You may be seated.
Hello, Your Honor.
Hello.
This is the case of Bronson v. Roberts.
Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone.
AUDIENCE: Good day.
Ms. Bronson, you have always known the defendant
to be your biological father,
but have opened your case against him to prove paternity
because he now claims he has reason to deny he is your father.
Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor.
Mr. Roberts, you believed Ms. Bronson was your firstborn
until three years ago
when your world was turned upside down
with the news that you may not be her biological father,
and Mr. Banks claims he is.
Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Bronson, how do you feel,
knowing your father is denying paternity?
Your Honor, I feel Mr. Roberts is my father.
He's the only father I've known for 29 years.
That's my father. Period.
I've known him my whole life.
He the only one I call my father.
That's who I grew up knowing as my father.
So, Mr. Roberts is my biological father. That's it.
JUDGE LAKE: And Mr. Roberts...
ROBERTS: Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: What is your side of this?
Well, I always, um, believed that Jammy was my daughter.
I raised her as my daughter,
as the other children in my life.
She only knows me as her father.
I never even knew anything about this gentleman here.
JUDGE LAKE: So, 29 years.
BRONSON: Yes, Your Honor.
ROBERTS: Yes.
He's been through everything with you.
Yes.
Mr. Roberts, did you take financial responsibility for Ms. Bronson?
Did you provide for her in the form of support?
Yes, Your Honor.
The times I was there, and I was also ordered to do child support.
JUDGE LAKE: Are you on her birth certificate?
ROBERTS: No, Your Honor, I'm not on her birth certificate.
JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Bronson, all your life,
this is the man that you were told was your father,
you believed was your father, and you had no reason to doubt it?
Yes, Your Honor. Up until 2009.
What happened in 2009?
I had a phone conversation with my mother
and she mentioned Mr. Banks.
And she said, "Don't you remember the guy
"that I told you, who thought he was your father?"
When she said that to me, Your Honor,
it was a "What?" moment, like, "What are you talking about?"
So, she said that he wanted to get in contact with me.
I think I gave her my number to give to him
or she gave me his number.
I can't remember how we actually got in contact.
And then, I... We reached out to one another.
JUDGE LAKE: Did you know Mr. Banks?
No, Your Honor.
You didn't know who he was?
No, Your Honor.
So, all of a sudden, a man named Mr. Banks comes into the picture,
and this man could be your father.
Yes, Your Honor.
Did you say anything to Mr. Roberts?
Because, at the time, you believed he was your biological father.
No, Your Honor, I didn't say anything to Mr. Roberts.
I kept it to myself for a while.
And then I told Ms. Blair.
Mr. Roberts, Ms. Blair is your... Fiance.
ROBERTS: Fiance.
Yes.
JUDGE LAKE: What did you say to Ms. Blair?
BRONSON: I just mentioned that my mother told me
that someone else could be my father.
But you said it to Ms. Blair, and not to Mr. Roberts.
BRONSON: Right.
What made you make that choice?
Me and Ms. Blair built a good relationship.
So, I felt that I could confide in her about that.
She was the only person that I trusted to tell that at that time.
So, Mr. Roberts, take me to the day you found this out.
A few years ago, Ms. Blair told me
that she needed to talk to me about something.
And that's when I found out.
I was kept in the dark about all of this.
I never knew anything about Mr. Banks.
I also, um, you know, spent eight months in jail
for unpaid child support.
And I'm $75,000 in arrears.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS)
JUDGE LAKE: And then you get...
You don't even get a call, your fiance comes to you and says...
There's a possibility that Jasmine is not my biological daughter.
And that took me for a loop.
After all these years, I was like... I mean, I had to pause for a minute.
I mean, I was like, "What? What?
"What are you telling me, that she may not be my daughter?"
I was not expecting to hear that.
And it really shook me.
After all these years, I...
My thing is, if the mother knew or Mr. Banks knew or somebody,
why didn't somebody say something?
I was the last to know about everything.
And if other people knew, they should've said something.
We could've dealt with this issue 20 years ago.
(AUDIENCE MURMURING)
Mr. Banks, I want to ask you, when did you become aware
that you potentially could be Ms. Bronson's biological father?
I can recall when she was about six or seven,
and I ran into her mother,
and Jasmine and her sister in a park.
And there, she had told me that Jasmine was my daughter, then.
Oh! So, Jasmine's mother said...
Yes.
Do you remember the words she used?
Uh, no, I don't.
Uh, I just recall her saying,
that Jasmine was my daughter.
JUDGE LAKE: And Jasmine was there, too.
Yes.
And when you looked at this child, did you say to yourself,
"Wow, this could really be my child,"
or... Did you believe her?
I believed it, and I said that she probably can be
'cause of the resemblance of my family members
at that age that she was.
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Roberts, how old was Ms. Bronson when you found out
you potentially could not be her biological father?
ROBERTS: I do believe, Your Honor, she was 19?
That's not accurate, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: What is your testimony, Ms. Bronson?
When I first found out in 2009, I was 20 going on 21.
You had no idea about this?
No, my mother said the same story
that Mr. Banks said when I went to the park and I met him. But as a...
JUDGE LAKE: So, she had seen him when you were seven,
now you're 20, 21 years old.
BRONSON: Yes.
So that is 13 years from the day you all had this encounter.
And do you remember the encounter in the park?
No, Your Honor, 'cause as a little girl in the park with my sister,
the last thing I think about is meeting some man.
JUDGE LAKE: Absolutely.
And you don't remember there being some outward gesture, Mr. Banks,
am I correct?
Correct.
It was just, "There's Jasmine, and she over there playing."
What kids do.
Right.
"That could be your daughter."
Right.
But, then for 13 years, the secret persisted.
Well, I thought I was gonna see her again,
but, uh, I'd never see the mother again.
Did you exchange numbers?
Did you say, "Hey, let's keep in touch"?
Yes, we did.
Did you ever call her?
Basically, she took my number,
and actually, I've never heard from her since though.
JUDGE LAKE: Did you think about that day for years?
Yes, I always thought that she was my daughter after the mother told me
'cause I even took her upstairs to meet my mother.
Oh, wait, so on this day when you all met at the park,
then you took Jasmine, Ms. Bronson, upstairs, to see your mother?
BANKS: Yes, 'cause she did live upstairs.
And you went upstairs and you said, "Mom..."
"I've just found out that Jasmine is my daughter."
And your mother said...
What she said was, she could be a possibility,
'cause she resembled my sister when she was young a little bit.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
And you don't remember that either, Ms. Bronson.
BRONSON: No, Your Honor, I don't remember that at all.
And so, Mr. Banks, did you know Mr. Roberts existed?
And that he had been paying child support,
and going to jail and fighting through
all of this responsibility?
No, I didn't.
You were never told that there was another man?
Well, she did tell me
that the man that she had married
did think that he was the father at the time.
So, Mr. Roberts, up until this point,
you didn't even know Mr. Banks existed.
ROBERTS: No, Your Honor.
You knew nothing.
ROBERTS: I knew nothing of Mr. Banks.
I dated Ms. Bronson,
I even married her two months after Jasmine was born
and I went on my business just raising, as to starting my family.
But, possibly, if I had known that earlier,
it probably wouldn't have been the rest of my daughters.
Because if she'd had told me that earlier
that another man is the father,
I would've discontinued that relationship.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
And I look at it like this. It's being young.
I would've been like, "Wow, I dodged a bullet."
But, I did the best
and I took responsibility, but I still...
My whole issue is, somebody should have said something.
I'm the last one to know everything.
And it just blows my mind
people could just keep that
without letting people know.
She has a right on her end to know
who her bloodline comes from.
Whether it's from my side or Mr. Banks' side,
she needed to know.
And it shouldn't have took 29 years for this to happen.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
When you hear Mr. Banks
talk about this encounter in the park
and taking Jasmine up to see his mother, you...
This is all new to you?
ROBERTS: No, I never heard of it.
I did hear that, I think he picked her up for Thanksgiving one time,
or something like that.
JUDGE LAKE: Is that true, Mr. Banks?
BANKS: Yes.
And did you ever say, "Why is he picking her up for Thanksgiving?"
Yeah, and then they told me that he may be the father.
But I never met him.
Ain't nobody told me he was outside...
When was this?
BRONSON: It was 2011.
I don't know the dates, because nobody told me nothing.
It was 2011.
JUDGE LAKE: It was 2011?
Yes.
I don't know dates, 'cause nobody ain't told me nothing.
Like, a lot of stuff was kept from me.
We get it. You're piecing it together.
You're just piecing it together.
ROBERTS: Yeah.
As best as I can.
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Bronson?
So, you met Mr. Banks.
You went to his home
for Thanksgiving in 2011, that's true?
Yes, Your Honor. I went to his mother's house.
JUDGE LAKE: You went to his mother's house?
Yes.
So, after you did that,
how long did it take for you to inform
the man you believe was your biological father
that, "I had had this encounter with Mr. Banks"?
BRONSON: I didn't tell Mr. Roberts that happened.
You didn't tell him at all?
No. At the time,
I didn't feel comfortable to tell him.
I don't want to be the one to come and tell somebody
that you're not my father. That's not my job.
So, I didn't do it.
But, you told Ms. Blair.
Yes, 'cause she was the person I always confided in.
To this day, she is the person I confide in to.
And so, instead of going to the man who you believe was your father
and trying to break this news,
you knew that, "This was not my burden to carry."
It's not my burden, and I wouldn't want to tell him that anyway.
How can a daughter tell their father, "You might not be my father"?
BRONSON: I can't do that.
And now you're hurting because you want to prove today
that he is your biological father
because that's the only father you've ever really known.
He's the only father I've known. Twenty-nine years.
That's my father.
JUDGE LAKE: And so, when you told Ms. Blair after that,
what did you say, in your mind, was your next course of action?
"Do I just wait?"
Was she supposed to relay the information to Mr. Roberts?
How do you get to the point
where Mr. Roberts finally knows?
I didn't really think about that.
I was still registering it myself.
It's still a lot to deal with to this day.
That's something that's on your mind every day.
When somebody tell you that somebody else is your father,
when you already don't know your identity, that jacks you up more.
So, I'm glad she told him 'cause I couldn't do it.
JUDGE LAKE: Yes. And I think it's very real when you say,
when someone says something to you like this, you think about it every day.
I don't think I've heard it ever stated that...
That real, and that true.
Mm-hmm.
Every single day.
You're sitting around with him, laughing, joking, and stuff,
it will cross your mind.
Yeah, 'cause we've been on vacations, birthdays,
you know, we... She came down,
Marilyn let me, lived with us for eight years.
And now, you know, she got her first apartment,
which, we live in the same complex.
I live there, she living around the corner.
So, we still in each other's lives.
Her children, her friends, my grandkid,
they're at my house right now.
So, we see each other every day.
I take 'em to school, her children.
I take 'em from school, to spend at mine.
We're still involved in each other's lives to this day.
But, we're here to find out
if I'm her biological father, or Mr. Banks.
And I need to know as well,
because it's been a long time.
I still can't get over that they kept this from me.
Like, somebody should've said something.
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Banks, hearing this testimony,
do you still feel that it's a very real possibility
that Ms. Bronson is your biological daughter?
Well, the only thing I can really go off is what the mother told me.
And, like I said, the resemblance,
if I had have known she was my daughter, uh...
I would've been a part of her life
if I would have known where she was at.
And Jasmine, honey, do you feel like
Mr. Banks should have done more?
Yes, I do.
If you see me at seven,
and you felt that I look like your family...
You could have did something.
It wasn't on me,
my mother handled it how she handled it,
that's on her, I ain't got nothing to do with it.
But, as a father,
you should wanna, if that's your child,
be in your child's life.
They could've did something.
I wouldn't be standing here if that was done.
I probably wouldn't feel the way I feel if that was done.
We help babies,
two months old, two weeks old.
We help babies before they're even born
determine who their fathers are.
But we can never forget that there are adult people
in this world
that live with it. I say a lot of times,
when we deal with our cases with babies, I say,
they have the benefit of never having to remember
that this was an issue, because we're able to get it solved
before they ever know.
And then there are young women,
beautiful young women like yourself...
Thank you.
...and you still have to function with this.
Right. Every day.
Right?
BRONSON: Yes.
Every day.
That's why we're here, is to get you these results.
And I want to get them for you right now.
Jerome.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics
and they read as follows.
In the case of Bronson v. Roberts...
When it comes to 29-year-old Jasmine Bronson,
it has been determined by this court,
Mr. Roberts, you...
Are not the father.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
(ROBERTS SNIFFLES)
You're still my daughter. I love you.
You're always gonna be my daughter.
BRONSON: I love you too.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
Can I hug her?
JUDGE LAKE: Absolutely.
The next result reads as follows.
In the case of Bronson v. Roberts,
it has been determined by this court,
Mr. Banks...
You are the father.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
JUDGE LAKE: Do you want to be a part of her life?
BANKS: Yes, I do.
Because I love you.
And I always will love you, as I told you before.
Now, if I can walk down these stairs
to give you a hug, if I may.
Will you allow that?
BRONSON: That's fine.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
JUDGE LAKE: I think there's one benefit in this.
Both of these men believed you were their daughter.
And both of these men wanted to get the truth.
And both of these men want to be in your life
from here on out.
So, look at all you have.
And even though she's a grown woman now,
you all have the responsibility
to help heal that child in her.
You do.
Right?
'Cause as people that love her,
you've got to stand by her
as she begins to work through this. Okay?
Yes.
You're such a beautiful young woman,
and I wish you the very best of luck.
Thank you.
And I'm so happy we could get you the answers you needed today
and give you all this closure.
BRONSON: Thank you.
All right?
I wish you the very best of luck. Court is adjourned.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
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