Jill and Derick Dillard are making it clear that they feel justice has been served, following the conviction of Jill’s brother, Josh Duggar, on Thursday.
Derick was present in court every day during the trial of his brother-in-law Josh, with Jill attending court one day as well. This caused many 19 Kids & Counting fans to wonder if the Dillards were “Team Josh,” despite their estrangement from Jill’s parents.
After the verdict came in on Thursday and Josh was hauled off to jail, the Dillards released a statement on their family website, clarifying why they attended the trial, how they feel about Josh being convicted, and what they feel will happen to Josh’s wife Anna and her seven kids with Josh.
In the statement, Derick and Jill likened the trial to a “funeral,” with many fans taking that as them implying that the life the Duggar Family had previously enjoyed thanks to their fame was over.
“Today was difficult for our family,” Jill and Derick’s statement began, before thanking those who investigated and worked on the case to “save kids and hold accountable those responsible for their abuse.” (Jill came out publicly as one of Josh’s victims in 2015.)
“Nobody is above the law,” the statement continues. “It applies equally to everybody, no matter your wealth, status, associations, gender, race, or any other factor. Today, the people of the Western District of Arkansas made that clear in their verdict.”
Derick and Jill then explained why they chose to be present in the courtroom while witnesses testified about what Josh was being accused of.
“We have been lied to so much that we wanted to hear the evidence for ourselves in court,” Jill and Derick stated.
“After seeing all the evidence as it was presented, we believe that the jury reached a just verdict today, consistent with the truth beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Next, the Dillards— who have stated that they are not allowed to be at Jill’s parents house without her dad Jim Bob‘s permission— discussed how the rest of Josh’s family will be affected by what he has done.
(As The Ashley previously reported, Derick sat next to or near Anna nearly every day during court, and was often seen chatting with her during breaks.)
“Josh’s actions have rippled far beyond the epicenter of the offense itself. Children have scars, but his family is also suffering the fallout of his actions,” they wrote, adding that they know Anna and her seven kids (one of whom is less than two months old) will have to endure a lot more heartache in the future.
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“This trial has felt more like a funeral than anything else,” thy wrote. “Josh’s family has a long road ahead. We stand with them, we are praying for them, and we will seek to support them however we can during this dark time.”
Jill and Derick are the first members of the Duggar Family to make a statement since Josh was convicted on Thursday.
(Photos: TLC; Washington County, Instagram)
13 Responses
The Daily Mail has more details from court regarding the type of videos he was watching and hunting for. Very disgusting torture videos. How can Anna and the family stick by him. Horrific.
Jim bob and Michelle not allowing Jill in their house unsupervised while allowing Josh to live on the property says a lot about who they are as people. They are in no way shape or form godly people. CPS needs to do a welfare check on all the minors on their property.
Heaven forbid Jill pierce her nose or send her kids to public school or Jinger move to Los Angeles. Yet, Jim Bob and Michelle think it’s okay that Josh cheats on his wife, is violent with The Ashley Madison women he hooked up with, molests 5 children, and receives and sends child porn! And their daughters are never protected or received counseling!
This is so messed up. Organized religion is really about control. Anna (and other IBLP women) are clearly controlled, yet men are supposed to be forgiven for doing unspeakable things in the dark. The guy who “gave a stern talking to” Josh back in 2006 (his name was Joseph something) was also convicted of child porn.
Jim Bob, you really picked the wrong kid to stand behind. I can understand why Derrick is scary to you—he doesn’t worship you or TLC and calls out the bad behavior publicly. Obviously the Dillard’s must be watched carefully, yet the child m0lesting, p0rn viewing, adulterer (and that’s just the crimes of which we are aware!) could live on your property, fully funded by YOU!!!
JB, you have some serious atoning and repenting for choosing Josh over the rest of the family.
I find it fascinating how few siblings showed up for any part of the trial. Granted, in their position, I wouldn’t want to face the real details of Josh’s crimes. Of course the little kids shouldn’t appear at court but where are Joe, John David, and all those other boys? I don’t blame Jessa, Jill, Joy, and Jinger for staying largely away. Why should they publicly relive their molestations? I have to give credit to Austin and Derrick for representing their wives and, in so doing, giving JB the middle finger for creating this mess.
Also, pretty sure JB only started attending the trial after being roasted online for staying away. He sucks as a human.
Anna is now essentially a single mom of SEVEN. While that really does suck for her, she also made the choice everyday to stay with him since she found out YEARS ago that he’s a chomo. Even on the last couple of years since the raid, she KNEW this was a possibility and still stayed with him. The brainwashing runs so deep and it really makes me sad for their kids.
The brainwashing is very deep with her. If I’m not mistaken Anna actually knew about it when they started courting. I don’t know how her parents where ok with her dating him knowing that information. I feel terrible for their 7 children and hope none of them are victims too. Also glad there hopefully won’t be an 8th child.
The brainwashing is very deep with her. If I’m not mistaken Anna actually knew about it when they started courting. I don’t know how her parents were ok with her dating him knowing that information. I feel terrible for their 7 children and hope none of them are victims. I’m glad there hopefully won’t be an 8th child though.
I imagine its a combination of “anything to get and keep a man”, and “anything to get and keep a celebrity”
You get what you pay for.
I feel terrible for the victims and his children but Anna needs a heavy deprogramming that will probably never ever come.
I also imagine that Jim Bob will be funding Josh’s family for the foreseeable future as long as she stays loyal.
It’s a very good statement. Hopefully Jill and the others who survived abuse by their brother will get some sense of justice, even though this conviction isn’t specific to their suffering.
The fact that Jill & dereck aren’t allowed over if Jim isn’t home but no rules apply for josh the pedophile sums up the Duggar family values
#teamjill