Judge beats daughter for downloading copyrighted material

[Pinkie Pie]

Dallas (CNN) -- A Texas judge faces a police investigation and judicial probe after a video apparently showing him beating his then-16-year-old disabled daughter was posted on the Internet.

The graphic video drew international outrage after it was posted by a woman who said she was the victim -- and that her parents, including her father, Aransas County Texas, Court-At-Law Judge William Adams -- were the ones seen beating and cursing at her in the video.

A person identifying herself as Hillary Adams said in posting the video to the sharing site Reddit she had held onto it "until the right time" but decided to post it after receiving a "barrage of harassment" over the phone from her father.

The video, apparently shot on a webcam, was also posted to YouTube. In that posting, the person identifying herself as Hillary Adams said the beating occurred in 2004, when her father was punishing her for using the Internet "to acquire music and games that were unavailable for legal purchase at the time."

CNN tried repeatedly on Wednesday to reach William Adams at his Rockport, Texas, office, but received a constant busy signal.

But William Adams told Texas television station KRIS, "It happened years ago ... I apologized."

He said the conduct is "not as bad as it looks on tape," KRIS said. The judge said he had contacted judicial review officials in Austin and "more will come out" in the investigation.

A person identifying herself as Hillary Adams, on a Twitter account using the same username as the posting on Reddit, tweeted to CNN, "I'm not sure how much I should say, except that above all we need to help my father instead of condemning him."

In another tweet, the person said, "I'm feeling some regret for publishing the video because to ruin my own father is heavy indeed. But I really want him to seek help."

The daughter "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," according to the posting. "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 older woman has since left the marriage because of abuse, according to the posting, and has "apologized and repented for her part and for allowing such a thing long before this video was even revealed to exist."

In a statement, Aransas County Judge Burt Mills said the county is aware of the video regarding William Adams, "and the matter is now under review by the police department. Please refrain from communication with county offices or the sheriff's department on this matter until the review has been completed."

The video was brought to authorities' attention about 9 p.m. Tuesday, Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe told CNN. "The incident and video are now under investigation," Jayroe said.

He said people in Rockport and elsewhere began forwarding the video to police Tuesday night.

"The first step is determining the authenticity of the video," he said. "It's a matter of needing to verify the information and that the video is accurate."

Aransas County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan told CNN authorities are looking at numerous factors, including the authenticity of the video and the age of the child at the time of the incident.

"There is also some indication on the video regarding the status of the child being disabled, and that can be a factor as well," Flanigan said.

On the statute of limitations, he said, "That is one thing we will be looking at." The law is complex on which charges could be brought, he said, and which statutes may apply -- which is all speculation until the video is confirmed to be authentic.

"We're in a fact-finding situation now to determine what is true," he said, and the district attorney's office will get updates from the police department about the investigation.

In addition, he said, his office will look at how the law has changed in the past couple of years, as there could have been different laws in effect at the time.

The video posting said, "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. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His 'judgment' is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter."

The possibility of the alleged abuser holding a position of authority as a judge "doesn't matter and shouldn't matter" in the investigation, he said, adding, "it will be a normal review."

As a judge, Adams handles misdemeanor cases, including family-related and juvenile court issues, Flanigan said. Those cases rarely move to the criminal side or cross to his purview, he said.

"We want to get to the bottom of it ... regardless of who the person is," he said.

The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct declined comment on the matter Wednesday, but it said it was aware of the situation. A woman answering the phone said the commission has been "overwhelmed."

Attempts by CNN to contact Hillary Adams' mother were not immediately successful Wednesday.

The video is punctuated by cracks of the man's belt and the girl's screams and cries.

At one point, the man says to his near-hysterical daughter, "What happened to you, Hillary? Once you were an obedient, nice little girl. Now you lie, cheat and steal."

At another point in the 7.5-minute video, he yells at her, "You want to put some more computer games on? You want some more?"

"Are you happy?" he asks her. "Disobeying your parents? You don't deserve to f---ing be in this house."

He also berates the older woman, who identifies herself as the girl's mother, for allowing a "f---ing computer" in the house.

The older woman also strikes the girl with a belt once, and near the end of the video instructs the girl not to "touch one other thing on the computer besides your schoolwork until you are given notice otherwise."

The girl was apparently 16 at the time the video is taken, as the older woman at one point instructs her to "turn over like a 16-year-old and take it."

A Facebook page called "Don't Re-Elect Judge William Adams" sprang up on Facebook, attracting more than 5,400 by Wednesday afternoon. Messages were posted by users in countries including Australia, the Netherlands and Guatemala, among others, and a Spanish-language version of the video was posted on YouTube.

"This man doesn't deserve power," said a posting on the Facebook page. "He doesn't know how to use it."

Police and the district attorney are taking the investigation seriously, Jayroe said. Investigators have not yet spoken to Hillary Adams or her family, he said, and have not tried to contact William Adams.

"We would want to talk to her," he said of Hillary Adams.

Jayroe said his department has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety for assistance with an investigator. "It's the first time in 22 years we've asked for assistance," he said.

"I've gained some new followers," said another posting from the person identifying herself as Hillary Adams. "I hope we can support each other in dealing with abuse of all kinds."

"Please spread the word that my father needs professional help and not hatred," the person tweeted. "We can offer him the tools to be a better person."

Meanwhile, Domino's Pizza in Rockport said it had received more than 20 online orders and nine phone orders for pizza to be delivered to the judge's home address.

"We actually made and delivered two pizzas before we caught on last night," said store manager Sean Hunt. "No one was answering the door or the phone calls at that address... I've worked here for a little over a year, and I've never seen anything like this happen."

The video posting said, "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. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His 'judgment' is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter."

Source:http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/02/justice/texas-video-beating/

Video in question:

What's your view on this? Is this discipline or abuse? What actions do you think parents should take when it comes to internet piracy, if any at all?

I'll post my own tl;dr views on it later.

[shyguysteve]

thats fked up, i really hate reading stuff like this.

[Xanodus]

Uuh, obviously abuse?! They beat her and cursed her! Discipline and abuse are two different things. And seriously, over pirating on the internet? Everybody does it. It can't be stopped. It's wrong.

[lemmingllama]

This would qualify as abuse. And it would be best for something like grounding from media and internet for this kind of thing. Wouldnt do it again anytime soon

[RikuoAmero]

If the video is authentic (not going to bother watching it, because I don't know these people, so I wouldn't be able to form a judgement either way)...then yes, he deserves to go to jail for beating his daughter.

As for parents and piracy...that's going to take some thinking. I personally pirate whenever I can, but what about a parent? There have been cases of mass infringement lawsuits, where the guy doing the suing looks up the IP address, gets the name and address from the ISP and just fires off a letter...what if Little Johnny did it? That however, is the fault of the legal system and shouldn't factor into parenting techniques.

[CaNzCo]

I can't see why a judge would do something like this...These guys are at the pinnacle of the justice system, and should therefore know the law.

EDIT: after watching the video, I am a little bit skeptical about calling this abuse. Physical violence used for punishment on children isn't what I want to see... but some people swear by it. From what I saw, there are no significant injuries, and I am sure illegal downloading is a major offense when you are a judge.

[Hōtarō]

OP already knows my opinion, but this should at least hint at it. Who wants to go to Texas?

[BlackDahlia]

On one hand, the judge was right to punish her for doing something illegal, considering he was a judge and didn't want his daughter doing something illegal. On the other hand, it's really ironic how he went about it. I'm honestly not very phased by it though, I have seen much worse things out there. I don't agree with his methods but I also don't consider this abuse. Had it been a guy instead of a girl, the response would be so different. I definitely love the peoples' responses on that video though, it's amusing to read their comments.

[Dan Den]

I am going to be honest here, she kind of deserved it to a certain extent. Firstly her father is a judge and if he were to turn her in she would get time according to the law. Secondly people who commented on the video exaggerated a bit, I mean it's just a spanking with nothing but a belt. Like Dahilia I've seen and experienced much worse at a younger age so this would be like a soft spank to the bottom compared to what I've seen.

And as for the crime of piracy, stick to the one that's already up. In my case my dad is a bit on the highers if you know what I mean, if he ever found out that I pirate he would probably live me somewhere isolated just to tech me a lesson. So in regards to the girl that was supposedly "abused" as most claim, she got off lucky.

One final thing who ever video taped this and uploaded it online is nothing but a rotten piece of garbage in my opinion, if it was the daughter then she is still an idiot for doing this. Her father was in a way saving her from jail time which his technically supposed to do but instead just gave her a hiding. To those who never grew up being disciplined like this, this is how being disciplined looks like and this in my opinion is far away from being abuse.

[lemmingllama]

I am going to be honest here, she kind of deserved it to a certain extent. Firstly her father is a judge and if he were to turn her in she would get time according to the law. Secondly people who commented on the video exaggerated a bit, I mean it's just a spanking with nothing but a belt. Like Dahilia I've seen and experienced much worse at a younger age so this would be like a soft spank to the bottom compared to what I've seen.

And as for the crime of piracy, stick to the one that's already up. In my case my dad is a bit on the highers if you know what I mean, if he ever found out that I pirate he would probably live me somewhere isolated just to tech me a lesson. So in regards to the girl that was supposedly "abused" as most claim, she got off lucky.

One final thing who ever video taped this and uploaded it online is nothing but a rotten piece of garbage in my opinion, if it was the daughter then she is still an idiot for doing this. Her father was in a way saving her from jail time which his technically supposed to do but instead just gave her a hiding. To those who never grew up being disciplined like this, this is how being disciplined looks like and this in my opinion is far away from being abuse.

If it was just a spanking, then he cannot be held for abuse since parents can give discipline like this. So I would then agree with your statement

[† Talena Mae]

that is overboard in my opinion... I was belted like that myself while growing up. my personal view is 1 hit is punishment enough, anymore it is abuse. ( I am dealing with my three nephews who had my sister do that (the video) to them time and time again, if you all could see the fear in their eye whenever i pick up my belt to put it on you all would be saying the same thing.

[Dan Den]

that is overboard in my opinion... I was belted like that myself while growing up. my personal view is 1 hit is punishment enough, anymore it is abuse. ( I am dealing with my three nephews who had my sister do that (the video) to them time and time again, if you all could see the fear in their eye whenever i pick up my belt to put it on you all would be saying the same thing.

By what your saying I guess you do have a point. But if I was to come up with some sort of result here I'd have to guess that it all depends on the severity of what you did that your being belted or what evered for.

But in a way you kind of have to understand where this father is coming from, his from the old generation and pirating I guess to him is no different than stealing it's self so only way to make sure she gets it he beat her to an extent that the next time she attempts to the same activity she was belted for she will remember what happened.

[Leviathan87]

that judge can go f***in burn in hell

[aurafalchion]

Poor girl, unfortunate of her to have that judge as a father.

[bigstu999]

I do agree with spanking as a form of punishment,but I think this went far beyond a spanking he really went to town on her, I don't think the punishment fit the crime.