Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing about attempts Josh Duggar’s legal team has made to suppress pieces of evidence and to potentially get the charges against the former 19 Kids and Counting star dismissed. Currently, he faces two charges, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. His trial is supposed to kick off later in 2021, and now we know it will kick off with at least four of the five pieces of evidence being questioned intact.
The main story that’s been running around in recent weeks has been about photos of Josh Duggar’s hands and feet, which were taken while Duggar was in custody with authorities. The latter contended Duggar’s hands have a scar that helped authorities determine he was the person responsible for using the computer at the heart of the child pornography case. Duggar’s legal team has said those images were not obtained through proper protocols, while authorities have said Duggar complied and his hands in particular were openly able to be seen while the former reality star was in the process of being arrested and after.
Now, it seems, Josh Duggar’s legal team has lost that motion to suppress, as well as three others. A fifth motion has yet to be ruled on by a judge. The four motions that were denied, according to a local KNWA report, can be seen below.
1. Motion to suppress statements and request for evidentiary hearing.2. Motion to dismiss for Government’s failure to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence.3. Motion to suppress photographs of Duggar’s hands and feet while in custody.4. Motion to dismiss indictment for violation of the appointments.
In addition, People reports on the aforementioned fifth motion, which they also say was another motion to “suppress evidence” and that a judge has not weighed in on that fifth motion yet. Josh Duggar's legal team has not commented on what transpired in court in Fayetteville, Arkansas this week; however, the 19 Kids and Counting Star was seen leaving court with his pregnant wife Anna on Monday of this week. Anna Duggar is allegedly due to have the couple's seventh child this fall and has reportedly stood by her husband's side during the months he has been out on bail.
The court case has already been pushed back once after Josh Duggar's legal team argued they needed more time to sift through the evidence related to the case. The new court date is expected to kick off on November 18th of this year with the jury trial following on November 30th. It will feature evidence that authorities picked up at the used car lot Josh Duggar was working at when it was the subject of a raid in 2019.
The former reality star had spoken with authorities at the time of the raid on the property. The argument related to one of the motions that was dismissed this week had to do with whether or not Duggar was in custody at the time he spoke with authorities and answered some key questions related to the case. A judge ruled today that he was not in custody and spoke of his own free will, so that evidence will be a part of the court case.
Josh Duggar, who was arrested this spring, faces up to 20 years of prison on both charges for a total sentence of up to 40 years. Monetary financial penalties of up to several hundred thousand dollars could also be incurred if the TV personality is found guilty. More than 200 child pornography files were allegedly found on the computer that agents on the case say can be tied back to Duggar.
