A Texas family law judge was caught beating his disabled 16-year-old daughter in a video she secretly taped and later posted online in 2011. Consequently, the judge lost his re-election bid, not to mention losing his family and his ability to practice law temporarily.
Unofficial returns show Arkansas County voters on Tuesday rejected William Adams in the Republican primary.
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports County Attorney Richard Bianchi joins the bench in January. No Democrats challenged Adams, who sought a fourth full term.
The video shows Adams lashing his daughter. Hillary Adams has said she released the video, which she secretly taped in 2004, to compel her father to get help and show he’s unfit as a judge. She said the beating happened after she illegally downloaded files from the Internet.
William Adams was suspended for a year. The Texas Supreme Court in November 2012 lifted his suspension.
The mother of the disabled child has since divorced the judge and released this statement on Facebook:
“I am praying for my daughters and me and my family to heal in all ways from emotional and physical abuse, for the current and continuing abuse of my children and me that has been ongoing to end — starting now — for my daughters to both finally be able to go to counseling both individually and as a family group with their Dad’s approval, encouragement, involvement and support, for him to finally make amends to all of us, talk openly with us, and take the first steps to letting our broken family heal.”
