Jerry Jones’ trial: Cynthia Davis’ emotional testimony

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones arrived at court in Texarkana on Monday for a lawsuit against Alexandra Davis, the 27-year-old woman who claims to be his daughter and her mother, Cynthia Davis. The legal battle between Jones and the Davises has been going on for two years.

At the time that the alleged affair between Jones and Cynthia occurred, both of them were married to other people. In Alexandra’s original lawsuit, filed in 2022, she claimed that Jones “pursued” her mother. The two signed a settlement agreement in 1998 when Alexandra was nearly two years old which said Jones would pay Cynthia $375,000 plus monthly lump sums for Alexandra, “annual and special funding” payments until the age of 21, and then lump sum payments at the ages of 24, 26, and 28 thereafter. In exchange, they would keep Jones’ paternity confidential and would be prohibited from seeking paternity.

“If Mother or Child, or any person on behalf of Child, brings or commences any kind of legal proceeding seeking to establish the paternity of Child . . . , Putative Father may, in his sole discretion, elect to terminate the Agreement and the Funding Trust and the Distribution Trust, or either of them, and enforce any and all remedies available to him at law or in equity. A breach of this provision shall be considered a breach of the entire Agreement.”

When Alexandra filed the paternity lawsuit, asking the judge to void the contract, Jones’ lawyers said she was attempting monetary extortion. Davis later dropped the case and sought a paternity test, which a judge later ordered Jones to take. The defamation lawsuit, which sought a multimillion-dollar payout, was dismissed, and the paternity test has been put off, as Jones filed a countersuit, which is what they are now debating in trial.

Jones claims that the Davises breached the contract. He says he held up his end of the bargain, paying more than $3 million to the Davises over the years. He is also seeking $1.6 million to pay for his legal expenses.

What happened on day 1 of the Jerry Jones trial?

On Monday, Jones and the Davises arrived to the courthouse early in the morning in what began a long, emotional day. Cynthia broke down crying several times during her testimony, with the judge pausing for a break at one point when she was too emotional to continue.

Jones spent most of the day with his back turned to Alexandra. In the opening statements, his attorney Chip Babcock argued that Jones did his part to hold up the contract they both agreed to. He made the point that Cynthia was also married at the time and willing to keep the affair a secret. However, she was separated from her husband when the affair happened and divorced after Alexandra was born. As part of the divorce trial, a paternity test proved that Davis’ husband was not Alexandra’s father.

In his opening statement, Davis’ attorney Jay Gray argued that Jones actually violated the agreement first. Cynthia testified that Jones had acknowledged Alexandra as his daughter on multiple occasions in the past. She said that in 2019, she and a friend ran into Jones at a Christmas party at the Cowboys Club and he told her friend he had two daughters, Charlotte Jones and Alexandra Davis, and he loved them both the same. However, she never confronted Jones about the breach

In 2017, just one month before Alexandra’s 21st birthday when the monthly payments were scheduled to stop, Cynthia gave a letter to Jones’ attorney Donald Jack asking to speak with Jones. In it, Alexandra requested $20 million from Jones to be out of his life completely. Cynthia said that Alexandra was upset at the time.

“[Jones] knows he’s the father,” said Gray (Alexandra’s attorney). “Now he’s being vindictive because his ‘real family’ has been hurt. Mr. Jones is a bully, and he’s bullying his daughter in this lawsuit. We don’t have to help him be a bully.”

Gray also said that a two-year-old should not be asked to keep her father’s identity a secret. During the trial’s recess, when Cynthia was too emotional to carry on, Jones gave her a long hug and motioned to Alexandra to come over as well, but she refused. She and Jones are both expected to testify during the trial, which continues today starting at 9 a.m.