xpost: Texas Judge Beats Disabled Daughter on Video

[meegbear]

Warning: The video is graphic and prolonged. Don't watch if you can't handle, or don't want to see, serious physical and emotional abuse.

The YouTube video is accompanied by a fairly detailed summary:

2004: Aransas County Court-At-Law Judge William Adams took a belt to his own teenage daughter as punishment for using the internet to acquire music and games that were unavailable for legal purchase at the time. She 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. 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 judge's wife has since left the marriage due to the abuse, which continues to this day, and has sincerely apologized and repented for her part and for allowing such a thing, long before this video was even revealed to exist. Judge William Adams is not fit to be anywhere near the law system if he can't even exercise fit judgement as a parent himself. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His "judgement" is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter.

Though the video was uploaded on October 27, it wasn't until today that it began to receive attention—thanks to the popular link-sharing site Reddit, where a poster identifying herself as Hillary Adams shared it (with the title "Family law judge beats own daughter for using the internet, please spread"), writing that she'd decided to post the video (which she'd been "holding onto... until the right time") after receiving "a barrage of harassment" from her father over the phone.

Posting to Reddit was the right move. The site, which has a strong protective streak, quickly sprung into action. Posters, encouraging others to call and write, provided links and phone numbers to news outlets, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct—and to the judge's place of work. As is not uncommon in situations like this, the official Aransas County website is down as of this post, likely thanks to heavy traffic from Reddit.

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http://gawker.com/5855478/reddit-video-apparently-shows-texas-family-judge-beating-disabled-daughter

You can see the video by clicking on the link above or by clicking here.