Josh Duggar, who is currently out on bail after being arrested in April and charged with receiving and possessing child p0rnography, is reportedly attempting to delay his upcoming trial.
According to The Sun, the former 19 Kids and Counting star is requesting an Arkansas judge delay his July 2021 trial date to February 2022 – “or after” – in order for a computer forensic expert to examine his devices.
In court documents, Josh’s legal team called his case “complex,” given the fact that it involves a “several-year federal investigation” with allegations of the “dark web” and “peer-to-peer BitTorrent file-sharing networks” – both common in the receiving of child p0rnography.
Allegations against the 33-year-old are based on “computer forensic evidence and anticipated expert opinion testimony”; however, court papers claim that Josh’s defense has “retained an independent computer forensic expert who must conduct a computer forensic examination of each of the devices at issue – a time-consuming process that requires review at a government facility for the one device the Government alleged contained child p0rnography.”
Documents state that the expert must review those devices the Government does NOT allege contain child p0rnography as well, which could also take “several months.” Additional time is also needed to complete review of the discovery and “pursue certain investigative leads based on the discovery.”
The defense alleges there are key witnesses the Government didn’t interview, as well as possible evidence that wasn’t obtained during the investigation. This reportedly consists of evidence from the Government that was requested by the defense, including police reports/documents from the Little Rock Police Department’s investigation. They also claim to have only recently learned of two additional Arkansas law enforcement agencies participating in the investigation.
According to court papers, the defense believes there will be an evidentiary hearing, which involves witness testimony, prior to trial and that the evidentiary trial could possibly “obviate the need for a trial.”
“The defense requests a trial date in or after February 2022 to give Duggar sufficient time to fully prepare a defense in this case and due to certain scheduling conflicts during the remainder of 2021.”
While Josh awaits trial, he continues to live with Duggar family friends LaCount and Maria Reber, who agreed to act as his third-party custodians, as he is not allowed to reside in a house with minor children, including his own.
RELATED STORY: Josh Duggar’s Cousin Amy Says She’s Worried About Josh’s Six Kids; Discusses Child Sex Abuse Charges Against Him: “It’s So Evil”
(Photos: Instagram; Twitter)
34 Responses
This guy is the absolute worst. The entitlement is just so disgusting. He’s a pervert and he needs to be locked away from society. He’s sick.
I’m annoyed that he won’t just admit it and ask for forgiveness. Instead he’s lying by pleading “not guilty” and costing the taxpayers an arm and a leg to put him away. I’m angry they let him out on bail and he gets to stay in a nice home with access to his children. I’m just hoping for the day when he gets sentenced to 30+ years and that smug look can get wiped off of his face.
He isn’t lying by pleading not guilty. Nobody pleads guilty off the bat, that is not how our systems works. The prosecution has the burden of proof, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Josh committed these crimes.
I’m not defending Josh, he is a scum bag and will end up in prison where he belongs. I’ve just seen other folks online getting upset that he entered a plea of not guilty. It’s nothing to get upset about, it’s standard operating procedure in a criminal case.
He knows he’s guilty, so it is lying to plead not guilty. If he had an remorse or ability to face consequences for his actions he would have plead guilty. I get that it’s a courtroom tactic to plead not guilty, but IMO a true “Christian” would admit what they did and apologize and accept responsibility.
He had to enter his not guilty plea before he and his attorneys even reviewed discovery. A judge would likely not even accept a defendant’s guilty plea on a serious case like this unless and until they’ve reviewed the discovery and all of the State’s evidence. There are probably tens of thousands of pages of police reports, photos, forensic data on the various devices, etc., and he’s been counseled on any legal or evidentiary issues at play. It’s really nuts to expect him to just plead guilty without him and his team doing a proper case work up. And he may very well end up pleading out! But it’s not gonna happen overnight.
* A judge would likely not even accept a defendant’s guilty plea on a serious case like this unless and until they’ve reviewed the discovery and all of the State’s evidence, there are probably tens of thousands of pages of police reports, photos, forensic data on the various devices, etc., and he’s been counseled on any legal or evidentiary issues at play.
It just doesn’t make sense. Why would a court ask him to plea guilty or not guilty if they will only accept him saying not guilty? There would be no point to entering a plea at all at this time.
That’s B.S. that no one pleads guilty. Effing Chris Watts pled guilty. Obviously most people say they’re not guilty, but don’t tell this lady that it’s NEVER done.
Defendants get an insane amount of leeway in this country. He should be counting his lucky stars that he has all of these opportunities and loopholes to stay out of jail for now. They’d have a field day with him in there.
First of all, please calm down. I’m not sure why you seem so hyped up about something that has nothing to do with you, I had a respectful back and forth with someone without calling his/her comments BS or putting words in her/his mouth. Perhaps you should aim to do the same when you comment, we all should do our part to make the internet a kinder place where you can disagree with someone without being a jerk.
Secondly, when did I use the word never? Oh yeah, I didn’t. I wrote that nobody pleads guilty off the bat (and I was specifically talking about serious cases like Josh Duggar’s case). Chris Watts reached a plea deal prior to entering a plea. He plead guilty to charges in exchange for the DA taking the death penalty off the table. Watts was arrested and charged in August 2018 and entered his guilty plea and was sentenced in November. The Watts case resolved very quickly, unusually quickly, for a murder case and especially for a murder case where the death penalty was initially on the table.
Josh Duggar was arrested on April 29, 2021 and was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea on April 30th. The raid by Homeland Security was in November 2019. We have no idea if there was any meaningful contact or negotiations between Josh’s legal team and the US Attorney’s Office prior to the charges coming down in April. Sometimes defendants are aware of investigations and hammer out a plea deal prior the charges being filed and will enter a guilty plea at their first court appearance and then be sentenced. That is obviously not what happened here. Josh may very well end up entering a guilty plea but it will be after his attorneys have done their jobs (keep in mind that attorneys have ethical obligations in their representation of criminal defendant clients and that defendants can seek post-conviction relief for ineffective assistance of counsel).
Defendants really don’t get an “insane amount of leeway in this country.” Anyone can find stories where ridiculous things happen in cases and horrible, tragic outcomes ensure, but these types of stories are anecdotal and not representative of what actually happens in criminal courtroom across the US. I think the leeway you mention are protections, constitutional protections, meant as a check against abuses by law enforcement and prosecutors, and these abuses are a real thing that occur far too regularly. I think too often these protections are not there and that is why there have been so many convicted murders exonerated by DNA evidence after decades in prison.
Just because we all think Josh Duggar is a vile predator doesn’t mean we should throw out the constitution, stomp on his rights and pray he gets raped in jail or prison.
I’m not implying you wished prison rape upon Josh, this is just something I’ve seen all over the internet and it disgusts me. Josh getting raped or harmed in prison isn’t going to do anything to mitigate the harm he has caused his victims or help them to heal, we should also be better than that. I hope that when Josh ends up in prison that he is able to serve his sentence without the fear of being physically or sexually assaulted and without that actually happening. If Josh gets assaulted in prison it just shows us that our prisons are not safe. All people, even convicted criminals, should be able to their lives without being harmed or without that possibility hanging over their heads. Sadly, prison rape is a very real thing that happens and our prisons are very violent.
Quit stalling and lock this guy up already. Nobody needs him out on the streets. Should have happened years ago.
Josh Dugger is a demented Monster! If he gets off with a light sentence then I have completly lost faith in the Justice System!
You still have faith in the justice system? No way is he getting a tough sentence. Most likely he will get probation. Just like the white swimmer who was caught IN THE ACT of raping a woman, Josh will get a lenient sentence. No way is he getting 10+ years
This is a totally expected request. The idea of a complex federal case going to trial mere months after the defendant’s arrest and arraignment is nuts.
Josh is a total, complete dirtbag. He will pay for these crimes. But even the biggest dirtbag has a right to a defense and it takes time to properly prepare a case. This case was NEVER going to go to trial in July 2021 and anyone who expected it would go then doesn’t have knowledge or experience with the court system, which is fine.
Just don’t read anything into the defense’s request for a setover.
It’s not Josh trying to get away with something. It has nothing to do with JimBob. It’s 100% the defense attorneys needing time to do their jobs.
We want Josh to have a fair trial and good defense attorneys so that when he is convicted (and he will be) and is sentenced to decades in prison, he won’t be able to say he was denied a fair trial because he wasn’t granted enough time to prepare or that he had ineffective assistance of counsel.
Josh sucks.
You’re absolutely right, trial’s take time, especially to get damning evidence.
When it happened to my family, investigators came to our home to speak with us and take photos of my daughters to make sure that they weren’t in his photos or videos. It was sickening and I cried for months for unknowingly allowing that monster in my home around my daughters.
Will they be able to bring up his past behavior?
What he did to his sisters?
I’m sure his attorneys would try and have all that blocked.
They will have to litigate what prior bad acts evidence is allowed in. I doubt the molestation stuff will come in and I don’t think it should. If he’s convicted they may be able to bring it up during his sentencing hearing.
Just remember that he is being charged for doing soecific things on his computer. He’s not on trial for every shitty thing he’s ever done. The jury hearing that he molested his young sisters would be highly prejudicial and I don’t see how a juror knowing about that stuff would help them determine if he downloaded, viewed and shared child sex abuse materials in 2018/2019 (I don’t know the dates of the crimes alleged in the indictment).
Oh please! His mommy and daddy are paying some high priced lawyer to keep their perverted son out of jail! They could care less if doing so jeopardizes children in the family and children outside of the family. They all make me sick! Someone needs to step in and protect these children (including his own) while he tries to figure out (with the help of his enabling family) how to weasel his way out of jail. Anna sure as shit won’t protect her kids from Josh. She has had red flags smacking her in the face from day one. She has chosen to ignore them and put her own children in jeopardy. What was her comment? “I stand by my husband, as I always have.” Lady, who in the hell is standing by your children? I hope no judge or jury falls for this bullshit!
@Gemma- AGREED!
Gemma.
?. Agree.
That idiot Anna will probably go see him in prison every week. And take the kids
I swear if this POS is given any opportunity to prove he “innocent” then I give up. He admits to molesting his SISTERS (which is absolutely disgusting AF) AND he admits to cheating on his wife. He is a disturbed person. So answer me this, does it seem SOOO radical that he is also sicko who likes to look children? There better be some justice coming.
That’s how the criminal justice system is supposed to work. Josh’s parents can afford to hire expensive attorneys so yes he will be given time to prepare for court.
Of course I’m not defending pos Josh, and of course he did the disgusting crimes and should be punished to the max.
I’m merely just stating facts of the court system. Big trials like this where a lot of imprisonment is involved will take time to go to court. Especially since they could afford to hire expensive attorneys.
He needs to be locked away from society. He’s got some nerve looking for a technicality to weasel out of the consequences. The fact that his idiot wife has no problem making him a constant stream of potential victims makes me incredibly angry. Idk why CPS doesn’t take the kids from her other than the fact that religious people protect their own. She’s guilty of repeatedly turning a blind eye.
Anna and the rest of the Duggar’s know that Josh is a perverted pedophile! I believe I read that the child p0rn he had on his computer depicted some of the most vile they had ever seen. With children as young as 18 months! His children are all the age of all of the children that he had p0rn of. And, the judge lets him out AND gives him access to his kids as long as Anna is present. Like she would do anything! This has pissed me off so bad! And, I also think about the innocent children that he had child p0rn of. Those kids are being sexually abused and splashed on the internet for perverts like him. I hope those kids have been rescued from abuse.
How convenient, let the poor guy spend one last holiday with his family AND give him enough time to get his wife pregnant again before he’s locked up for life! Scumbag!
I wonder if Josh would be so hyped for an extension if he was spending his time inside of prison, making new friends and learning new handshakes?
I hate that smarmy fuck, and if they extend, make him sweat it out in an Arkansas chain gang.
Well, I wasn’t prepared to feel my blood boil today but here I am. I sincerely hope that his enabling parents go broke by paying for these high priced lawyers and I also hope that, despite said lawyers attempts at getting this disgusting ped0 exonerated, he spends the rest of his life rotting in prison. I also hope that each and every one of his victims can push through their horrific trauma and begin to heal.
Amen girl!