Josh Duggar has been found guilty on two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. His sentencing is not expected to come down until at least April, though. While he’s being held in a correctional facility in the meantime, it looks like his legal team is making other movies. In fact, his team is trying to get an acquittal.
We’ve known for months what some of the evidence was related to the Josh Duggar child pornography case. The former 19 Kids and Counting star had been working at a car dealership when the Feds showed up. They reportedly found myriad instances of child pornography on a computer that were separated from the rest of the content on the computer via a Linux partition. A federal agent said the images were among “the worst” he’d ever seen.
In addition, the passwords to the porn content were the same as some of the personal passwords that Duggar used for social media, including Instagram. Meanwhile, a scar on Josh Duggar’s hand also seemingly pointed to him being the person to use the computer with the child pornography on it. Duggar was ultimately arrested at the end of April 2021 and was found guilty following a trial at the end of that same year. But that has not stopped his legal team from moving forward with a new strategy.
The latest news notes that Josh Duggar’s legal team, led by Justin Gelfand, filed a 75-page motion on January 19 for acquittal. The argument from the legal team states that the evidence presented during Josh Duggars December of 2021 trial did not offer enough to convict him on the two counts. A portion of the motion, which argues on the basis of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(c), reads (via WGN 9):
The evidence elicited at trial does not support a conviction on either count — even in the light most favorable to the Government. The Government failed to adduce any evidence that Duggar 'knew that the visual depictions were of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct' —a necessary element for conviction of each count.
This new strategy should not be a big surprise for anyone keeping tabs on the case. Josh Duggar’s legal team previously said they would “appeal” the decision that came down at the end of the trial. This isn’t the first time the former star’s legal team has also hoped to for a substantial win, either. Back in October, his team filed a motion to dismiss, a motion the judge called “frivolous” at the time. Now, the legal team would like to see Duggar acquitted, or to see the star given a new trial if the initial argument is declined.
If the current appeal doesn’t work out, those two counts Josh was found guilty of could mean extensive jail time. The former TLC personality could face up to 20 years apiece on each count. And given he was put into solitary confinement for his own safety over the holidays, that could mean a lot of alone time in the future. His wife and the mother of his seven children, Anna Duggar, reportedly calls a lot, though.
We’ll keep you posted if there are any updates to this motion to acquit. Meanwhile, the Duggar sisters have their own trial on the way. That trial was actually supposed to be the same week as Josh’s, but was pushed back into 2022. Four of the Duggar sisters have sued over the molestation report
