"Judge Adams has agreed he'll have a visiting judge for the near future," Aransas County Judge Burt Mills told Corpos Christi's KRISTV. The clip had received more than 2.4 million hits as of Thursday, and police began investigating Wednesday after hearing from concerned citizens. Adams says she feels some regret about posting online... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Nov. 13, 2003, photo William Adams, Judge of the County Court At Law, listens to a prosecutor during a trial at the Aransas County Court House in Rockport, Texas. Hillary Adams, now 23, posted the 8-minute clip on YouTube last week that shows her father viciously lashing her with a belt and trying to force her to bend over her bed to be beaten despite her wails and pleas to stop. There are no allegations of alleged abuse by Adams against his younger daughter, who primarily resides with her mother, Hallie Adams. The statement did not include an apology for the beating, but he told Corpus Christi television station KZTV on Wednesday that the video "looks worse than it is," that he had already apologized to his daughter and that he was just disciplining his child for stealing. William Adams, who presides over child abuse cases, is still being investigated by the state's judicial conduct commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which on Thursday requested that he be removed from its cases until the investigation concludes. Williams Adams told a Corpus Christi... (Associated Press) 
 
 Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams likely would have been charged with causing injury to a child or other assault-related offenses for the 2004 beating of his then-16-year-old daughter, but the five-year statutes of limitations expired, Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe said Thursday. Her mother blamed her ex-husband's bouts of violence on an "addiction." William Adams' abuse of his daughter was videotaped seven years ago. The statute of limitations for the most-likely assault charges is five years, Rockport police told the Associated Press. Police say the Texas judge videotaped brutally beating his disabled daughter with a belt over Internet music downloads will not face charges, as the statutes of limitations for the charges he likely would have faced has passed. As for Judge Adams ' seat here on the bench, county officials tell me that when the judge does return, for any cases involving children, a visiting judge is going to handle those at least for now. Jayroe said that police did not interview the younger daughter, but asked both Hallie and Hillary Adams about it and there was no indication of abuse of the younger daughter.  Do you think it's acceptable to spank your child with a belt as punishment? In a "Today" show interview, , Adams, now 23, said she recorded the 2004 beating in her room with a hidden camera after her father’s "abuse and harassment" escalated. Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: It did happen regularly for a period of time, and I could tell because of the pattern that things were escalating again, so I set up my video camera on my dresser and covered the little red light with a scarf. "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 till today, seven years later just about, it has enabled me to pull away and be able to distance myself from the consequences. As Aransas County's top judge, he has dealt with at least 349 family law cases in the past year alone, nearly 50 of which involved state caseworkers seeking determine whether parents were fit to raise their children. His daughter, Hillary Adams, who uploaded the shocking video of her being viciously whipped with a belt, said Thursday she waited seven years to go public out of fear for her family. She has repeatedly said she didn't post the clip to spite her father, and that she hopes it forces him to seek help. "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," Jayroe said. And my answer to you and to the world is something that I've been hiding for a very long time as a family secret , and that's addiction. “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. "Hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support, and took away her Mercedes automobile, which her father had provided, he would live to regret it." Crimmins declined to say whether his agency is investigating the parental fitness of Hallie Adams, who lashed Hillary once during the 2004 beating.
– A Texas judge filmed in a viral video beating his disabled daughter won't face criminal charges because the five-year statutes of limitations has expired, say police. Though the beating occurred several years ago, daughter Hillary Adams, who suffers from cerebral palsy, said she was afraid to post the film any earlier because she feared retribution by her dad. "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," Adams, now 23, said on the Today Show. "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," notes the police chief. But William Adams is taking a paid leave from his job, and could be hit with serious penalties when he faces a State Commission of Judicial Conduct, reports the New York Daily News. Adams is being replaced by a visiting judge, and some media reports say he has left town because of death threats. "He'll not take the bench for a while," said a court spokesman. Hillary's mom is also seen on the tape whipping her daughter with a belt, but she now says she regrets her actions. "I was completely brainwashed and controlled," Adams said. "I did every single thing that he did. When I leave the room, he’s telling me what to say, what to do." Hillary's dad has insisted he did nothing wrong when he beat his daughter, and issued a statement yesterday saying his daughter posted the clip to get back at him after he told her he was cutting the amount of financial support he gives her and taking away her Mercedes, reports the AP.