Texas Justice? Texas Family Court Judge Investigated for Beating Disabled Daughter

A Texas family court judge is under scrutiny after his now adult daughter with cerebral palsy posted a YouTube video of her father spanking her with a belt when she was 16-years-old. Hillary Adams maintains that she did not post the video to ruin her father’s career, but that she wants him to get the help that he needs. Police are now investigating her father for potential child abuse.

The video depicts the judge, William Adams, spanking his daughter with a belt 17 times and threatening to "beat her into submission". Hillary also says that the beating was not a one-time incident, and that it happened regularly for a period of time. Hillary’s mother, although shown in the video telling her daughter to "turn over like a 16-year-old and take it", argues that she was "completely brainwashed and controlled" by her now ex-husband whom she divorced in 2007. In a recent interview, Hillary’s mother also said that she blamed her husband’s violent behavior on a secret addiction but did not elaborate further.

According to Hillary, the 2004 beating occured after the judge caught his daughter downloading music and videos not available for legal purchase. She says that she posted the video after being repeatedly harassed by her father. On Wednesday afternoon, William was temporarily relieved of his duties for the next two weeks while the police continue to investigate. I am not placing the link to the video in this blog posting due to its graphic nature and the potentially disturbing impact on some of my readers. If you wish to view the video, several of the embedded links have the video on their websites and the video is also available on YouTube.