Aransas County officials and Rockport police are reviewing a video recently posted on YouTube that shows a county court-at-law judge mercilessly beating his teenage daughter with a belt and cursing her as his former wife looked on.
“Obviously it is a very disturbing video. We in my office as well as everyone on earth is taking a look at it, at this time,” said Aransas County Attorney Richard Bianchi, who confirmed that the man wielding the belt in the video is County Court-at Law-Judge William Adams.
The seven-minute, 35-second video is dated 2004 and was purportedly posted by the judge's daughter, Hillary Adams, for acquiring music and games on internet sites her parents disapproved of, according to a note attached to it.
As of Wednesday morning, it had gone viral, being viewed more than half a million times.
It shows a T-shirted man repeatedly striking a teenage girl with a belt and commanding her to “bend the (expletive) over.”
A woman is heard going along with the beating, at one point shouting, “you turn over like a 16-year-old and take it, like a grown woman!”
The note accompanying the video said Hillary suffered from ataxic cerebral palsy that fueled a passion for technology that was forbidden by her father's “backward” views.
It urges compassion for the mother, who has since left the marriage.
“Judge William Adams is not fit to be anywhere near the law system if he can't even exercise fit judgment as a parent himself,” the note says. Adams did not immediately return a call left to his office. A Corpus Christi television news organization, KRIS-TV, quoted the judge admitting he was the man in the video and saying, “It happened years ago … I apologized.” The station also quoted Hillary Adams saying she published the video after sitting on it for seven years because “his harassment was getting really bad.”
Although the video has now been posted by many YouTube users, what appears to be the original video was shared online Oct. 27, according to the website. The YouTube user, “shoehedgie,” has previously posted several other videos since she joined the video sharing site in 2006, including homemade videos of a female — first a young girl, then later a teen and an adult — playing the piano. Captions identify her as Hillary Adams.
Thousands of comments to it have been posted, sharing personal stories of child abuse and blasting the judge. Several urged viewers to file complaints to the Aransas County Sheriff's Office and others, even including Adams' home and cell phone information.
In a Wednesday announcement, Aransas County Judge Burt Mills Jr. said the video matter is “under review” by Rockport police and asked the public to refrain from calling county offices about it.
“I know that the police are involved. I do not know if the Texas Rangers are involved,” said Bianchi, who cut short a trip to Austin on Wednesday to deal with the issue. “Judge Adams remains on the bench” and has agreed with Bianchi to let a visiting judge hear any cases involving children for at least the next week, Bianchi said.
Mary Walker, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, said the agency was aware of the video, was investigating and “will take appropriate steps.”
Bianchi, who prosecutes misdemeanor offenses, said it was premature to speculate about what, if anything, might result from the police probe.
“I don't know if I will have a role in this. When the police conduct their investigation, and if they bring anything, we'll review it, and consider the statutes of limitations,” he said.
The video of the beating already appears in numerous online sites and has also spawned at least four Face Book pages including “Prosecute Judge Adams,” and “Don't Re-elect Judge Adams.”
The executive director of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, which oversees judges in Texas, would not confirm that the agency was receiving complaints about Adams.
“We can't confirm we've received any complaints or are investigating any judge,” Executive Director Seana Willing said.
Staff Writer Eva Ruth Moravec contributed to this report. Lynn Brezosky reported from the Express-News bureau in Brownsville.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Police investigate judge over disturbing online video - Houston Chronicle
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