November 3, 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl9y3SIPt7o&feature=youtu.be&has_verified=1
23 year-old Hillary Adams of Texas, who secretly videotaped her father beating her angrily with a belt when she was 16 years-old for downloading internet materials, recently released the video on YouTube sparking a firestorm of response and controversy.
Her father, Juvenile and Family Law Judge William Adams, of Aransas County, Texas, has now acknowledged that he is the one shown in the video but also claimed that the incident was not as bad as it appears in the video.
According to Hillary and her mother, Hallie Adams, also shown in the video assisting the father in the beating, violence in the home was a regular occurrence, with the mother making a reference to addiction. The mother has since apologized to her daughter for her actions, acknowledging that she did what William Adams told her to do in the home. The mother and daughter now make reference to both physical and emotional abuse. In fact, according to Hillary, it was the continuing emotional abuse that was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” leading her to release the video.
The YouTube video has gone viral and led to a Facebook page titled “Don’t Re-Elect Judge William Adams”, which has attracted over 27,000 “Likes” as of this writing. Judge Adams has also been relieved of his work duties temporarily pending investigation. Aransas County police and the District Attorney’s Office are conducting an investigation, with the District Attorney evaluating the potential of filing charges. They are looking at the age of the child and the statute of limitations, among other factors. The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct has declined to comment on the situation apart from an acknowledgement of awareness.
Numerous major news outlets are presenting this story, including Anderson Cooper’s AC360, which will be airing an interview with Hillary Adams this evening.
Hillary’s YouTube posting is accompanied by the following language:
2004: Aransas County Court-At-Law Judge William Adams took a belt to his own teenage daughter as punishment for using the internet to acquire music and games that were unavailable for legal purchase at the time. She has had ataxic cerebral palsy from birth that led her to a passion for technology, which was strictly forbidden by her father’s backwards views. The judge’s wife was emotionally abused herself and was severely manipulated into assisting the beating and should not be blamed for any content in this video. The judge’s wife has since left the marriage due to the abuse, which continues to this day, and has sincerely apologized and repented for her part and for allowing such a thing, long before this video was even revealed to exist. Judge William Adams is not fit to be anywhere near the law system if he can’t even exercise fit judgement as a parent himself. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His “judgement” is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter.