Judge won't face charges in videotaped beating

McALLEN, Texas - A Texas family law judge whose daughter secretly videotaped him savagely beating her seven years ago won't face criminal charges because too much time has elapsed, police said Thursday.

Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams likely would have been charged with causing injury to a child or other assault-related offenses for the 2004 beating of his then-16-year-old daughter, but the five-year statutes of limitations expired, Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe said.

"We believe that there was a criminal offense involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances ... a charge could have been made," Jayroe said. He said the district attorney determined he couldn't bring charges, and that police would discuss the case with federal prosecutors even though he doesn't believe federal charges would apply.

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 wails and pleas to stop. The clip had received more than 2.4 million hits as of Thursday, and police began investigating Wednesday after hearing from concerned citizens.

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William Adams, 51, 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 on Wednesday that the video "looks worse than it is," that he had already 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.

William Adams, who presides over child abuse cases, is still being investigated by the state's judicial conduct commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which on Thursday requested that he be removed from its cases until the investigation concludes.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the agency, declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the investigation. But he said that in general, the agency 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, who primarily resides with her mother, Hallie Adams. Crimmins declined to say whether his agency is investigating the parental fitness of Hallie Adams, who lashed Hillary once during the 2004 beating.

Crimmins said his agency ordinarily wouldn't disclose that it is investigating someone, but that it did in this case because the investigation is the reason it requested that William Adams be taken off its cases.

Jayroe said that police did not interview the younger daughter, but asked both Hallie and Hillary Adams about it and there was no indication of abuse of the 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.

County officials confirmed that Adams will not hear cases related to Child Protective Services for at least the next two weeks. And the top administrator in Aransas County cast doubt on whether Adams could credibly return to the bench.

"I would think it would be very difficult," said Aransas County Judge C.H. "Burt" Mills Jr. "Personally I don't see how he can recover from this."

If the judicial commission and police investigations don't lead to punishment or charges, Adams could be safe on the bench until he's up for re-election in three years.

Hillary Adams said she waited so long to expose her father because she was terrified at what might have happened had she done so while still living under his roof. She said the outpouring of support and encouragement she's received since posting the clip is tempered by the sadness that it's her father repeatedly lashing her with a belt and threatening to beat her "into submission."

During an interview with her mother Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, Hillary Adams said her father regularly beat her for a period of time. has repeatedly said she didn't post the clip to spite her father, and that she hopes it forces him to seek help.

Her mother blamed her ex-husband's bouts of violence on an "addiction." She called it a "family secret," but declined to elaborate.

In his statement, though, William Adams painted a starkly different picture of why his daughter posted the clip.

"Just prior to the YouTube upload, a concerned father shared with his 23-year-old daughter that he was unwilling to continue to work hard and be her primary source of financial support, if she was going to simply `drop out,' and strive to achieve no more in life than to work part time at a video game store," Adams' statement said. "Hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support, and took away her Mercedes automobile, which her father had provided, he would live to regret it."

Hillary Adams did not immediately respond to email requests Thursday seeking a response.

[PDeverit]

We often hear from those who fight to uphold this practice for those under the age of 18 (even to the blaming of the social maladies of the day on a supposed "lack" of it), but we rarely, if ever, find advocates for the return of corporal punishment to the general adult community, college campuses, inmate population, or military. Why is that?

Ask ten unyielding proponents of child/adolescent/teenage-only "spanking" about the "right" way to do it, and what would be abusive, indecent, or obscene, and you will get ten different answers.

These proponents should consider making their own video-recording of the "right way" to do it.

Visit Unlimited Justice or Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education to learn more and add your voice.

[stn_sage]

In the light of what we've seen and know of Mr. Adam's behavior,
in the use of violence to "discipline" his daughter (criminal assault), if authorities allow him to return to the bench
and rule in ANY cases involving the public, it's tantamount
to saying, we have a judge of questionable mental stability
who may be assigned to rule on important life matters concerning
you, and he's going back to work!
I'm sure, most members of the public DON'T want to hear this!
And, I'm equally sure, MOST Texans don't want him ruling on
any matters pertaining to THEIR lives, either!
So, put him in charge of doing paperwork or something for the
next three years, until the public can officially replace him!

[Turbidite]

Rule or lead by fear or rule by reason. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao Tse Tung and Kim Il Sung chose the former. Christ, Ghandi, Mandela and Buddha. It's your choice, which would you prefer to live under?

[julianpenrod]

Effectively, a statute of limitations then decrees that, even though there is proof of a crime, even though the effects of that crime continue and assail the grievant, the crime, essentially never took place. Revisionist history has a long tradtion in the West as a tool of the influential and corrupt assaulting those who do not have that influence! No wonder "history" has become nothing more than a political tool of attempted mind control for the New World Order, along with the related topic of corporate controlled "news"
There are a number of interesting points that can be uncovered in looking into "statutes of limitations". Among other things, "statute of limitations" is not a Constitutional issue! Therre is no establishing of statutes of limitations in the Constitution! It is left to the "prerogative" of the states, meaning the deals politicos cut with corporate thugs who know they eventually will run afoul of the law in a massive way! In state statutes of limitations, 2 years, 6 years and 10 years are the most common periods, with 4 years running a close second. In just about every state, business dealings have longer statutes of limitations than even cases of physical assault, basically because corporations want to have as much flexibility as possible in filing frivolous suits against other corporations. And, while promissory note statutes can be as long as 10 years on average across the country, almost universally, wrongful death has a statute of limitations of only 2 or 3 years!

[Ohio111]

Is there any way to encourage Texas to secede from the Union? With a few exceptions (Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, etc.), the state appears to be full of idiots and perverts. Please take your beatin' judges, Rick Perry, Jerry Jones, the Bush family and the rest of your over-sized egos and ride into the sunset. We don't need you and don't want you. Goodbye.

[wlhoppers]

Ohio's not looking too good either - slaughtered any more endangered animals lately?

[nygal28]

There is no reason to beat a child, none, nada, zilch. If you can't control yourself, go for a walk and calm down.

What if we all started beating all the people who pissed us off? Of course no one would dare do that, but they would beat a defenseless child? What does that say about you as a person?

[Overruled1]

If you cant hit a stranger with a belt like he did with her, he by definition committed child abuse.

From what I can see, the judge is disturbed and should step down on his own terms now.
He might be forced off the bench, or he might have 3 years before the voters have their say...

The surprising thing I see here is all of you out there saying it was right when it was way way wrong.
(don't bring the bible into it either)
The nation has a constitution that provides for equal protection in the law.

[dogsoul]

...unless of course it's a 'hate crime' - then we need different levels of protection under the law.

I think he would definitely have been prosecuted had the statute of limitation not expired.

[tmn]

He should face a recall with abhorrent behavior like that.

[credibility2]

The kid was illegally downloading software, which is a crime. From other news accounts, this kid only released it after her daddy was going to cut off some of her finances. Sounds to me like she's a vindictive and ingrate little spoiled brat.

[enlightenu]

yeah, downloading **** always warrants a beating. I guess if I had a son who downloaded Bieber or some **** like that I'd probably beat him on general principal.

[busterdawggy]

Ya know, the cops can't by law use these kinds of tactics on an adult suspect or criminal. And well they shouldn't be able to. This man is obscene.

[dogsoul]

There are relatively few instances where I would put this kind of beating on my own child - I think it'd have to be among the following situations to even warrant consideration:

1 - said child is male
2 - said child was at least a teen
3 - said child was caught doing something really terrible such as beating a girl, molesting a much younger child, trying to burn somebody's house down... or something along those lines.

Certainly note downloading stuff off the internet - punishment is one thing... but regular beatings for stuff like this?

And let's not kid ourselves here... the daughter didn't release this video 8 years later - at the age of 23 - to 'help' her father... she was looking for stick it to him for whatever reason - if you believe the judge, it's because he pulled back on her financial support & free mercedes benz... and while I don't know the facts, that certainly sounds plausible. She was ticked, had the goods on him, and she let him have it. I suppose he had it coming for what was probably years of this kind of abuse - she's got her revenge alright - but while it sounds like they had some sort of relationship in tact up until the release of this video - my guess is that it's now been fully destroyed beyond recovery.

[coexistUSA]

It doesn't matter when this video was revealed, now or 20 years from now. It is still wrong. This idiot judge shouldn't have anything to say, but plead guilty to assult, child abuse, child endangerment and anything else that could put him away. He needs to have the same type of beating, after all, it is only disipline. When he decided to become a father, that meant he would have to be a father for the rest of his life, even when his children were adults. He is indeed a sick man and deserves the full punsihment for his actions. There should also be fault on the mother as well. She is just as responsible as the judge. What kind of mother would stand there and let their child get beaten like that. These two people should have never had children to begin with.

[busterdawggy]

While I respect the way you articulated your opinion, I still disagree and say that no situation or transgression warrants this kind of beating.