Judge William Adams brutally beats daughter for using computer (video)

Disabled daughter explains why she leaked horrific video of family judge beating her: 'I'm feeling some regret because to ruin my own father is heavy indeed. But I really want him to seek help'
By Daniel Miller and Louise Boyle
Last updated at 8:15 AM on 3rd November 2011




A disabled woman who filmed her family law judge father beating her with a leather belt while she was a teenager revealed last night that she wanted to help him despite admitting that she may have ruined his reputation.

Hillary Adams, took revenge on her father, Court-at-Law Judge William Adams from Aransas County, Texas, saying: 'It had happened before, and had been escalating. I set up a camera, and I caught it.'

Mr Adams faces a police investigation after his daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, posted the secretly-filmed video of the beating on YouTube.

Police Chief Tim Jayroe, of Rockport, Texas, said yesterday that the probe was launched after members of the public contacted them after the film swept the Internet.

Taken in 2004 when the girl was 16, Miss Adams, now 22, decided last week to make it public by uploading it onto the internet.

It was later posted on the social news aggregate website Reddit.

Miss Adams, speaking to a local TV network yesterday, said she decided now was the time because she was tired of being harassed by her father.

She said: 'My father's harassment was getting really bad, so I decided to finally publish the video that I had been sitting on for seven years.

But yesterday Miss Adams said via Twitter she was sorry she had posted the video.

She tweeted: 'I'm feeling some regret for publishing the video because to ruin my own father is heavy indeed.

'But I really want him to seek help.'

But after being shown the video Judge Adams responded to the tape claiming: 'it's not as bad as it looks.'

He said: 'It happened years ago.. I apologized. It's not as bad as it looks on tape.'

As a result of the furore, the video was being examined by the District Attorney and previous controversial judgements Judge Adams made in cases involving children have come to light.

In a court judgement last October, Judge Adams said that a child's statements 'amounted to no evidence' despite the fact his words had been confirmed by third party witnesses and recorded on video several times. The young person had also been interviewed by a child psychologist who believed the child.

And on another occasion Judge Adams is said to have agreed with a lawyer who claimed all children are 'fantasizers' and their testimony should just be ignored.

The video, called 'Family law judge beats own daughter for using the internet, please spread', shows the motive for the attack was because Miss Adams had been caught downloading music to the computer in her bedroom.

In the footage Judge Adams can be seen delivering around ten powerful strikes across his daughter's legs and backside, his wife then grabs the belt from him to take over, at which point he walks out only to return moments later with another belt so he can continue the beating.

On the seven-minute long clip, as his daughter begs him to stop he can be heard snarling: 'Bend over the f***ing bed.

'Lay down or I'll spank you in the F***ing face.'

In total the girl receives 20 hard lashes from her father and one from her mother.

She screams: 'You turn over like a 16-year-old and take it like a grown woman.'

As she lies crying on her bed he shouts: 'Do you want to put some more computer games on? Are you happy disobeying your parents?

'You don't deserve to be in this f***ing house. What happened to you Hillary?'

'If I hear so much as you raising your f***ing voice to me or your mother with the wrong tone or do one little thing or you look at me f***ing wrong, I'm going to wear your f***ing a** out with this belt.'

The shocking footage appears to have been filmed on a webcam set up in the bedroom and dates from 2004 but only became public last week on October 27.

It gained speed yesterday with the video trending on Twitter and being viewed 600,000 times on YouTube. A Facebook page entitled Don't Re-Elect Judge William Adams was set up yesterday and already has 6,000 followers.

The 23-year-old added that she decided to post the footage - which she'd been 'holding onto until the right time' - after receiving 'a barrage of harassment' in a phone call from her father.

From her Twitter account, she tweeted: 'Please spread the word that my father needs professional help and not hatred. We can offer him the tools to be a better person.

'It is my wish that people stop threatening my father and start offering professional help. That is what he really needs.'

Calls to Judge Adams' office in Texas went unanswered.

However his senior colleague County Judge C.H. 'Burts' Mills told MailOnline that Judge Adams was not currently at work and had not presided over any trials this week.

Judge Mills said he had seen the video footage and had 'no comment' to make on the film but that it had been turned over to the District Attorney and was being 'reviewed'.

The police department confirmed it would be making an announcement shortly.

Miss Adams, who has suffered from cerebral palsy from birth, said her condition causes problems including difficulty with balance, shaky movements of hands or feet, and difficulty with speech.

The victim, who has a passion for technology, is believed to have illegally downloaded a video game as well as music.

The video has incited fury on twitter with dozens posting their disgust.

@Johnny_Ads wrote: oh my god. what a disgusting video. im shocked. poor girl - what repulsive parents. Shame on them.

And @eschaton added: I hope this exposure gets him sent to prison for a good, long time.

Before the identity of the man in the video was known several people took to the internet to name and shame the Judge.

One post from a J. Andre Bardin, who claims to be one of Hillary's friends, reads: 'I know in the article you say you cannot confirm the man in the video is him, but I can. It's him.

'That's his voice, that's his mannerisms, and that is his house.'

Judge Adam's wife, who is seen in the video delivering a single blow to her daughter, is said to have left the marriage after suffering emotional abuse.

She has apparently apologised for taking part in the beating and allowing it to happen.

RedBedroom wrote:I saw this on the Today Show and thought it was all very sad. The punishment that girl received for downloading from the Internet was too harsh. Her mom did partake and apparently the whole household was highly dysfunctional. It is outside the statute of limitations, so likely nothing will be done.

Federal prosecutors said Friday they would not charge a Texas judge seen lashing his teenage daughter with a belt on a video posted online, closing the door on the possibility of criminal charges in the case.

Angela Dodge, a U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman, said prosecutors determined there was no federal crime depicted on the 2004 video of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams. The decision came a day after the local district attorney decided the statute of limitations blocked any state charges.

Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe said he had discussed video of Adams beating his then 16-year-old daughter with a prosecutor from the U.S. attorney's Corpus Christi office Friday morning.

"There was nothing that we discussed briefly this morning that to him would indicate there could be any federal involvement, but that he had seen the video and they would look into it," Jayroe said.

Hillary Adams, now 23, posted the 8-minute clip on YouTube last week that shows her father viciously lashing her with a belt and trying to force her to bend over her bed to be beaten despite her pleas to stop. The clip had received more than 4 million views by Friday.

Aransas County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan said Thursday the statute of limitations on charges such as injury to a child expired after five years.

"I would expect that yeah, charges would have been pursued but for the inability to proceed due to the statute of limitations," Flanigan said Friday. "You know, whether that would have been a felony or a misdemeanor charge I can't say but I think there would've been some action pursued."

County Attorney Richard Bianchi, meanwhile, said a visiting judge would handle all Adams' cases, not just those involving the state's child protective services as originally planned, for the next two weeks. Adams often presides over child abuse cases.

"Now the issue is to wait on the actions of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct," Bianchi said, referring to a state panel investigating the judge. Bianchi said he'd be "surprised" if Adams, 51, returned to the bench before the commission concludes its investigation.

Adams issued a three-page statement Thursday saying his daughter posted the clip to get back at him for telling her he would be reducing the amount of financial support he gives her and taking away her Mercedes. The statement did not include an apology for the beating, but he told Corpus Christi television station KZTV this week that the video "looks worse than it is," that he already had apologized to his daughter and that he was just disciplining his child for stealing.

Hillary Adams says her parents were angry because she had downloaded pirated content online, and that she turned on the camera because she sensed something was going to happen.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which requested that he be removed from its cases until the investigation concludes, is also investigating the case.

Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins has declined to elaborate on the exact nature of that investigation, but he said the agency generally would only investigate a case in which a suspected abuse victim has already reached adulthood if there are still children in the home who could be at risk.

Adams was granted joint custody of his 10-year-old daughter in his 2007 divorce. There are no allegations of alleged abuse by Adams against his younger daughter.

In his statement Thursday, Adams said he would "respond" to all investigations. As Aransas County's top judge, he has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking determine whether parents were fit to raise their children.

If the judicial commission investigation doesn't lead to punishment, Adams could be safe on the bench until he's up for re-election in three years.

Impact wrote:Someone should do the very same thing to him.