Texas Judge Will Not Face Charges For Beating Daughter in 2004 Video
Judge William Adams, shown brutally beating his then 16-year-old daughter in a 2004 viral video, will not face charges due to a five-year statute of limitations, police said Thursday.
Police contended that too much time has passed, and the victim of the beating, Hillary Adams, has already reached adulthood.
"We believe that there was a criminal offense involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances ... a charge could have been made," said Rockport Police Justice Tim Jayroe to ABC News.
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Hillary Adams, now 23, secretly filmed her father beating her as punishment for downloading pirated content online. She then published the video on YouTube last week, and the video gained over 2.4 million views by Thursday.
Adams went to the media and appeared on the “Today” show and “Anderson Cooper” to explain her reason for publishing the video.
She told reporters that the beatings went on for years, and when she told her father about the video: “He dared me to post it.”
Adams told Anderson Cooper that she uploaded the video because her father was in “some sort of denial” about the way he was treating her and her mother.
Adams said she thought her father was a monster and hopes he will seek help for what mother Hallie Adams calls an addiction.
Adams is a judge in Texas where he routinely rules on child abuses cases and serves as a board member for the Texas juvenile system.
Although he did not receive any charges for the beating, Adams is currently on a two-week leave from his judicial profession awaiting an investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The investigation does not involve Hillary, who is now considered an adult, but rather the safety of Adams’s younger 10-year-old daughter.
Adams shares joint custody of his youngest daughter with divorced spouse, Hallie Adams. According to ABC news, no further allegations of abuse have been made.
When interviewed about the beating, Judge Adams told reporters: “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
The judge has not issued a public apology, and on Wednesday, he told the KZTV television station that the video “looks worse than it is.”
“There is a story that will come out in due time,” he said, affirming that he has already apologized to his daughter for losing his temper.
