Opinion ID: 2165640
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: A.E.'s BIRTH AND PATERNITY TESTS

Text: While a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Buckhalter had a sexual relationship with Jennifer Brown. In 1999, Brown gave birth to A.E. Buckhalter currently plays professional football for the Philadelphia Eagles. Brown had sexual relationships with three men about the time A.E. was conceived, including Buckhalter. The other two men took paternity tests through the State, which excluded both of them as being A.E.'s father. In April 2004, Buckhalter and Brown arranged for private genetic testing to determine if Buckhalter was the father. The test purported to exclude him as the father. The record, however, fails to show how Buckhalter's DNA sample was taken, and no fingerprint or photographic evidence authenticated that the DNA sample tested was Buckhalter's. Despite the test results, Brown still believed that Buckhalter was A.E.'s father because, according to her, no one else could have been the father. She testified that Buckhalter continued to acknowledge that A.E. is his child after the test results. Brown testified that she and Buckhalter agree that A.E. looks like Buckhalter. Buckhalter has sent A.E. gifts, including shoes, clothes, and Philadelphia Eagles merchandise; he regularly speaks to him on the telephone; and he has offered to pay child support in the past.