Story Archive

Not His Default

The kid isn’t Carnell Alexander’s — a DNA test proved it. And whoever got served in the paternity case against him, that wasn’t Carnell Alexander either: when the process server went to a house in Highland Park, the state of Michigan says Alexander was elsewhere. The state should know: “elsewhere” was a state prison. Nevertheless, Alexander lost the paternity case because, being in prison and not having heard of the matter, he didn’t turn up to contest it. The case began in the 1980s, when an ex filing for welfare listed him as her child’s father, and Alexander has been fighting it since he heard about it. The state says he owes more than $30,000 to reimburse it for benefits paid for “his” child. He refuses to pay, not to mention he’s “almost homeless” anyway. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but once attorney Cherika Harris saw a TV news report on the case and got involved, a judge decided to let him stay out of jail while she takes a shot at getting him off the hook. (AC/WXYZ Detroit) ...If it was all the state’s mistake, maybe the state should go to jail instead.