A three-judge panel from Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal has upheld the right of Florida's fathers to slap their teenage daughters on the ass without fear of facing domestic violence charges. The ruling overturned an earlier judgement from a Tallahassee judge, who granted a domestic violence injunction against a father who had spanked his 14-year-old daughter.
The father, identified in court documents only as G.C., administered a single spanking to his 14-year-old daughter, identified as K.C., after she misbehaved. The father says the girl was being "disagreeable both before dinner and at the dinner table," so the dad decided to spank her. However, the girl said she was merely being sarcastic. She also claimed that her father had yanked her out of her chair so roughly to administer the spanking that he left a red mark on her arm.
The daughter told her older sister about the incident, who then informed their mother. The parents are divorced. The mother had a domestic violence injunction filed against the father, which a Tallahassee judge granted.
The three-panel court, made up of judges William A. Van Nortwick, Jr., Marguerite H. Davis and Nikki Ann Clark ruled that "the father's conduct constituted reasonable parental discipline and
not domestic violence," and overturned the injunction.
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