"Paternity Court" features Judge Lauren Lake. She resides over cases of disputed paternity. She's stern and will call out B.S. But Judge Lake can just as easily express delight over the image of a smiling baby. And it's always a tearful moment when fathers receive positive paternity results!
I watched an episode called "Miller v. Rasmussen" this morning that completely went in the wrong direction. Tiffani Miller was disputing that Scotty Rasmussen was the father of their 3-year-old daughter.
We learned that she broke off their engagement years ago after learning that he had cheated on her with another woman. They tried making a go of things again after she learned that she was pregnant. Mr. Rasmussen was there for her during the pregnancy. He actually beat her to the hospital when she went into labor. He regularly pays child support. Not only does he visit his daughter every other weekend, but he travels more than 100 miles each direction to make it to the visits.
A few months ago, Ms. Miller started piecing together some social media information and decided that another man is actually their daughter's biological father. She wanted a paternity test to prove that Mr. Rasmussen is not the child's father -- even though the other man wants nothing to do with her or the little girl.
Ms. Miller claimed that he wanted to maintain paternity so that he could claim the right to file for income tax deductions -- which made no sense to anyone else in the room. Amy tax money that he successfully deducted from his taxes for his daughter was easily spent on child support and travel expenses.
But she insisted -- and we learned that Mr. Rasmussen is indeed not the father of this young child. The room sat in stunned silence and he quickly broke into tears. Meanwhile, Ms. Miller began cheering and dancing.
And Judge Lake was livid. "That's a lot of nerve considering the alternative is something that don't want nothing to do with you or your child!"
Ms. Miller: "I'm sorry."
Judge Lake: "That's a lot of nerve! You just showed me where your priorities were, right there. Because I held out hope that you weren't just acting a fool, because you're so made at him because 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 more my child!' What are you cheering for??"
Ms. Miller: "I'm not!"
Judge Lake: "Yes you were! He is over here breaking down because he loves this child so much. I sit here day after 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 your daughter. She is three years old. Now he's not just going to be heartbroken. We gotta break the news to her! And you are all over here cheering like it's a sport. This is this baby's life! And I ask you, 'Where is this other man?''I don't know.' And you know that he don't want nothing to do with you."
This was honestly one of the most painful episodes of "Paternity Court" that I've ever watched. I'm sure that there's more to this story, but Ms. Miller's demeanor throughout the hearing was selfish and immature. And it's close to impossible to not feel sorry for Mr. Rasmussen and that little girl. I'm sure that Ms. Miller felt better with her brief moment of vindication, but she's just made everything so much worse for herself -- and especially for her little girl.
You can watch the entire episode here.