go forward, we have to do so in a responsible way. This bickering back and forth, it's not gonna help anybody, and this child is old enough where she knows exactly. .
. BENSKIN: She knows everything. .
. . what's going on.
You better believe it. Ms. Scott, I do appreciate that you've been here, and you stood by Mr Haskett, and even been a voice when he didn't have one and been his memory when he didn't have one.
(AUDIENCE AND HASKETT LAUGH) But, Mr Haskett and Ms. Benskin are going to have to be able to work together. .
. SCOTT: Oh, I have no problem with that. Good.
JUDGE LAKE: That's what I wanted you to say. I just think that. .
. JUDGE LAKE: And you're also. .
. Hold on. Hold on.
I can tell, just by the way you won't be quiet now, how you are in this situation. See. .
. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) Sometimes, our actions, even with good intentions, affect our result. I can see you love Mr Haskett.
I can see you have no problems with being in a relationship with Kenzley. But I do want you to allow these two people an opportunity to figure out what the visitation, what the co-parenting situation will be like. And that means, Mr Haskett, you've got to step up and speak for yourself so you can be there for your child.
Do you understand? Yes, Your Honor. This child is four years old.
She's got one man she's calling "Daddy. " Now she's realizing, now she now has a biological father that she will be able to call "Daddy. " Yeah, I don't think.
. . JUDGE LAKE: So you all have to.
. . Ms.
Benskin, you got all the answers but no solution. BENSKIN: Mmm-hmm. So sometimes, you just have to learn how to be quiet.
Because you talking about, "I don't think she's gonna ever call Mr Haskett 'Daddy. '" You have no idea what she's gonna do. .
. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) . .
. because you've never had the opportunity to really have her father. There are a whole bunch of ways in which our families are built.
So don't limit your child's limitless possibilities because you know everything. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) BENSKIN: Okay. JUDGE LAKE: Allow the past to be what it is, so you can move forward.
All right? It's time for you all to do the work. Court is adjourned.
