Please be seated.
Hello, Your Honor.
Hello.
This is the case of Moore/Moore v. Willis.
Thank you Jerome. Good day, everyone.
AUDIENCE: Good day.
Ms. Moore, you and your sister, Shalwonda,
grew up believing that Mr. Moore is your father,
but are now in court suing your mother for paternity fraud
because she recently dropped a bomb and revealed
that Mr. Moore is not your biological father. Is that correct?
BOTH: Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Moore, you are 100% certain that these are your daughters
and the DNA tests will prove it, is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Willis, you admit you intended to take this secret to your grave,
and came clean to your daughters
only because your sister
forced you to admit the truth. Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor.
Okay, I wanna treat these as two separate cases
so we can truly understand the testimony.
Monica, I'd like to start with you.
Shalwonda, you may have a seat.
Monica, so how has your mother's revelation affected you?
Well, it affected me in a lot of different ways,
you know, finding out that
Stanley, my father is not my father.
Take me back. When did you...
Well, when I was a teenager, about 18,
we was at my Auntie Marian's house, the one that's here today.
And they was joking around like you know,
"He's not your father," and duh-duh-duh-duh-duh,
and I went and asked her about it, and she was like,
"No," at first, and then she was like,
"Yeah, you know, he ain't your father.
"He ain't your sister's father as well."
JUDGE LAKE: So, up until that point, this is the man you believed is your father.
MONICA: This is the only man I ever knew.
So it was kinda hurtful, you know, to go to him about the situation,
'cause he is a good father. He's always been around.
I always knew him to be my father.
When did it come up again?
MONICA: It came up frequently.
Like, every time we all... My auntie, she's like,
the house where everybody comes to.
And my family is blunt. They say what they wanna say.
So, you know, it wasn't just her.
It was like another auntie, and they always, you know,
"You guys need to know who your father is.
"Y'all mother's being lying to y'all.
"It's about time that y'all know."
JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Moore...
MR. MOORE: Yes.
These beautiful young girls,
you've always raised them as your own.
These are your daughters.
Ever since they was born.
Always believed that they are your biological daughters.
MR. MOORE: Yes.
He's the only man that we ever knew.
Even with my mother, like,
my mother didn't get another boyfriend till after I was grown.
So he's been here the whole time.
All their life.
The whole time.
MS. WILLIS: Only father they know.
And that's how you planned to keep it?
Yes, I was.
JUDGE LAKE: So, this entire situation was by design.
MS. WILLIS: Right.
And so you say, you would have taken this secret to your grave.
Yes I would.
JUDGE LAKE: That's what you planned to do?
She would have took it to her grave, Your Honor,
if I wouldn't have forced it upon her.
Stanley was to always be the only father they ever knew,
they ever knew, was him.
That's fair to us?
Not sharing them nothing.
That's fair to us, your kids?
That's how I wanted it.
That's fair to us?
Till my sister came out,
and had to put her hand in it, too.
Then she got to telling them that they don't look like him.
That they look different.
MONICA: We don't. We don't.
Which it wasn't her business to say anything.
It was my choice.
I'm supposed to come in there if I wanted them to know something different.
That's not right though, that's not right.
That's not right.
Even though it might not have been right, that's how I felt at that time.
JUDGE LAKE: But I wanna understand this, Ms. Willis.
So, were you in a committed relationship with Mr. Moore?
MR. MOORE: Yeah.
Twenty-seven years straight.
For 27 years?
MONICA: He's the only man that we ever knew.
JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Willis, I wanna ask you,
what happened during the relationship,
that you believe another man is Monica's biological father.
I had an affair.
JUDGE LAKE: You had an affair.
MONICA: So she's said it was a one night stand,
but according to our relative...
It was a one night stand.
...it was an ongoing situation,
in the front door, out...
See, that's where she always goes wrong,
listening to other people instead of her mother.
Well, you never taught us anything. We wouldn't be here today...
MR. MOORE: If you had told the truth.
If you wouldn't involve me here I wouldn't be here at all.
But the truth shall set you free.
Take me back. You had the affair,
you realized you were pregnant.
The timing that it took. The month that it took.
I knew that you couldn't be his.
So, when you did the math and counted back of when Monica was conceived,
you knew that it was during the time when you had the affair.
Right.
But you always told Mr. Moore
he was the biological father.
All the time.
Al three of them.
JUDGE LAKE: Why did you tell...
'Cause we was in a relationship, and I didn't know.
So he was there for me.
MONICA: I thought you just said at the time it didn't add up.
But through thick and thin. Through thick and thin.
From since I had her, through the pregnancy, all through it, up to now.
Even got evidence with him on the birth certificate, he signed...
Let me see that. Jerome, what is that? What is that evidence, Ms. Moore?
It's my birth certificate.
JUDGE LAKE: This is your birth certificate?
Correct.
JUDGE LAKE: Listed under father, Stanley Moore.
And so you told him he was the biological father.
You were present for the birth, Mr. Moore?
I cut the umbilical cord, yeah.
JUDGE LAKE: Yuu did.
Did you ever tell the other man you were pregnant,
and it possibly could be his child?
No.
JUDGE LAKE: You didn't tell him.
So he does not know...
MS. WILLIS: No.
...to this day, that you believe Monica is his biological father...
No, he don't.
He could actually have a beautiful daughter, 31 years later.
MS. WILLIS: No, he don't know.
Never knew. He don't even know she exists.
Woo... That's hurtful.
To hear that, Monica...
MONICA: Yeah, it's hurtful because...
If it don't come out the way it should, he not being my father...
This man don't even know nothing about me.
Who's to say he'd wanna get to know me?
Your father is standing right there.
No, he may not be our father, so what if he's not our father?
Then where do we go from here?
You robbed me.
And you still sitting here, you ain't appologized.
For what?
What do you mean, for what?
So, Ms. Willis, you said you planned to take this secret to your grave,
until your sister revealed it.
Yes, Your Honor.
This was not, this was something they were instructed not to talk about,
and they did anyway?
Yes, Your Honor.
When did this Mr. Moore find out?
Right in that same moment?
Yes, Your Honor.
MS. WILLIS: Yeah.
What are you crying for?
Because it hurts to know that...
MS. WILLIS: What hurts?
We in this situation...
That's your daddy.
Yeah, he's my father. You're saying that he's not.
You're saying that he's not my father.
That's the only one you're gonna know.
(CHUCKLING)
If it turns out really the way you're saying,
that he is not her biological father,
will you introduce her to her biological father?
Will you? Do I get at least that right?
Yes.
(AUDIENCE CLAPS)
JUDGE LAKE: All right, I want to hear from your aunt.
Jerome, can you please escort her into the courtroom?
Sure.
(MONICA SIGHS)
JEROME: Ma'am, can you come with me?
I'm gonna have you go up to the witness stand right next to the judge, okay?
MARIAN: Okay.
JUDGE LAKE: Good afternoon, ma'am.
MARIAN: Good afternoon, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Thank you for joining us.
Your sister, Ms. Willis has indicated that you were the person
that told Monica and Shalwonda that Mr. Moore is not their biological father.
They came in and asked me, did I know,
and I told them, "Yeah, I know who your daddy is."
MS. WILLIS: You know? Oh, really, do you know?
MARIAN: She should have told them a long time ago.
I thought it'd maybe be her place to tell them.
If you had shut your mouth, it still would've been my place.
AUDIENCE: Ooh...
Well, anyway...
I told them.
Do you know who Monica's father is?
MARIAN: Yeah.
It's a friend.
She has been knowing him for a long time.
She ain't just met this man. She's been knowing this man.
JUDGE LAKE: Did you discuss this with your sister, like,
just between sisters?
MS. WILLIS: No, no.
I always told her to tell them.
Why don't you tell them, before they get to old?
Now they're in their 30's and 20's,
and she's still standing up there like she don't know what I'm talking about.
This ain't the first time we had this conversation. We had it all the time.
All of us get together and say, "Why don't you tell them who their daddy is?"
Stanley was a good person.
She was just sneaky.
He go to sleep, working 10 hours a day.
10 hours a day...
She'd go out the back door. We all knew it.
But we didn't want to tell Stanley.
Do you believe Mr. Moore is either girl's father?
MARIAN: No. No.
We're outcasts.
We don't know who our father is.
JUDGE LAKE: All right, we've been dealing with this
as two separate cases, 'cause we wanna understand the circumstances,
and we wanna give you each
the opportunity to understand your own individual circumstance.
So, if you are ready, Monica, I have the results for you.
I would love to know.
Who's to say he'd wanna get to know me?
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows.
In the case of Moore/Moore v. Willis,
when it comes to 31-year-old Monica Moore,
it has been determined by this court, Mr. Moore,
you...
...are not her father.
That's okay, baby. I'm still your daddy.
(MONICA SOBBING)
I'm still her daddy.
Well, your mother did say, she was going to
introduce you to your biological father.
She would've did it 31 years ago. She know.
He is still living, right? And you know how to contact him, right?
And you will make the introduction, Ms. Willis?
I can't do it, introduce them, but I can give her information and she can do it herself,
because he's in prison.
(EXHALES)
Monica, are you all right if we move on to your sister's case now?
(SHAKILY) Yeah.
You can remain standing with your dad if you'd like.
(MONICA SNIFFLING)
Please stand, Shalwonda.
JUDGE LAKE: Let's take a breath.
I'd like to understand, you know, Ms. Willis,
as it relates to your other daughter, Shalwonda,
was it another affair, is that what happened as well?
Yes, Your Honor. I told her that Stanley wasn't her daddy.
JUDGE LAKE: When? How long ago?
SHALWONDA: Five years ago.
Five years ago?
And you're how old, sweetie?
Twenty-seven.
JUDGE LAKE: You're 27. What did she say?
SHALWONDA: She told me he ain't my daddy.
So, until you're 22 years old, you grew up with this man as your father?
Mmm-hmm.
JUDGE LAKE: He's there for you, you have a relationship...
Yeah, we have a relationship. It's a great relationship. He's there for me and my kids.
My kids love him.
JUDGE LAKE: That's their granddad?
That's their granddaddy.
What prompted this conversation? You asked her?
No, she just came out with it.
I can't keep lying, because just look at her. She don't look like him.
JUDGE LAKE: I am confused.
Why tell one, Ms. Willis, but not tell the other?
MS. WILLIS: Because I wasn't sure about her.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay, now I'm understanding.
I wasn't for sure at all. I always thought that that was her daddy.
I never thought she belonged to nobody else.
I had that doubt, but...
I always thought Stanley was her daddy.
MARIAN: But she was young, she was like...
But Shalwonda, I knew.
...like Papa wa a Rollin' Stone.
That's the kinda life she was living.
And she had this kids, and just wouldn't tell'em nothing.
She knew she was cheating all the time.
MS. WILLIS: That's my business.
Like I say, she was a rolling stone.
You still don't get it. That's the cold part about it.
No, she don't get it because she should've kept her mouth shut.
She always talking, don't know what she's talking about.
So wait, Ms. Willis, when you say
your sister don't know what she's talking about...
You talk too much.
JUDGE LAKE: You mean she talks too much?
She's always in people's business. Needs to be in her own.
So, wait, you were living with Mr. Moore when all this happened?
Yeah, living together.
JUDGE LAKE: How long did this affair last?
A year or two.
JUDGE LAKE: A year or two.
MARIAN: She'd been knowing him about 9, 10 years.
It wasn't nothing that just happened.
She'd been knowing him 'cause he was a family friend.
You know him, too.
She was messing with him before she started messing with me.
MARIAN: Stanley was a working man.
He worked 12 hours a day.
She had fun. She ain't never had a job.
SHALWONDA: He's still got a job.
So, Mr. Moore, you worked hard, all this years,
to provide for your family, take care of your wife...
Yeah.
...all of this,
and during that time, you knew your wife was having affairs?
No, I didn't know.
MS. WILLIS: He didn't know that one.
She said he' signed our birth certificates, but he didn't sign mine.
He's not on your birth certificate? Let me see that.
I was on vacation on her birth certificate.
(CHUCKLING)
So, this is your birth certificate. Name of father, withheld.
MS. WILLIS: I withheld it.
You did? You remember doing that consciously,
and saying, "I'm not gonna give his name."
MS. WILLIS: Yes, Your Honor.
Because at the time she was born, you knew...
I knew from day one, that was not his child.
I just didn't know about this one.
She just used me.
That's all she's doing.
Just used me, I was just a user.
MONICA: It don't even affect her. She's just like, "Whoo. Oh, well."
MS. WILLIS: What's done is done.
Well, it don't matter. I'm gonna be there anyway.
Shalwonda, how do you feel in this moment?
SHALWONDA: Hurt...
He's all we know, Your Honor.
We don't know nothing else. We don't know which way to go.
I don't know another man.
MONICA: 'Cause he's all we know.
That's exactly why we're here.
Because we want to get you the answers you need,
so you can figure out how to move forward.
And I have those results for you. Jerome...
What's done is done.
JUDGE LAKE: In the case of Moore/Moore v. Willis,
when it comes to 27-year-old Shalwonda Moore,
it has been determined by this court,
Mr. Moore, you
are her father.
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
(SHALWONDA SOBBING)
(SOBBING)
MONICA: Oh, my God...
I'm still your father, too.
Ms. Willis, you genuinely look shocked.
I am, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: I think, Ms. Willis, this is an important moment.
MS. WILLIS: Okay.
It's an important moment, and I don't want you to miss it.
MS. WILLIS: Okay.
Because your daughters, they've been struggling.
And as much as it would be easy to just make you a complete villain in this,
I'm trying to understand where you were as a woman.
And I think you should take this moment, and just talk to your girls,
So that they don't feel like you just don't care at all.
Oh... I'm sorry.
I love y'all. Both of y'all.
And I still want him to be y'all's daddy, both of you.
And I didn't mean it to happen that way, okay?
And that's an important moment, Ms. Willis, because I felt those walls.
You know, I've been here, and looking into your eyes for the last 30-something minutes,
I couldn't see anything.
You put those walls up, and it makes it look like you don't care.
When really, it's just because you don't wanna face it.
And I think your sister, and your family members,
they were trying to help.
Once one knew, it became this thing where they then had to look at their nieces,
and they felt for them, and this is what...
Paternity secrets, they permeate the fabric of a family.
So, start feeling it all, just processing it,
so that you can figure out where to go from here.
Will you be there for your girls?
Yes, Your Honor.
Will you do what they need you to do,
and have the difficult conversations with them that they need?
Yes, Your Honor.
I want you girls to hold her to it, okay?
It's not gonna be easy.
BOTH: Yes.
JUDGE LAKE: But you can do it.
I wish you all the very best of luck. Court is adjourned.
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