You may be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of Miller v. Rasmussen. Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Miller, you are here to prove to your ex-boyfriend, Scotty Rasmussen, that he is not the father of your three-year-old daughter Zaylie Rasmussen. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You claim, you have been in an ongoing court battle over custody and have petitioned the court several times for a DNA test, all of which have been denied. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Rasmussen, you claim the real reason Ms. Miller is denying you're Zaylie's father is because she hates you. Yes, Your Honor. You say, you've been there for your daughter her entire life and you are here today to prove you are Zaylie's father. RASMUSSEN: Yes, Your Honor. All right, Mr. Rasmussen, why is Ms. Miller saying you are not Zaylie's father? Your Honor, I believe it's out of pure hatred. RASMUSSEN: She doesn't want me to have visitation. I drive 160 miles, every other weekend just to pick up my daughter and drop her off. Over... That's about 10,000 miles. RASMUSSEN: That's wear and tear on my car. She doesn't have a driver's license, she doesn't have any way to bring her to me. She doesn't have any way to meet me halfway. JUDGE LAKE: You say she hates you? RASMUSSEN: Yeah, she hates me. Why would... Why does she hate you? She hates me because at the end of the relationship when things got rocky, I'll admit it, I did go to another woman. I will be the first to admit that. You know, it was my mistake. JUDGE LAKE: Is that true, Ms. Miller? No. It's not? MILLER: No. It's not at all. Tell me, what you believe to be true in this situation? Yes, I was very mad at him for being a cheater. He cheated on me through pretty much our whole relationship. No, I do not hate him because of that. I lost my respect for him, yes. JUDGE LAKE: He says, this is about visitation too. He loves his daughter but you don't want him to have the visitation, is that true? Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Why is that? Because I believe that the only reason why he wants the visitation, is to claim her on his taxes. (STAMMERING) That is the furthest thing from the truth. I... I want my visitation because my daughter means the world to me. I want to be in her life as much as I possibly can. I mean if he is driving 160 miles each way every other weekend, the money he gets in his taxes, he is spending in gas. RASMUSSEN: I am paying my child support. I have my child support payments right here. RASMUSSEN: Plus an additional $3 fee, plus an additional $60 annual fee. Just to pay my child support. JUDGE LAKE: You pay $50 a week. RASMUSSEN: Just under $50 a week. Plus that $3 with every check. Plus another $60 every year to the State. And that's not very much to get what she needs. Is it... I mean at the end of the month... Is it enough to buy her clothes so she doesn't have to wear cut-off sweat pants and the same T-shirt every time I pick her up? I do that. Because... I don't want... It's just what it is. Is it enough money to buy her underwear so you don't gotta keep putting her in diapers at four years old? MILLER: I have underwear for her. And she is not in diapers, she is in pull-ups. She is in training right now. She is having problems. RASMUSSEN: She is not... But what he's saying, Ms. Miller, is... It's clearly not about money, if he's paying his child support. And he also spends money, coming to see her. What is this really about for you? Why is it you don't want him involved in this child's life? Because I still believe that he is not hers. Okay, and listen, that's what we're here for. I want to get down to the bottom of the truth. Yeah. You don't believe he is her biological father. Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: So explain to me why? MILLER: When she was conceived, she was conceived in March of 2011, he wasn't even in the same state. He was in Vegas. And at that time in March, I wasn't even with him. I was with somebody else. Because he broke up with me, because he cheated on me. I'll be the first to admit it, it was a mistake. Okay, we've gotten the fact that you two have an on-and-off relationship that has infidelity woven through. I understand that. Ms. Miller, you were stating to the court that you were intimate with someone else and you believe that you were intimate with that other person during the time Zaylie was conceived, and Mr. Rasmussen was all the way in Las Vegas. Yes, Your Honor. But, clearly at some point Mr. Rasmussen either thought or was informed that he was her biological father, because he is paying child support, he's still driving 160 miles each way, and she has his last name. Yes. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Rasmussen, fill me in, at what point were you ever told that you were not her biological father. I believed, I was... And still believe, I was the only biological father until about five or six months or so, give or take after she was born. We were at family court, talking to the family court commissioner, about custody and the things that go along with that. Like where she would be going to school, her doctor and all that. And Ms. Miller brings it up that, I could possibly not be the father because of another man that was involved and she gave some date, I can't remember the specifics. But one of the, uh, people we were talking to with the family court commissioner, did the math and it turns out that it would be a 10-month pregnancy and that don't make sense to me. Because it was so far, it was so long ago, I was confused about the dates. But now that I went through both of our Facebooks, I went through all of my notes, all of anything I wrote down, and I figured out that she was conceived in March and it was a nine-month pregnancy. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Rasmussen, up until Zaylie was five or six months old, you believed you were the only possible biological father. That is correct, we never broke up, there was never any, that I could recall, there was never any split there. There was, the relationship was on and off in a sense but we never... But by that time she was born, so, she already had your name. She already had my name. Did you sign the birth certificate? That is correct. Your name is on the birth certificate. I have that right... Jerome, hand me that, please. I have that right here, my name is on that birth certificate. So, you're on the birth certificate. RASMUSSEN: Yeah, I was at... You were at the birth? I was at the birth. I was at every single doctor's appointment. When Zaylie was born, you were at the doctor's appointment. I was at home because I had to work that day. I was at my job as a cashier. I got a phone call and I answered it. They said she was going into labor. I said, "Okay," I hung up the phone. I quickly finished up as fast as I could with that particular customer. I turned off my checkout light, told the next customer in line that something came up and they'd have to go in another line. I went up to my manager, my immediate supervisor, said, "Hey, I gotta go, my girlfriend's in labor." I went home, quickly changed my clothes and I drove about 45 miles through a windy, wooded road. In Wisconsin, in December, mind you, so it's about a foot of snow on the ground. I made it to that hospital in less than 35 minutes. I beat her to the hospital. And I was there from the moment she got there, to the moment she was discharged. I called my boss at work and said, "Hey, I gotta take some days off, "I don't care if you fire me or whatever but I got to stay here. "My daughter's being born." MILLER: That's... That's a lie. After she was born... That was an amazing story. You say that was a lie? Yes, it is. (LAUGHS) How do you remember it? After she was born, he was gone. He ran out of the room, I didn't see him for 20 minutes after that. While I was in labor, he was sitting on one of those hospital cot beds on his computer, in the corner not paying attention to me, in his own little bubble. RASMUSSEN: I admit I was on my computer but that was far from it. I had to find a way to calm myself because I was so excited to be a father. How often does a man beat the woman to the hospital. Do you dispute, Ms. Miller, that he was excited about this beautiful little girl being born? MILLER: I really didn't see much excitement. JUDGE LAKE: You didn't? MILLER: No. Did he beat you to the hospital? Yes, because I had to wait for my aunt to come and get me. What was the problem exactly? You let him sign the birth certificate. I gave that baby... I gave my daughter my last name. Because we were engaged. And I thought we were going to get married. I thought we were going to have a happy life, and raise our daughter together. Until about three months after she was born, one of his friends told me everything that he was doing throughout our entire relationship, cheating on me. Going to multiple places to meet multiple girls. And after that I was just... Done. Where is this other possible father? I'm not even quite sure. After we broke up, he changed his number, he moved, he pretty much disappeared. MILLER: I have tried to find him, I have tried to get ahold of him and I can't find him. JUDGE LAKE: But you keep saying, Mr. Rasmussen cheated. He did this, he did that, and as wrong as that may be, you also slept with somebody else. We weren't even dating then. I was single at that time. Because he was with this other lady and I was the side chick. Which I didn't even really know about. All of this is happening and this man is continuing to step up to the plate like he has a daughter on the way. Like he has a newborn baby girl. Even through the breakup, you all are making custody and visitation arrangements. But you know deep down there is another possible father. MILLER: Yes, Your Honor. Why wait so long to tell him? I told him the first time that we had our court dates. But the courts threw it out. Even before you tell anybody in court. What about just telling him? JUDGE LAKE: I wanna understand that. Why was it that you were keeping this information so close to your hip, until five, six months after Zaylie was born? The more she grew up, the more I started noticing more of her features, the more she started looking like the other guy. She looks exactly like I did when I was three years old. I have a picture of me when I was three and a picture of her from just the other day. JUDGE LAKE: Let me see that. Will you hand that to me, Jerome? Believe it or not, when I was three years old, I had blonde hair. JUDGE LAKE: So this is a picture of Zaylie on the left, and you, as a child, Mr. Rasmussen, on the right. That is correct, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And you say you see a distinct similarity. Yes, I do. Do you see it, Ms. Miller? MILLER: Mmm-mmm. I don't JUDGE LAKE: You don't? You feel like Zaylie looks like the other gentleman you were intimate with. Yes. Look our... We even have the same chin. I am just noticing that now. Our chin looks exactly the same. We have the same dimples. JUDGE LAKE: You are insisting that Mr. Rasmussen is not the child's father. And yet, you're receiving child support from Mr. Rasmussen. Have you petitioned the court to have Mr. Rasmussen taken off of child support? MILLER: I have told him a couple of times that if he would just sign her over to me then he wouldn't have to pay child support anymore. I'm not going to do that. If he would just... I'm not going to give up that easy. I'm fighting for what I know is mine. I know she is mine. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Rasmussen, what type of visitation do you have right now? RASMUSSEN: Right now it's, um, every other weekend. But I've had to jump through so many hoops to get to this point. At first it was that fly by night, just make a date whenever you want to and, you know, go from there. But obviously, that didn't work. And then, sometime after that, we started out where I had to sit with Ms. Miller and my daughter at a park for four hours, once a week, for four weeks. And then after that, I got her for four hours, once a week, for four weeks by myself without her involvement. And then after that, I got her for one overnight a week, for four weeks and then after those four weeks, then I got what I have now. How is your relationship with Zaylie? Oh, it's phenomenal. Um, every time I get her, we try to make the best I can out of it even if I don't have any money from having to put gas in the car and pay the child support and everything. I try to do as much as I can with her, whether it be something as little as going to the park or going fishing, or going to, you know, an amusement attraction. Every little memory at that age means more than anybody can possibly fathom. And I just try to make the absolute best out of what I can with what I have. So, Mr. Rasmussen, let me ask you, are you prepared, have you prepared yourself either way, if this child is my biological child or if she isn't? Have you thought about both alternatives? In a sense, yes, if it goes the way I am hoping and I know in my heart that it will, that she is mine, I'm just going to be overjoyed, that all the drama and fighting and all that kind of stuff is behind me. If it goes the other way, I don't think if I had all the time in the world, I could, you know, prepare myself for such a bombshell. I don't think I'd be able to prepare myself for just how devastating that would be. Not only me but my entire family. Jerome, I think it's time for the results. JEROME: Okay. Thank you. These results were prepared by DNA Diagnostics and they read as follows. I am fighting for what I know is mine. JUDGE LAKE: In the case of Miller v. Rasmussen, when it comes to three-year-old Zaylie Rasmussen, it has been determined by this court, Mr. Rasmussen, you... Are not the father. (MILLER EXCLAIMING) Ms. Miller. Be respectful. I'm sorry. JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Miller. I'm sorry. That's a lot of nerve, considering the alternative is somebody that don't want nothing to do with you or your child. MILLER: I'm sorry. That's a lot of nerve! You just showed me where your priorities were, right there. I'm sorry. Because I held out hope. That you weren't just acting a fool, because you so mad at him, 'cause he cheated on you, that you would cheat your child out of a father. But that cheering you did... What you cheering? I'm a single mother with nobody that loves me or my child! What are you cheering for? MILLER: I'm not. No, you were! He is over here breaking down because he loves this child so much. I sit here day after day after day with women hoping a man would drive 16 miles to see their baby, much less 160 miles each way. And abide by a court order and signed a birth certificate and come day after day and week after week so they can grow visitation to have a relationship with the child. And you have no compassion? For not just him but for Zaylie. She is three years old. JUDGE LAKE: Now, he is not just gonna be heartbroken, we gotta break this news to her! And you are all over here cheering like it's a sport. JUDGE LAKE: This is this baby's life. And I asked you, "Where is this other man?" "I don't know." And you know he don't want nothing to do with you. Sitting up there cheering! Mr. Rasmussen, I am so sorry. I know this hurt you. Thank you, Your Honor. RASMUSSEN: I don't know what I'm going to do. She's my whole world. Everything I do is for her. I... She was the reason I went to work every day. I know you have a bond with her. I feel like my whole world is in ruins now. Ms. Miller, I'm gonna say this to you before I adjourn court. JUDGE LAKE: Your child deserves to know who her father is. Whether or not that man wants to be in her life, physically present, and participate, he does have a legal obligation to help support her financially. It's important that you make this right. She'll one day ask, "Where is my father?" Every action you take from this point, will write the story that you will later have to tell her. I wish you the best of luck. We have counseling for you. Court is adjourned.