MATT LAUER, co-host: Let us begin, though, this half-hour with that incredibly disturbing story out of Texas , video of a father repeatedly hitting his daughter with a belt. He is a judge. And a warning, this is very difficult to watch. We'll talk to the judge's daughter exclusively in a moment. But first, NBC 's Janet Shamlian is live in Rockport , Texas , with the story. Janet , good morning to you. 
 
 JANET SHAMLIAN reporting: Matt , good morning. Yeah, it bears repeating: This video is graphic, it is disturbing, it's difficult to watch, and it has taken the Internet by storm. More than 1.6 million views on YouTube , most of those within the last 24 hours. A Texas judge here in Rockport , Aransas County , repeatedly whipping his teenage daughter with a leather strap even as she was crying and pleading with him to stop. 
 
 Judge WILLIAM ADAMS: Get over here. 
 
 SHAMLIAN: The man in this video is Texas Judge William Adams and the girl is his then 16-year-old daughter , who has cerebral palsy. 
 
 Judge ADAMS: Bend over that bed. Bend over the bed. Bend over the bed! 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS (Released Videotape of Beating From Her Father): Stop! 
 
 SHAMLIAN: The beating continues unabated for most of the seven-minute video that has swept the Internet and provoked an online outcry. Again and again , Hillary Adams cries out after being lashed by her father's belt on her legs, her arms and her buttocks, once at the hand of her mother. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS (Mother of Hillary Adams): You turn over . I'm going to spank on your butt. You turn over like a 16-year-old and take it! Like a grown woman! Turn over ! 
 
 SHAMLIAN: The disturbing scene was captured seven years ago in her bedroom, Hillary says, after her dad found out she had downloaded music from an illegal website. 
 
 Judge ADAMS: Are you happy? Huh? Disobeying your parents? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Stop! 
 
 SHAMLIAN: After holding onto the video since 2004 , Hillary , now 23 and living on her own, uploaded it to YouTube after she says her father continued to harass her and she finally had enough. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: The disputes and the harassment were escalating and finally it just was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, and I told him I had the video and he brushed it off. 
 
 SHAMLIAN: William Adams isn't just Hillary 's father. He's a judge in south Texas , where he routinely rules on cases involving children. He also sits on a county board overseeing the juvenile system. He admits that's him in the video . 
 
 Judge ADAMS: No, I -- in my mind I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing . And I did lose my temper but I've since apologized. It looks worse than it is. There is a story. It'll come out in due time , OK? 
 
 Offscreen Voice: And it's because she downloaded a game onto your computer or something? 
 
 Judge ADAMS: No, she was stealing -- I don't want to get into it, OK? 
 
 Voice: OK. 
 
 Judge ADAMS: But there was a reason she was being disciplined. 
 
 SHAMLIAN: But as a family's private feud went public and viral, outrage has boiled over. Facebook pages have sprung up decrying Judge Adams . The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct has been flooded with demands he be removed from the bench, and in tiny Rockport , police have been swamped by calls from all over the world . Chief Tim Jayroe has opened an investigation at the district attorney's request to determine whether the beating was criminal. When does it cross the line? When does discipline within a family become assault? 
 
 Mr. TIM JAYROE (Rockport Police Chief): Yeah, frequently that's a difficult thing to determine because by state law a person has a right to discipline their children to a point, but not to the point that you cause serious bodily injury to a child. 
 
 SHAMLIAN: Hillary 's mother has since divorced Adams and apologized for her role in the beating. For his part, Judge Adams insists his daughter wasn't hurt. 
 
 Judge ADAMS: I lost my temper. I spanked her. Her mother was there. She wasn't hurt. It was a long time ago. 
 
 Voice: Do you acknowledge that it's -- the beating was excessive, the spanking, the discipline? 
 
 Judge ADAMS: No, I'm not going to get into any of that, OK? 
 
 SHAMLIAN: Police say Judge Adams has left Rockport , and a note outside the courthouse informs his hearings have been canceled. 
 
 Judge ADAMS: Well, then I ought to just keep beating you... 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Stop! 
 
 Judge ADAMS: ...and beating you! 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Stop! 
 
 SHAMLIAN: A daughter 's disclosure as a family's private troubles go public. Authorities tell NBC News that for a charge such as bodily injury to a child the statute of limitations is five years. This video is seven years old, so it's likely no charges will be filed. 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. Matt : 
 
 LAUER: Janet Shamlian . Thank you very much . Hillary and Hallie Adams are here with us for an exclusive interview. Ladies, good morning to both of you. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Good morning, Matt. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Good morning. 
 
 LAUER: We only showed a little portion of that tape. It goes on for seven very long minutes. We showed it in our newsroom yesterday to people who have seen an awful lot of tough things. They were universally upset by this. As you watch it seven years later, Hillary , what goes through your mind? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: It -- well, I've experienced everything from crying about it to almost just laughing. I've just experienced so many emotions, and sometimes it's like reliving it and sometimes it's like watching it from a completely third-person point of view. It's just -- it's really impossible to put all that into words. 
 
 LAUER: Families in this country struggle with the dilemma of punishing and discipline all the time, to spank or not spank. I think the belt thing seems to cross a line. But was this something that happened regularly in your house? Is that why you set that camera up in the room that night? 
 
 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. And about half an hour after I set the camera up, this happened, and it was amazing that I was able to capture such a thing. 
 
 LAUER: Why did you wait seven years? You've had this video ; you clearly are as upset about it today as you were back then. Why did you wait seven years, and why release it on the Internet as opposed to going to authorities with it? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Well, I waited seven years because back then I was still a minor and living under his roof, and releasing it then would have -- I don't know would have happened to me or my mother or my little sister . 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. 
 
 LAUER: You released a note accompanying the video , quote, "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." Now, he's not up for re-election right now. I don't think that comes for three years. So again, the timing of this is in question. Why? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: It just -- it was like I said in that previous video . It was the straw that broke the camel's back. It wasn't any, you know, huge happening or anything. I just -- I told him I had the video and he didn't seem to think anything of it and basically dared me to post it. 
 
 LAUER: Do you want him to lose his job? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: I think wishing anybody to lose their job is not a really good thing to do, but... 
 
 LAUER: But he -- because of a public outcry , there's a chance... 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Yeah. 
 
 LAUER: ...he may be forced to step down... 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: I know. 
 
 LAUER: ...even if no criminal charges are filed against him. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: But his being fit for the job, that's something I really can't say that he is. 
 
 LAUER: Hallie , let me turn to you because you're in this tape. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Yes. 
 
 LAUER: And we heard you in there... 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Yes. 
 
 LAUER: ...saying, ' Turn over . Take it like a 16-year-old girl.' I mean... 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: It's chilling. 
 
 LAUER: ...how does a mother -- how does a mother not only stand by and watch her husband do that to her daughter , but take part in it? 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: That's a good question and that's what I had to ask myself. I didn't know about the video until this -- well, until this past April, and this past weekend was the first time I saw it. 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. And my husband... 
 
 LAUER: Addiction on your part or on... 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: No, sir. 
 
 LAUER: On his part. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Yes, sir. 
 
 LAUER: But still that doesn't tell me why you participated in it and watched it. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Because I lived in an environment of dysfunction and it steadily got worse. I tried to -- I did leave him when she was six months old, and he shamed me into going back and I did my best to make the marriage work. 
 
 LAUER: So were you afraid for your own safety if you had stood up to this man, that you would... 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: I was completely brainwashed and controlled. I did every single thing that he did. When I leave the room, he's telling me what to say, what to do. 
 
 LAUER: Are you angry at your mom? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: No. No, we're very close now. It -- she -- when I showed her the video , she started crying, hasn't stopped apologizing, and I forgive her because she knows everything that happened. 
 
 LAUER: Judge Adams said on Wednesday, quote, "I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing . I did lose my temper but I've since apologized. It looks worse than it is. There is a story. It will come out in due time ." What is the story that you think he is referring to. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: He -- well, I think he feared and didn't understand the Internet because the media that I wanted to obtain was overseas and at that time I couldn't have purchased it if I'd wanted to. So I think there's some controversy there. 
 
 LAUER: But is there more that's going on in this family that I don't about. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Well... 
 
 LAUER: You're saying yes. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Mm-hmm. 
 
 LAUER: What else is there ? 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: I think that the story that's going to come out in undue time in his mind is that he has projected his problem onto me. And for the entire four years since I left the marriage I've been abused and harassed through texts, emails. I've had to cut him off talking to him. And this past June I told him I wasn't texting him at all, I was never talking to him again, and he's threatened me to file for modification to take my younger daughter away from me over and over. 
 
 LAUER: What do you -- what do you want to see here, Hillary ? Do you want him to get help? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Yes, exactly. 
 
 LAUER: What is the outcome you're looking for? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: I think he's been punished enough just by seeing this go public like this and I think he just really needs help and rehabilitation. We need to get him counseling or something. 
 
 LAUER: Do you have any regrets, by the way, of releasing this now, now that this has gone so public and so many people have watched it? Any regrets? 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: Well, I regret that some of my friends and some people close to me have kind of had trouble with this, and of course I regret that it's my own father. I'm having very mixed feelings about that. But at the same time, so many people are telling me that I did the right thing. So there have -- definitely different emotions. 
 
 LAUER: Hillary and Hallie Adams . Thank you so much . We appreciate you both being here. We'll follow this story. 
 
 Ms. HILLARY ADAMS: OK, thank you, Matt. 
 
 Ms. HALLIE ADAMS: Thank you. ||||| Do you think it's acceptable to spank your child with a belt as punishment? 
 
 Aransas County Judge William Adams claims, ""It's not as bad as it looks on tape." 
 
 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. 
 
 The statute of limitations for the most-likely assault charges is five years, Rockport police told the Associated Press. William Adams' abuse of his daughter was videotaped seven years ago. 
 
 He will face an official State Commission on Judicial Conduct and could be forced to step down from the bench. In the meantime, Adams is on paid leave and may have left town in the wake of death threats. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 "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. 
 
 "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. ||||| A family law judge whose daughter secretly videotaped him savagely beating her seven years ago won't face criminal charges because too much time has elapsed, police said. 
 
 Hillary Adams, daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, talks outside her mother's home in Portland, Texas Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. 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. The Court-at-Law Judge told Corpus... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this March 17, 2005, photo Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas. Williams Adams told a Corpus Christi... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this March 17, 2005, photo Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas. Williams Adams told a Corpus Christi... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this March 17, 2005, photo Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, practices the piano at her home in Rockport, Texas. 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. 
 
 "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. He said the district attorney determined he couldn't bring charges, and that police would discuss the case with federal prosecutors even though he doesn't believe federal charges would apply. 
 
 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. The clip had received more than 2.4 million hits as of Thursday, and police began investigating Wednesday after hearing from concerned citizens. 
 
 William Adams, 51, issued a three-page statement Thursday saying his daughter posted the clip to get back at him for telling her he would be reducing the amount of financial support he gives her and taking away her Mercedes. 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. 
 
 Hillary Adams says her parents were angry because she had downloaded pirated content online, and that she turned on the camera because she sensed something was going to happen. 
 
 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. 
 
 Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the agency, declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the investigation. But he said that in general, the agency would only investigate a case in which a suspected abuse victim has already reached adulthood if there are still children in the home who could be at risk. Adams was granted joint custody of his 10-year-old daughter in his 2007 divorce. 
 
 There are no allegations of alleged abuse by Adams against his younger daughter, who primarily resides with her mother, Hallie Adams. Crimmins declined to say whether his agency is investigating the parental fitness of Hallie Adams, who lashed Hillary once during the 2004 beating. 
 
 Crimmins said his agency ordinarily wouldn't disclose that it is investigating someone, but that it did in this case because the investigation is the reason it requested that William Adams be taken off its cases. 
 
 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. 
 
 In his statement Thursday, Adams said he would "respond" to all investigations. 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. 
 
 County officials confirmed that Adams will not hear cases related to Child Protective Services for at least the next two weeks. And the top administrator in Aransas County cast doubt on whether Adams could credibly return to the bench. 
 
 "I would think it would be very difficult," said Aransas County Judge C.H. "Burt" Mills Jr. "Personally I don't see how he can recover from this." 
 
 If the judicial commission and police investigations don't lead to punishment or charges, Adams could be safe on the bench until he's up for re-election in three years. 
 
 Hillary Adams said she waited so long to expose her father because she was terrified at what might have happened had she done so while still living under his roof. She said the outpouring of support and encouragement she's received since posting the clip is tempered by the sadness that it's her father repeatedly lashing her with a belt and threatening to beat her "into submission." 
 
 During an interview with her and her mother Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, Hillary Adams said her father regularly beat her for a period of time. She has repeatedly said she didn't post the clip to spite her father, and that she hopes it forces him to seek help. 
 
 Her mother blamed her ex-husband's bouts of violence on an "addiction." She called it a "family secret," but declined to elaborate. 
 
 In his statement, though, William Adams painted a starkly different picture of why his daughter posted the clip. 
 
 "Just prior to the YouTube upload, a concerned father shared with his 23-year-old daughter that he was unwilling to continue to work hard and be her primary source of financial support, if she was going to simply `drop out,' and strive to achieve no more in life than to work part time at a video game store," Adams' statement 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." 
 
 Hillary Adams did not immediately respond to email requests Thursday seeking a response. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Danny Robbins in Dallas contributed to this report.
– 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.