This is Couples Court With the Cutlers.
We are here for the case of Ross-Bennett versus Chappell.
You all have been together three years
Yes, Judge.
DANA: Y'all met at a gas station.
Yes, your Honor.
Yes, your Honor.
And I wanna know why you have brought your significant other to court today.
Well, your Honor, I'm here today because
I'm five months pregnant with our third child.
And I'm actually trying to see
if he's actually continually cheating with his ex right now.
I need to know.
All right, Mr. Chappell,
you hear what she's saying about you. Are you cheating?
No, your Honor and today I'm here to prove
(STAMMERS) I'm not cheating on her, I do
really love my family and want my family.
Mrs. Ross-Bennett, what do you want this court to do?
I just need to know the truth.
If he's still cheating so I can move on with my life.
And honestly, if he is I'm just done,
'cause I'm tired of going over the same things over and over again.
So, what would be the last straw for you?
If his lie detector test come that he's lying,
that's the last straw.
And so everything is at risk.
(CROWD CLAPPING)
BENNETT: That's the last straw.
KEITH: So, Mr. Chappell, do you want this to work?
Yes, your Honor.
Okay, but what does she mean to you?
She means everything. That's my best friend
I don't have nobody but her.
Honestly, it's just this bond we got.
I'm not gonna lie to y'all...
DANA: Look at that grin.
BENNETT: It's a bond we got, and...
Honestly, I ain't really cared about nobody else like I care about him.
KEITH: All right, Mr. Chappell,
You wanna prove to her that you are not cheating.
Yes, your Honor.
I been clean of cheating and all that for a year now, you Honor.
KEITH: For a year?
Yes, your Honor.
But you don't believe it. I'm looking at the look on your face like...
(GIGGLES) No, your Honor, I don't believe it at all.
So, what happened in the past?
Well, in the past, he actually...
The first thing in the past,
he told me the car he was driving was his family member's car
and it was a woman's car the whole time, so...
(CROWD GASPS)
All right, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Tell me about how's he driving a car
and telling you it's somebody else's.
We actually got into a argument when I was pregnant.
I had just found out I was pregnant with our first child.
We got into an argument, my hormones were all over,
and I told him, I'm like, "Get out, don't come back."
But I didn't mean it, and next thing I know,
a week later, his family's calling me like,
"Uh, yeah, he has a new woman," and that's when I'm like, "Okay."
So, when his family is calling you saying he's got somebody new,
and you pregnant with his child.
Yes.
How are you feeling about that?
Honestly, I was stressed out, depressed, hurt,
like, I was there in the whole pregnancy by myself.
Like, nobody was there but my family.
Like, he came towards the end of my pregnancy.
DANA: So, what happened with his car?
The car... He came over
and he came to pick me up to take me to get something to eat.
We're in the car,
he went into the gas station first, 'cause we had to get gas.
And then while he go out of the car, I'm in there doing an investigation.
And I open the glove compartment, there's a box of Magnum condoms,
like not a little box, not the three in a pack.
It's a big box of Magnum condoms,
like you needed for a month or two supply.
Whose car was he saying? Was he saying it was his car?
No, he said it was his family car.
Mr. Chappell, whose car was it?
Your Honor, (STAMMERS) it was a family member's car.
It wasn't my condoms or anything that she found in the car.
Okay, well, Mrs Ross-Bennett, I mean it makes sense.
It's not his car, so anything you find in there probably doesn't belong to him.
Why do you think that is an indication that he's cheating?
'Cause that wasn't the only time I found something in the car.
I went back when he came and took me to the OB appointment.
I found the perfume, the mail with her name on there like...
Your Honor, can I object?
It was more evidence suggests, it clarified that it wasn't a family member's car.
So, I...
Well, whose car was this?
It's a woman's car.
(CROWD GASPING)
How did you find this out?
Well, one time he was by my house
and his family member was over there.
The family member showed me the password to his phone
and he did not know of it.
And like, that night he went to sleep, I got up.
I'm going to the bathroom and I took the phone with me.
And I went through it. And I seen him tell her,
"Drive safe, hon," and I'm like,
"Drive safe?" Oh, that was already answered enough questions.
DANA: Hold, hold up.
How did you know she owned the car though?
Well, actually when I got the information, I took the license plate,
and I actually put it in,
uh, it's like a thing, you go online and look up who the vehicle owner is.
Yeah, yeah.
(BENNETT LAUGHS)
So, you just the regular Sherlock Holmes.
As a woman, I'm not gonna sit around and look like nobody's fool.
So, I did my own investigation and it all added up.
And I'm gonna presume, this woman is not his relative.
BENNETT: No, it's not his relative.
(CROWD LAUGHING)
Oh!
CHAPPELL: Your Honor...
Okay, Mr. Chappell, what do you have to say about all this?
What I could say?
Does she have proof that it was a woman's car?
Is there pictures or any of this sayin' it was a woman's car?
Okay, the car is registered to a woman. I think that's what she found out.
(STAMMERS) Well, that's what she says.
Well, you told her it was a family member's car, right?
It wasn't a family member's car.
(STAMMERS) Your Honor, it's a families member car.
That...
KEITH: Okay, Mr. Chappell,
you're in court, you're under oath,
you're supposed to tell the truth.
Now, this car wasn't a family member's car, was it?
(STAMMERING) Your Honor, that's what I told her in the beginning.
That it was a families member car, until I got the picture
of the condom box.
The perfume, I don't, I don't know what she's talking about.
All right, Mr. Chappell, you've taken this car.
You've driven all the way around the block,
and you still haven't answered my question.
So park it. Park the car and just answer my question.
This was not a family member's car, was it?
Yes, your Honor, it was a families member's car.
Who is this woman?
Do you know her?
Your Honor, How, how...
DANA: Answer my question.
Yes, your Honor.
DANA: You know her?
Yes, your Honor.
How do you know this woman?
(STAMMERS) She's a friend, your Honor.
Wink, wink.
KEITH: What kind of friend?
DANA: So, she's not a family member?
(STAMMERS) No, no, your Honor.
Why did you tell your girlfriend
it was a family member's car?
Because the way Ashley will react about the situation.
If she would have knew right then and there,
it wouldn't been a good situation.
It ain't a good situation now.
Because... (LAUGHS)
(CROWD LAUGHING)
You right.
Were you intimate with her?
No, not at the time, your Honor.
KEITH: Not at the time?
What time were you intimate with her?
She's saying we didn't break up.
We didn't
But from "Get out and don't come back."
I'll tell you this, I'ma leave and don't come back.
I'm here to prove (STAMMERS) I'm not cheating on her, I do
really love my family and want my family.
Okay Mrs. Ross-Bennett, did you tell him, "Get out and don't come back?"
I mean I didn't say don't come back. I just said get out.
I didn't say, "Oh, don't come back."
like, I said just get out 'cause we was arguing.
It was going back and forth, so I just said get out, like...
She never said come back, she said "Get out and don't come back."
DANA: All right, let me make sure I got this story.
You tell him get out.
He calls a friend.
Lets you use her car,
and I think you have hinted,
that you all had sex, after you got out.
Is that true?
Two months later.
So, did you continue to have interactions with this woman?
(STAMMERS) We was friends for the two months,
once Ashley put me out in March, that's when I met the girl.
Okay, so you met her after you got put out.
Yes.
And two months
after meeting her, y'all hooked up.
Correct.
BENNETT: No.
Okay, so, after all this, y'all managed to get back together.
We had a baby together, I was trying to make it work.
I feel like, oh, he could change, he could change.
It felt like he changed for a while, some months.
Like months, you know? And then I had my son.
Everything was okay and then I found out I had postpartum.
And then here he go, he gone again.
Like he just can't stay around when you need him.
He just around, you know, when he want to be around.
What makes you believe he's cheating now?
Oh, I've seen it this year now, like,
writing women on dating sites.
Okay, what is this about dating sites?
(STAMMERS) Your Honor, I'm not having sexual contact with no woman.
That's hard to believe.
(CROWD GASPING)
Why do you believe he's cheating now?
Okay, so we got into a little argument like always.
Any couple gonna argue, but he run from his situation.
He don't know how to communicate, like it's a communication problem
and he's just, "Okay, I'm gone."
Where did he tell you he was going?
He told me that wasn't my business, So I don't know.
KEITH: All right, so, Mr. Chappell where did you go?
Everywhere, your Honor.
(CROWD LAUGHING)
KEITH: Okay.
Hanging out with friends?
Yeah, pretty much, I went away with no women.
If you asked her where she was going and she told you none of your business,
what would you think?
She was probably with somebody.
DANA: Okay.
So you not helping, you not helping your argument.
But he said he was hanging out with his buddies.
I know what he said, and I also heard what he said to his wife.
And what he said to her was,
"None of your business."
But he's allowed to hang with his buddies, right?
Don't do that, don't even try.
He's allowed to hang out with his buddies, right?
That's a yes or no question.
BENNETT: I can't, so...
(LAUGHS)
KEITH: It depends on how you came at him, but you know, I get that.
So, you said something about dating sites.
Yes, he's always on 'em.
Why do you believe
he's on dating sites or using dating apps?
Well, we were supposed to go out to dinner. We did go out to dinner,
but when he came home he had a attitude like he didn't want to go.
We had planned it for like three days prior to us going out to dinner with the family.
We get there, we eat, I left it alone.
I see his phone steady going off,
but you know, he turned it on silent,
so I wouldn't hear it anymore, and then he put it in his pocket.
And after we left dinner, we got home.
He went to the restroom but he left the phone on the bed.
And when I seen it on the bed I'm like, "Okay."
She's stupid.
A woman, you know, I'm gonna go through it.
So, I went through it, I picked it up, I go through it
and I see her calling as I went through.
She wasn't just calling like trying to talk, she was trying to Facetime him.
So, I see the texts and I text her back.
I said, "Who is this?" and she was like, "Oh, really, so now you don't know who I am?
"Okay then, bye."
(STAMMERS) But, your Honor...
That, that, that...
I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I really was.
Who is this woman? Did you meet her on a dating site?
Yes, your Honor.
What's her relationship to you?
There is no relationship. It was only a one day thing.
But they Facetiming at work. He got work, but he's Facetiming her.
So it was something.
(STAMMERS) That's all it was, conversation.
But why is this woman saying to his girlfriend,
"You don't know who I am?"
That indicates that there's been more than one day of conversation.
My, god. Thank you, thank you. My point exactly.
And next thing I know, he was texting the ex too.
So, this is also recent that he's been texting with his ex?
Yes, yes, her boyfriend or whatever, he reached me
on Facebook and was telling me how
they got into it when he was there,
and how he's still contacting her, and...
What contact are you having with this ex?
(STAMMERS) Your Honor, there is no contact,
over the year of May 2016,
me and that girl haven't contacted each other, no sexual contact, nothing.
Hmm.
No, no,
no email, no Facetime, no Facebook?
I'm on phone punishment, your Honor.
KEITH: You're on phone punishment?
Yeah.
Okay, so...
(LAUGHS)
And so, what is phone punishment?
Phone punishment, it goes back from the last incident
in February she said, "Since you wanted to do this, I'ma take the phone,"
that's why I have no phone today.
Did you see that? Homegirl slapped it down.
She's not having that. There'll be none of that.
I'm not gonna help him talk to the women.
If he gonna do it, he better go out there and do it himself.
All right, to get to the bottom of this
the court has engaged the services of license private investigator, Eric Echols.
Ron, would you please escort Mr. Echols into the courtroom?
RON: Yes, your Honor.
(CROWD CLAPPING)
Mr. Echols, how are you doing today?
Fine, your Honors. How you doing?
Doing good, it's good to see you.
How are you?
In connection with this case, what did you do in your investigation?
Well, I went under cover and I posed as a litigant.
And that I was being accused as a person who was cheating on his spouse.
DANA: Ah!
(CROWD MURMURS)
All right, so, in this case, what did you uncover?
We started engaging in a conversation about the nature of his relationship
with someone he had met on a internet site.
(RECORDING PLAYS)
So basically, he said he never touched the girl. Is that correct?
Actually, in this video clip, he did say that he never,
in his terms, "Smashed her."
(LAUGHS)
(CROWD LAUGHING)
DANA: And you believe him?
At this particular time, yes I did.
DANA: Okay, what else happened?
Well, now myself and Mr. Chappell are getting a little more comfortable.
And I started talking to him in reference to texting his ex-girlfriend.
DANA: Okay.
(RECORDING PLAYS)
Okay, so by revealing this, he denied texting his girlfriend.
DANA: And you...
And at this time, I still believe him.
So did you find anything incriminating?
ERIC: Well, I tell you, your Honor,
At one point I was believing everything that he was telling me.
And then I started talking to him
about a situation where he went out a couple of nights ago.
(CROWD GASPING)
And at this point I was surprised by his response.
All right, let's see the tape.
(RECORDING PLAYS)
(STAMMERS) Your Honor, it was no woman.
You did with another woman.
DANA: It was on tape!
Are you telling me to believe you and not believe what I just saw?
Your Honor, you can believe me.
I am, you just said, "I was with another girl."
I was just out, your Honor.
But was you with a woman though? That's what she said, did you hear her?
It's all different types of women in the world.
Oh, okay.
Mr. Chappell...
Look, we ain't asking you about the types of women.
I'm asking you...
No, it wasn't no "Let's hang out" or any of this, just me and her,
or any of that. I was out riding, being honest.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Mr. Echols, did he give you any more information?
Well, no he didn't, but what I found
he does something that I call diverted denials.
In other words, he tries to take you around and around and around
until you get to the right spot.
I am so tired of that circle. He'd better have another...
That's something that he does, and you have to
really zero in to give him a specific question.
And that's what I determined. But I couldn't determine
through that, um, interview process that he was actually having sex
with any other individuals.
But I did find him questionable.
To further get to the bottom of this.
The court has ordered a polygraph test of Mr. Chappell
and we have the results.
Mr. Chappell...
KEITH: The court would like to call former special FBI agent, Kendall Shull.
Ron, would you please escort Mr. Shull into the courtroom?
RON: Yes, your Honor.
(CROWD CLAPPING)
Mr. Shull, we need you today.
(LAUGHS) Do you?
Have a seat.
KEITH: Thank you for being here.
You're welcome.
You performed a polygraph examination of Mr. Chappell. Is that correct?
I did, your Honor.
KEITH: You asked Mr. Chappell,
"Did you have sexual contact with a girl you were communicating with
"from the dating site?"
What was his response to that question?
SHULL: His response was, "No."
What did the lie detector determine?
The lie detector determined
that he was truthful.
(CROWD CLAPPING)
Don't clap yet, now. It ain't over.
Mrs Ross-Bennett, you're not convinced?
Don't clap yet.
No.
DANA: All right, well we have
one last question.
Okay.
You asked Mr. Chappell,
"Have you had sexual contact with you ex
"since May of 2016?"
What was Mr. Chappell's response?
His response was, "No."
What did the lie detector determine?
The lie detector determined
that he was truthful.
There it is!
(CROWD CLAPPING)
I don't, like, I really don't, like...
You literally stayed out all night with women
when your kids at home and I'm pregnant.
But you out with women. No, I'm done.
Well, It sounds like you've made a decision.
He would stay out all night, like, that's just crazy. (SNIFFS)
We have resources with this court,
to help you figure out how to move forward with your life,
whether it's with him or without him.
DANA: And I would say to both of you,
do not cheat yourself out of an opportunity
to have a healthy, happy, relationship.
Court is adjourned.
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