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No Charges For Child-Whipping Judge Caught On YouTube

theodp writes "Federal prosecutors will not charge a Texas judge seen lashing his teenage daughter with a belt on a YouTube video taken seven years ago and posted online last week, closing the door on the possibility of criminal charges in the case. The viral video, uploaded by now 23-year-old Hillary Adams, shows her father, Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, whipping her with a belt for downloading music when she was 16 (full video, requires login). 'F*****g computers,' the judge tells his now ex-wife on the video. 'I told you I didn't want one in the god damn house. See all the problems they cause?' Judge Adams issued a statement asserting that his daughter released the tape to retaliate against him for withdrawing his financial support."

18 of 948 comments (clear)

  1. Just another corrupt judge by fotbr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and another example of a judge that should be removed from the bench by any means possible -- I don't know if you can recall a judge in texas, or if you have to wait until the next time that clown is up for reelection, or what the process is, but whatever the process, it needs to happen.

    1. Re:Just another corrupt judge by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As a native Texan, I'm all for corporal punishment as a method of last resort. But not in the manor in which this was delivered. But if you have to go there, you have much bigger family problems in the first place. Such as lack of respect for others. Second, the parent delivering the punishment should never be in a state of hate and rage. Remember, corporal punishment is about sending a message of last resort. *NOT* to be used an excuse to vent rage and frustration like her parents did. The later only perpetuates family problems down the line.

      Case in point. The daughter never forgave the father (big issue) to this day, and she blackmailed him for money (so he says). Either way, they're are much bigger problems within that family we do not know about. Absolutely broken! Sad.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  2. Re:The legal system at it's finest. by ravenspear · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually no, the statute of limitations applies to regular citizens also.

  3. Excuses by Spad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Judge Adams issued a statement asserting that his daughter released the tape to retaliate against him for withdrawing his financial support.

    I'm not quite sure that makes what he did OK...

    1. Re:Excuses by phaserbanks · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Umm... call me crazy, but maybe she was retaliating for him repeatedly beating the crap out of her.

    2. Re:Excuses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Nope. She's posted about it elsewhere, but basically, she saved the video in order to blackmail him. Fast forward to a week ago, and he threatens to stop allowing her to borrow his Mercedes. So she posts the video in response.

      They're both horrible people: the judge for beating his daughter, and the girl for blackmailing him over it.

      If she wanted him punished, she had the chance. She didn't. She wanted money from him.

    3. Re:Excuses by jd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If she has become a monster, then it is of his design and his handiwork. It may not excuse her for her attitudes, if indeed these allegations are true, but his responsibility does not end with him, it encompasses ALL that he has done. If he has indeed broken her mind, then he is no less responsible than her for the video being posted.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    4. Re:Excuses by lanner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Abuse survivor here. I'm in my mid 30s now, male. I've not seen or heard from my parents/step-parents since I was fifteen years old. One of the best things I ever did in life.

      Blackmail was not involved here, as far as I can tell. I never read anything about that. She never threatened to release the video; she just did it. I would bet sacks full of money that she never let anyone else know about that video, out of fear of being abused further. It doesn't even make sense that she would try to use it as a control mechanism against him. Even if she did,.... uh... good for her.

      Note in the articles how the farther took back a car, thus depriving her of the ability to get around. It was never a gift to her. It was a tool to use as control, and when he wanted to control her further, he yanked the chain. This is a twenty year old we are talking about here, not a child. Even in adulthood, he treats his daughter as something that needs to be controlled.

      This guy will lose friends, respect, his job, and his entire career. I'd say that's pretty fair. I don't have any sympathy for him and very little for the mother.

      As for the feds, they should not be involved in any way, no duh.

      As for charges, unfortunately, she sat on this too long. Fear can really paralyze and control you. Again, no duh.

  4. Re:The legal system at it's finest. by devleopard · · Score: 5, Funny

    One more example of the lack of reading the article on Slashdot at its finest.

    --
    The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
  5. Not All Spankings Are The Same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know it is trendy & hip to not spank your children and I disagree with that -- I do spank my children on occasion and I can usually tell - from the behavior of other kids in their classes - which parents don't. All that being said, the guy in that video isn't spanking his daughter -- he has lost his temper and is just beating her. I mean, who screams "fuck" repeatedly when they are spanking their child? Plus, I think 16 is too old for corporal punishment -- honestly, the die is pretty much cast at that point. I think the fact that she released the tape 7 years later because he wouldn't pay her rent any more shows that she was already ... on a path that was different than what her Father wanted. PS -- Why wouldn't you just take the fucking computer, anyways?

  6. Re:The legal system at it's finest. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    18 USC 3283 - Sec. 3283. Offenses against children

    "No statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse, or kidnaping, of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such prosecution during the life of the child."

    I believe the code is clear in stating that the statute of limitations do NOT apply to child abuse victims.

  7. Re:Child? by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More likely he is beating lashing his daughter for violating the law. It is not necessarily a statement on whether the law is just.

    No, he's beating his daughter because he's an idiot with anger management and control issues. If it's not okay to beat a stranger for "violating the law", then it's certainly not okay to beat someone you're supposed to love, and who you have a legal responsibility to protect from bad stuff such as illegal physical assaults like this.

    BTW: This was not a one-time incident.

  8. Re:Child? by eldepeche · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even more likely he is beating his daughter because it makes him feel like a big man on a power trip. She knew what she was doing would elicit a severe beating, so if she wanted footage of him abusing her, all she had to do was download some songs from the internet.

    Child abuse and domestic abuse aren't about punishment, they are about control. She could probably have changed the desktop background or something equally trivial. He's not punishing her for misdeeds, he's beating her into submission. He even says so in the video.

  9. I got beat as a kid. by dadioflex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ho ho. I got beat left and right for stuff I did as a kid. This video is so much BS, bunch of wormy liberals complaining about a real person taking control of their family, after their daughter has stolen stuff off the internet. Yup. That's what I thought until I watched about a third of it before I couldn't stomach any more.

    I'm for discipline, and I'm for corporal punishment, but that was a sick individual getting his kicks punishing his child. You lose the moral battle when you curse as much as he did, when you seem to enjoy it as much as he did, when you won't stop even when your child is a weeping wreck in front of you.

    What sort of parent looks back on that I thinks they've helped mould their child into a good citizen?

    There's a lot of talk about how she only showed this after he took away her toys. Because you expected adult, rational behaviour from her? Yeah, that's how she was raised. Wasn't it?

    I don't normally get angry at Random Q. Internetguy, but that wasn't an Internet meme, that thing you just saw, that was the repeated, planned, brutalization of a child by her parent, and it was appalling.

  10. Re:hard to watch by meburke · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note: She is an adult and recovering from the abuse. However, she was born with ataxic cerebral palsy. I don't know how bad it is, but it may preclude her from many occupations. Apparently she is pretty smart and plays the piano well. Ataxic cerebral palsy usually affects muscular coordination, and the symptoms (poor balance, shakiness, poor coordination) last a lifetime and may get worse in old age.

    There is no reason to discuss why she needed her family's support, if she needed her family's support, if it was justified to withdraw the support or anything else because we don't know enough facts, and it's none of our business.

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=thinker's+toolbox&x=0&y=0

    --
    "The mind works quicker than you think!"
  11. Generational Abuser v2.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Gotta agree with the AC - I've been beat before, and while it looked like this man was putting his heart into it, he looked like an out of shape skinny punk compared to the whippings I got as a child. When a beating was finished in my household, the crying didn't stop for 30 minutes, and you'd be lucky if you weren't limping afterwards. If the video had shown her inconsolable for 20 minutes after the beating, hardly able to move because of the pain, I'd be more inclined to feel some sympathy for her. As it was, she had a dick father, and a dick mother, but as soon as they got out of the room, she was cool as a cucumber, walking around like the beating was nothing to her.

    Now be clear, even if you're a wimp with a belt and can't give a 16 year old enough of a smack down to keep them crying for 30 minutes, you shouldn't be beating your kid - it's stupid and unproductive. But this was definitely "gotcha" videography on the part of the kid. The whole family is rotten, and frankly, I'm most appalled by the mother - the fact that she was cool with it as an observer (although I think she got one lick in too) was chilling.

    Seems like you're primed and ready to be a child abuser yourself.

    Your attitude needs a lot of work. I'd recommend a psychological evaluation, stat. Or just show this post to your woman and let her decide.

  12. Re:The legal system at it's finest. by Khyber · · Score: 5, Informative

    Your quote is screwed.

    "Ten Years- theft of any estate by an executor/administrator. Theft by a public servant of government property, Forgery. Injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code;"

    A child with cerebral palsy that has been terrorized into a state of fear and unable to defend themselves is a felony, according to Penal code 22.01 with the provision of it being a THIRD DEGREE FELONY if conducted against a person described in Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code (in this case, it's 71.005 that applies - Household member) and also in Section 22.04, which the entirety of the section shall be hereforth linked

    http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/docs/pe/htm/pe.22.htm

      ""Disabled individual" means a person older than 14 years of age who by reason of age or physical or mental disease, defect, or injury is substantially unable to protect himself from harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for himself."

    By reason of age - 16 years old is not old enough to reasonably live on your own, especially with cerebral palsy, which happens to fall under physical disease.

    Hi, I can read in-depth and reference multiple law requirements at the same time thanks to tabbed browsing. SOL has very clearly not expired due to these conditions.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  13. Re:He... by somersault · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After having watched the video, it's very hard not to agree with you though. I don't understand how whipping his daughter is teaching her a lesson about downloading. Beating the fuck out of him might help though, seeing as fear and control seem to be the only thing he understands.

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    which is totally what she said