>> Judge Judy: Mr. Starks,
this is your former girlfriend,
according to your complaint,
and you say that she broke
your TV
on purpose during an argument.
Defendant says that, actually,
you pushed her into the TV,
and that's how it got broken.
So let's first find out
when this happened and where.
>> Well, it was my house.
Approximately,
it was in June 2017.
>> Judge Judy: You don't know
the exact date.
>> I don't know the exact date.
>> Judge Judy: Do you know
the exact date?
>> It was June 4th.
>> Judge Judy: And at the time
of the incident, were you and
the defendant living together,
or were you just dating?
>> No. No, Judge.
>> Judge Judy: This happened
in the evening.
>> Nighttime.
>> Judge Judy: What time?
>> 10:00-ish, 11:00.
>> Judge Judy: Was it the plan
for Miss Martin
to stay over that night?
>> Yes.
>> Judge Judy: Was it a weekend
of a weekday?
>> Weekend.
>> Judge Judy: Weekend?
>> It was a weekend.
>> Judge Judy: Great.
She seems to
remember it really well.
Why don't you tell me
what happened first?
>> Okay.
On this night, we went
out to a bar, came back in.
And on the way in, just the vibe
just began to turn at a negative
once we got in the house.
And I was trying to talk to her
and play with her a little bit,
and she was a lot standoffish,
and I just didn't understand
why.
So once I got to trying
to talk to her and everything,
she was kind of pushing me away,
and the air just was not right.
She just wasn't acting --
I just didn't understand
what was going on,
to be honest, so...
>> Judge Judy: Did you ask her?
>> I did, but she wasn't
even speaking.
She was just, like --
>> Judge Judy: Did he do
something at the bar?
>> No.
Actually, everything was fine.
We had went to a fast-food
restaurant, and I told him
not to eat this stuff 'cause
it messes with his stomach,
and he gets it anyway.
So I told him, "Don't come to me
when your stomach starts
hurting."
And we get on in the bar --
>> Judge Judy: And then you went
to a bar?
>> Yeah, we went to the bar
after the fast food place.
>> Judge Judy: What kind of fast
food doesn't agree with him?
>> Rally's.
He loves it, and it don't agree
with his stomach.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So you told him not to eat it,
and he didn't listen.
>> And he did it anyway.
>> Judge Judy: And he did it
anyway.
Then you went to the bar.
>> Then we went to the bar, and
after we had a couple drinks,
we was getting ready to leave.
And that's when he tells me
his stomach hurts,
so I ignore him because
I told him not to eat it.
So why would you even come to me
with your stomach?
So we get on in the car.
>> Judge Judy: [ Laughing ] I
got it.
I got it.
You said, "Your stomach hurts?
Keep it to yourself.
I told you not to eat it."
>> Pretty much.
"Don't tell me about it.
I told you not to eat it."
And from there,
we get on back to his house.
I go and sit on
his oversized chair.
He comes in.
He wants to sit on the
same chair that I'm sitting on.
He has multiple places
for him to sit.
I told him he can go sit
somewhere else.
He says, "This is my favorite
chair," so he sits down anyway.
You see how big his arms is.
He put his arm on me,
so I moved it off.
>> Judge Judy: Because you're
still annoyed about the food
and the fast food?
>> Yeah.
>> Judge Judy: Got it.
>> Yeah, because
that's where it started.
I had no issues at first.
We was fine.
>> Judge Judy: Go.
>> Okay.
For one thing, I eat Rally's
all the time.
That's my favorite.
So, my stomach,
that wasn't the deal.
>> Judge Judy: I know.
>> Okay. We past that.
>> Judge Judy: But
you didn't listen.
>> Right. Of course not.
I eat it all the time.
[ Laughter ]
But, you know, we came in.
Right. She sat on the chair.
Like I said, I was trying
to make her,
you know, feel better,
like, playing around.
That's what I do.
So I came over there,
wrapped my arms around her,
and, like, trying to kiss her
on the forehead and on the cheek
and, you know, playing around.
And she was still getting
a little piped up,
so I didn't understand
what was going on.
So from there, I stood up,
and she got
an attitude about --
I was asking her to leave.
So this is where the problem
ended up at.
>> Judge Judy: Okay.
So you didn't like her attitude,
so you said this and this
and "not tonight."
>> Right, I just wanted to break
it off for the night.
>> Judge Judy: Right.
>> So she has an attitude
whenever I ask her to leave,
even when she had her own place
and I was at her place,
whenever I wanted to leave.
It's, like, a power-control
thing that I can't deal with.
So when I asked her to leave,
she starts to get an attitude.
She stands up
'cause I threatened.
After a while, I threatened
to call the police on her.
>> Judge Judy: So it wasn't
just,
"I'd like you to leave,"
and she was annoyed.
>> No. This was a whole --
This was probably about
40 minutes in,
and she just kept
going and going.
>> Judge Judy: What was she
saying?
>> She was saying she wasn't
going to leave.
She wanted to talk about it.
Every time we talked about it,
it came around to the same
thing.
>> Judge Judy: To what?
>> About why we just can't talk
about it.
But we was past talking about it
if we've been talking about it
for like an hour
and wasn't getting anywhere.
>> Judge Judy: What were we
talking about -- the food?
>> Exactly.
I don't know what.
I didn't even know nothing
about the food.
I didn't even know that's why
she was tripping out.
Like, that's why I didn't
tell you that in the beginning
'cause I didn't even know
that was why she was
tripping out in the beginning.
>> You had an attitude first.
>> I didn't know nothing
about the food.
I didn't know that's why
she was upset.
Like I told you in the
beginning,
I didn't know why she was upset.