Shadowing Practice: Cougar's Shocking Paternity Mystery | Minniefield v Lorde - Learn English Speaking with Video
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1
You may be seated.
2
Hello, Your Honor.
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This is the case of Minifield versus Lorde.
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Thank you, Jerome.
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You're welcome.
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Good day, everyone.
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Good day.
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Good day.
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Miss Minifield, you claim that you and the defendant, Mr. Lorde, planned to have a baby together, and then you became pregnant.
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Now you say he's left you for a younger woman, and he's denying paternity of your six-week-old son.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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Now, Mr. Lord, you claim Ms. Minifield parties, blacks out, and then forgets she slept with various men.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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Furthermore, you say you have evidence you'll present today, which proves another man has now stepped up and taken responsibility for the plaintiff's child.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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So, now, Ms. Minifield, please, explain to the court the events that led up to this baby being conceived.
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I met Mr. Lord back December the 1st, 2011.
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You know, we connected we decided to be friends, real close friends, whereas he deal with only me and I deal with only him.
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You know?
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Committed relationships.
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Yes, ma'am.
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You know, just with nobody else.
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You know, we just deal with each other.
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And so as the time went by, I told him, Lord, I've been trying to have a baby.
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I've been praying for a baby.
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And he said he had been trying, you know, to get me pregnant, but he said, you know, but what he was saying, he said that he's been trying.
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I guess he thought I was too old.
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So in the December of last year, found out I was pregnant.
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All right, so you did get pregnant.
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Yes, ma'am, I did.
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I prayed.
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And Mr. Lord?
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Yes, Your Honor.
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This conversation about planting a baby death was never a conversation about that.
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That was something that came out of the side of her head.
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Because we didn't have this conversation.
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She said about she wanted to have a child.
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Yeah, but she never said with me.
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You oughta quit it, man.
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We didn't have this conversation about planning a baby.
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So you're in a relationship with her, though.
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No, we weren't even in a relationship.
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Oh, okay.
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It was never a commitment?
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No. In the beginning, yes, we were.
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Definitely.
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Yes, we were.
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Yes, we were.
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Your Honor, she knew I was still talking and conversating with my fiancée.
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Okay.
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We were talking.
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She was in another state, but I was messing with...
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Yes, indeed, I messed up.
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How long were you?
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I was messing with her, but it was not an everyday thing.
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If you were in a relationship with her, why were you dealing with me?
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Why were you dealing with me? because I was vulnerable at the time.
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No, you weren't vulnerable.
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No, you weren't vulnerable.
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No, you wasn't.
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You weren't vulnerable.
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You said you were vulnerable at the time.
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Because I was going through some things...
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No, he knew exactly what he was doing.
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I was going through some things with my fiancée and other situations.
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So, bottom line is, you were kind of on the outs with your fiancée, and you were vulnerable.
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Yes, ma'am.
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And therefore, you began a relationship...
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No, it was a friendship that evolved into a sexual...
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A friendship with benefits.
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Exactly, Your Honor.
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You know what?
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Okay.
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Yeah, and that's not the way in this many feels season Anyway, we're coming over there for a night and so we ate out together
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when I did things together and everything But you still you hug me and you know what?
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And I asked you I said I said I don't play games I'm too old to play games.
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I said, well, how do you feel about me?
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You said if I didn't care about you, I wouldn't be coming over here
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Did I say as a friend only dealing with you
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and you only you say you only do you know I'm not the only dealer with me
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because she goes out to get drunk.
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She stays the night at her friends.
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No, I was not over there all with that.
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Let's get some order.
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Let's get some order.
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I want to understand this.
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Now, Mr. Lord, you said she was sleeping with other people.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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But you say she was just your friend.
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Exactly.
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So it shouldn't matter to you, right?
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It didn't.
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She made it seem like we're in the last...
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But you were having sex with your friend.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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Unprotected sex.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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I'm waiting.
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Yeah, I admit we were having sex, but it wasn't like on the everyday thing because a lot of times she was drunk.
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She knew why we wouldn't even be in a relationship because she got drunk, she blacked out.
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She stayed nights at other men's house.
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But you said you was already in a relationship, so how can we establish a relationship when you said you was already in one?
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Okay, you just said.
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We talked about our relationship.
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Don't twist your words.
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So how long were you all relating to one another?
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About a year.
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A year?
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So for a year's time, she thinks she got a boyfriend, and you saying she's just a friend...
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I'm just a buddhika.
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...for a whole year's time, and you not in no relationship with her.
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If I wouldn't have knew that, I wouldn't have dealt with it.
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It was an off-and-on, Your Honorable, because she would get drunk and cuss me out, call me names.
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She cussed everybody out when she gets drunk.
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She even cusses her daughter out.
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So, hold on, Miss Minifilce, you go out and party.
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Is that true?
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In the beginning, yes, ma'am, I drink.
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I drink, you know, we drink, we sit at home, You might go to a little spot and drink or whatever, but yet and still, I got my own.
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You was from place to place in like a tornado.
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And like, you don't even have yourself together.
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Wait a minute now, Ms. Bennefield.
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No, hold on, because his contention is that you did drink a lot
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and that you were moving place to place and could potentially be sleeping with other people.
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It was only him.
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It was only Rashard.
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And he knows that.
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He's saying it because it's under the sideline over here.
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And she would go and get drunk over her friend's house where she would leave.
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She left her boots and her bra.
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A male friend or a female friend?
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Male.
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Hold on now.
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She left her boots and a bra at her male friend's house?
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Yes, Your Honor.
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How do you know?
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Because one day we went over there and he gave to her and said, oh, you forgot this over here.
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And we got into an argument about that.
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Well, I thought you didn't care.
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How come we gonna argue about that?
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It wasn't an argument about that.
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You told me...
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Hold on, now.
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Ms. Minifel, um, I can understand your feet hurting and you taking your shoes off.
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Uh, because it's not true.
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That's why, Your Honor.
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But how does your bra get off?
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I can understand your feet hurting and you taking your shoes off.
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Uh, because it's not true.
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That's why, Your Honor.
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But how does your bra get off?
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Your Honor, it's not true.
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Mr. Lord brought...
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He put a whole bunch of lies in the bag and brought him here to court today.
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That's what he did.
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Because he know darn well...
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He know darn well what it was between him and I.
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You don't have nothing on me.
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Your ex-boyfriend will call you and tell you he seen me somewhere else.
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Why was he at your house?
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Why was he calling you?
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But it's a...
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But why do you care?
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So let me ask you something.
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Does he have any reason to believe that you possibly could be sleeping with somebody else?
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He don't have no reason, because he was around me all the time.
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We were around each other all the time.
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He was trying to make himself look good in front of his female over there.
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Yes, we was.
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Yes, we was.
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I would go home and we would get hooked.
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Whatever, Rashad, that's all you got, the brain.
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Let's get some order.
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Mr. Lord, I want to understand your doubt.
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Now, you say you went over and somebody handed her boots and her bra.
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I get that.
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What else?
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There was men constantly at her house.
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You three, four in the morning.
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You saying these are friends, but me and you were friends you were friends.
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How I know you weren't sleeping with them.
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That these were the same kind of friends.
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Now you got men over at all times.
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I'm a disavore.
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Excuse me.
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And so if I'm your friend, and they're your friend, you sleeping with me, you could be sleeping with them.
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You didn't use a condom if you knew I was sleeping with all these men.
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Yeah.
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And I'm wrong.
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But at the same time, it didn't happen.
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It's in your mind.
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If I'm sleeping with you, you ain't kidding me.
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She said her understanding was the reason why you all were having unprotected sex was because, A, you all were in a relationship,
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she thought, and, B, you all had discussed having a baby, and you knew she wanted to have one, and you wanted to have one, too.
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And that's why you weren't using protection.
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Now, you say you're just friends, there's no commitment, there's nothing to it, but you are having sex with her with no protection.
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So why all the doubt?
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You say you're just friends, there's no commitment, there's nothing to it, but you are having sex with her.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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With no protection. And I...
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So why all the doubt?
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I got texts from some man said that...
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That was me.
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...he's gonna be...
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That was me.
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...the text is right here.
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What you're saying is you believe that these text messages...
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They came from her phone, but that another man typed them directed at you.
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If you see, this is the text, and I got another one.
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I'm going to be your son's daddy.
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Ain't nothing you going to do about it.
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You a punk.
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You ain't blood.
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You too weak, homeboy.
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I text that.
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Wait, did you text that so he would think another man was texting that?
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Yes, yes, so he could step up or some kind of way, because I couldn't get him.
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How?
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He just disappeared in action.
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So when Rashard was born, was Mr. Lord there?
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Uh-uh.
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He said he was gonna be there.
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He said he was gonna be there.
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The reason I wasn't there, you text my phone saying that your friend was gonna be there and your family, And the reason was no, I never...
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My fiancé coming.
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That's right, because she ain't got nothing to do with it.
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It's you.
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She can come in the waiting room house, and you have your friend there.
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She has nothing to do with it.
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Because she drama.
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She like drama.
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You just want drama.
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She's so done.
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So you did want to come be there, and she was gonna help you.
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I want to hear from her.
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Ma'am, please stand up.
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State your name.
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LaShonda Lee.
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And, Miss Lee, you are Ms. Lord's fiancé.
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Yes, ma'am.
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Okay, so he wanted to make the trip.
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And then you were gonna help?
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Yes, ma'am.
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Explain.
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Um, no, I didn't want to be in her room.
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No, I didn't want to meet her.
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We weren't coming.
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I was gonna sit in the waiting room.
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And as far as everything go, I can't speak on anything that happened before they left Columbus.
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Well, you were doing it over Texas.
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But from the time that he actually came into the picture with me, by that time, I was actually like this.
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I said, if that's your baby, I'll step aside, and I'll let you converse with her.
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But if she said...
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Do you believe it's his time?
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Ma'am, I don't have a belief.
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I don't know her, and she don't know me, and she ain't stopped talking yet.
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You should have left her.
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But as you notice, I'm not even looking at her.
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I'm listening to you because it's your turn to speak.
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Does he believe this is his child, or he has doubts?
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Okay, but he wanted to try to do the right thing.
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Yes, ma'am.
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That story is absolutely false.
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I told Mr. Lord, I said, if you don't bring her up into this hospital with that drama.
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But she said she wasn't coming to the hospital.
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She was just gonna help him get there.
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But that's what she texted.
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She was coming.
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She was coming with him.
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Whatever she did, she gonna do with him.
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Has he been involved in Rashard's life at all?
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No, ma'am. At all.
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I mean, he just.. out of sight, out of mind.
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Mr. Lorne, have you seen the baby?
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Uh-uh.
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You haven't...
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You've never seen the baby?
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No, Your Honor. But I...
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See, this is the thing.
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Uh-uh.
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We tried to be civil.
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No, you haven't.
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Never.
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She's been texting, she's been calling.
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How you gonna be civil?
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And when I'm at work, if I don't answer the phone...
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How you gonna be civil?
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This is what I did.
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This is what...
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This is how she is.
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Yeah, because I'm angry.
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I'm angry.
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I'm angry, because both of y'all been doing some conniving, treacherous stuff.
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And what has I ever did to you?
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Let's get some order.
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Let's bring it down a notch now.
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I'll do what I ever did to him.
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I never did nothing but try to be there for that man, to try to help him and stuff.
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I never did nothing wrong with him.
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Mr. Lord, you have admitted that you may be the child's father.
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You've been to the doctor's appointment.
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Your own fiancé was gonna help give you money so you could be there for the birth.
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How is it that the baby has been on this earth for six weeks
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and you have not laid eyes on the baby?
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Hey, Rich, Your Honor.
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Your Honor, you're gonna cause reason to be...
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Because I've been in this situation before where there's been kids, their mother's saying they're mine, and there's been doubts, and I've been there,
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and then I'm the one getting hurt because I find out the kids are not mine.
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So she knew this.
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We already had this conversation.
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Yeah, we sure did in the beginning.
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Okay, and I told you, I wanted a blood test.
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I told you I was gonna give you one.
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You didn't ask me for that.
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And when I said it.
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All right, and you know what?
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The great news is, is we have taken the DNA test, and we're going to get to those results in just a moment.
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Miss Lee, you may be seated.
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Thank you so much.
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Miss Mennefield, you also brought a witness, and I'd love to hear from her.
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Yes, ma'am.
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This is my daughter.
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And your name is?
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Crystal, Your Honor.
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And you are?
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I'm Angela's daughter.
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All right, please, share with the court what you know about this situation.
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I know.
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I don't understand the fact that he's thinking, and he's saying that they were just friends because I went to pick up this friend at his house.
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And he came around our family and barbecued and sat out there with our family and barbecued.
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And we came inside, we watching movies.
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He was explaining little scary movies to us.
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He's telling my mom, you're doing too much, you're moving too much.
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Sit on down, baby.
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Let me fix my own plate.
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You're doing too much.
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You need to sit down.
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You're pregnant.
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You need to be sitting down and resting.
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So in your mind and in your estimation, he accepted the child as his?
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As his, and they're together, because...
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And they're a couple.
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When we laid our head down to go to sleep, he was right there in my mom's room, so...
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Okay.
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You may be seated.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Mr. Lord, what are you hoping for today?
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Your Honor, I want to know.
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If he's mine, then I'm going to do what I got to do and he's going to be well taken care of.
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But if he's ain't, I'm done with this situation.
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I don't want her to call me, don't text me, no nothing.
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Take the child.
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If he's not mine, give him his real daddy's Yeah, that's what I want.
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I want the same thing.
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That's all I want.
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Uh-huh.
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That's what I want.
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I think it's time for results.
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Jerome... So cute.
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These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics,
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and they read as follows. In the case of... of Minifield versus Lorde.
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When it comes to six-week-old Rashard Minifield,
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Mr. Lorde, you, in the case of Minifield versus Lorde,
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when it comes to six-week-old Rashard Minifield,
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Mr. Lord, you are not the father.
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Thank you, Your Honor.
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That's what I needed to know.
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So now there's no touching,
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no calling, because she just sat here and said that there's no possible reason that nobody else could be the father.
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I'm glad.
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Ms. Minnifield, I want to understand.
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Yes, ma'am.
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So you don't drag this man to court?
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And are mad at he and his fiancée because he didn't show up for the birth?
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I apologize.
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And did you always know this other person was a possibility?
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Well, in a way, yeah.
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Well, why don't you say that in court?
380
Thank you.
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Thank you.
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This is what I'm screaming.
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And now that's my problem.
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Now, her daughter, I respect this lady right here to the utmost for defending her mom.
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But when mom is possibly wrong, don't let mom make a fool out of you.
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And then when you don't have nothing to do, you need to stay out of it.
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You made me a part of it.
388
Let me just say this.
389
At 43, it's not here.
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Let me just say this.
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Whatever.
392
You know what?
393
Let's get some order.
394
Listen, listen, I apologize to Mr. Lord.
395
Jerome, just stand in the center, please.
396
We're not going to have no nonsense up in here.
397
I apologize to Mr. Lord.
398
I really do for taking you through all that anguish and that hardship.
399
This is what paternity secrets, just the lies, just the not telling that last little bit of information
400
can do because the truth is if you just were honest about it, you all could have right when this baby was born just gotten this together,
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or he could have known from the get-go when the baby's born, we're just gonna have a DNA test and we're gonna figure this thing out, and you would have had the answer.
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And then all of the lying and you posing as men on the text and cursing him out, I had to blur out half the text message because I couldn't even show it.
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Okay, I'm wrong.
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I'm wrong, and I feel bad about it.
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And Mr. Lord, you had sex with this woman.
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No protection.
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Over a year!
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This is crazy!
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You said the only reason you were with her was because you was vulnerable.
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So now you got with her, but then at the end of the day, you worked it out with your fiancée, but you got yourself caught up in this fiasco because you weren't responsible.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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So if you want to have casual sex while you vulnerable, you need to casually put on a condom.
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Yes, Your Honor.
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Thank you.
415
Okay?
416
Yes, Your Honor.
417
Court of the Jones.
418
Thank you.
419
I'm so happy about the results today that he's not my son.
420
I'm done with the mother.
421
Well, I'm pleased with the results because I don't have to go through, you know, drama.
422
And I got my gift, so, you know, I apologize to Mr. Lord, but, you know, it is what it is, and I can move on.
423
I'm through.
424
Happy.
425
Over.
426
Thank you.
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Real-Life Drama: A Courtroom Conversation to Practice English
Ever wanted to learn English with videos that feel like real life? The video features a heated courtroom dialogue between two people arguing over paternity, making it perfect for practicing natural speech. This isn’t just scripted dialogue—it’s raw, emotional, and full of the kind of phrases you’d hear in everyday arguments, making it ideal for improving your listening and speaking skills.
Useful Chunks & Collocations to Memorize
- "step up and take responsibility": A common phrase for when someone accepts a duty, like in the video where a man is said to have "stepped up" for the child.
- "connected and decided to be friends": Natural way to describe forming a close bond, as the plaintiff says she and the defendant "connected" and became close friends.
- "denying paternity": A legal term for refusing to acknowledge being a child’s parent, used here when the defendant denies fathering the baby.
- "conversating with my fiancée": Informal (but common) way to say "talking with my fiancée"—note the casual tone in the dialogue.
- "planted a baby": A colloquial phrase for intentionally getting pregnant, as mentioned in the conversation about planning a child.
Improve English Pronunciation with Shadow Speech
This video is a goldmine for practicing the shadowing technique. Shadowing—repeating speech immediately after hearing it—helps you match tone, rhythm, and pronunciation. The emotional back-and-forth in the dialogue makes it perfect: you’ll mimic frustration, urgency, and insistence, which are key to natural communication. To try it, play a 10-second clip, pause, and repeat it aloud, focusing on how the speakers stress words like "definitely" or "never." This isn’t just about repeating words—it’s about capturing the energy behind them, which is how you truly improve English pronunciation.
Your Shadowing Challenge: Try It Now!
Ready to test the shadowing technique? Pick a 30-second section of the video where the plaintiff and defendant argue (like when she says, "We were in a committed relationship!" and he replies, "No, we weren’t"). Play the clip, listen closely, then hit pause and repeat it immediately. Do this 3 times. Notice how the speakers shorten words ("oughta" instead of "ought to") or raise their voices for emphasis. This is how shadowspeaks—using shadowing to sound more natural—works. By practicing with real conversations like this, you’ll learn English in a way that feels less like study and more like real life.
Remember: the best way to learn English with videos is to engage with the content actively. So hit play, start shadowing, and watch your speaking skills grow!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been trying · I've been praying · he's been trying |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if that's your baby, I'll step |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has now stepped · Has he been involved · You've never seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | may be seated · being conceived · was drunk |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.