Texas judge William Adams says daughter posted "beating video" out of spite

(CBS/AP/KZTV) McALLEN, Texas - Texas family law judge William Adams claims his daughter recently posted a YouTube video of him beating her several years ago because he told her he was reducing her financial support and taking away her Mercedes.

Through his lawyer, the Aransas County Court-at-Law judge issued a statement Thursday in which he questions his daughter Hillary's motives for posting the secretly-made 2004 video online last week.

According to CBS affiliate KZTV, the statement  from Adams' attorney William A. Dudley reads, in part, "If the public must know, just prior to the you tube upload, a concerned father shared with his 23-year-old daughter that he was unwilling to continue to... be her primary source of financial support... 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. The post was then uploaded."

The statement concludes with a plea from Adams that the investigation and legal process not be played out daily on a national stage.

The judge does not apologize in the three-page statement for lashing his then 16-year-old daughter 17 times with a belt while she wailed and pleaded with him to stop. He told KZTV Wednesday that the video "looks worse than it is" and that he was just disciplining his child.

Police are investigating and Adams says he will "respond" to any investigations.