The disabled woman who uploaded the video of her Texas judge dad viciously whipping her with a belt said Thursday she waited seven years to go public out of fear for her family. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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In a “Today” show interview, Hillary Adams, now 23, said she recorded the 2004 beating in her room with a hidden camera after her father’s “abuse and harassment” escalated.
“I waited seven years because back then I was still a minor and living under his roof and releasing it then, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me and my mother and my little sister,” said Adams, who suffers from cerebral palsy. “So waiting until today, seven years later, was about me being able to pull away and distance myself from the consequences.”
With her mother by her side, Adams told “Today’s†Matt Lauer that she hoped her father, Judge William Adams, wouldn’t lose his job as a result.
“I think [my father] has been punished enough just by seeing this go public like this, and I think he just really needs help and rehabilitation,” Adams said.
It’s unlikely that her dad will face criminal charges as the statute of limitations for assault is just five years, Rockport, Texas, police told NBC News.
He does, however, face an official State Commission on Judicial Conduct and could be forced to step down. In the meantime, Adams is on paid leave and may have left town in the wake of death threats.
“Judge Adams has agreed he’ll have a visiting judge for the near future,” Aransas County Judge Burt Mills told Corpos Christi’s KRISTV. “I don’t know yet [how long he’ll be gone\] but he’ll not take the bench for a while.”
The video, uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 27, shows William Adams berating and savagely beating his teenage daughter with a belt, flogging her in the legs and sides of her body.
“Is it fun to disobey your mom and dad?” he can be heard screaming as he lashes.
He became enraged when the girl refused to bend over to leave her buttocks exposed for a thrashing.
“You don’t deserve to be in this f—-n house!†the man raged.
Hillary’s mother, Hallie, can also be seen yelling at the girl to “turn over like a 16-year-old and take it!”
But Hallie Adams, who is now divorced, said she regrets her participation and told Lauer that she has since apologized and repaired her relationship with her daughter.
“I was completely brainwashed and controlled,” the remorseful mom said during the “Today” interview. “I did every single thing that he did. When I leave the room, he’s telling me what to say, what to do.”
At one point during the 7-minute-plus video, the man leaves the room and returns with a second belt to continue the wicked assault – which was apparently sparked over Hillary Adams’ downloading of illegal music files.
“I told him I had the video and he didn’t seem to think anything of it, basically dared me to post it,” Hillary Adams said.
When confronted by a KRIS reporter Wednesday, the judge said, “In my mind I haven’t done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing
“It’s not as bad as it looks on tape,” he added.
