Josh Duggar DENIED New Trial Ahead Of Child Pornography Sentencing
By MLC on May 25, 2022 at 6:00 AM EDT
Josh Duggar has been DENIED!
A federal judge said “ixnay on the request-ay.”
Okay, a federal judge didn’t literally say that, but he did deny a motion for acquittal or a new trial requested by the former reality TV star’s legal team.
Josh Duggar Denied An Acquittal Or A New Trial
The Blast previously reported the disgraced “19 Kids & Counting” star was found guilty on child pornography charges in Arkansas.
On December 9, 2021, Josh was found guilty for possessing and receiving child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
On Wednesday, May 25, the eldest Duggar sibling will appear in a court of law for his sentencing.
His legal team filed the motion for acquittal or a new trial on January 19. They argued there was insufficient evidence Josh actually viewed child pornographic material found on the office computer at his Arkansas car dealership.
Josh’s attorneys wrote in their motion, “The jury had no evidence that Duggar personally viewed any specific portion of any of the files allegedly found on the computer.”
A Federal Judge Denies Josh Duggar & His Legal Team
Well, Josh and his legal team are SOL.
US District Judge Timothy Brooks disagreed with their motion and wrote in his order on May 24, “Mr. Duggar's argument lacks merit, as there is ample evidence he viewed the images of child pornography that had been downloaded to his business computer."
Judge Brooks also noted that a police detective and a government computer expert both testified during the trial that a number of the hundreds of files that were downloaded had apparently been opened, despite being deleted afterward.
That wasn’t all Judge Brooks pointed out.
He also made it a point to highlight how Josh’s very own expert witness had agreed that a ZIP file of 65 still images of an underage female had been downloaded to the computer, unzipped, placed on the computer’s desktop, and opened in an image viewer.
There's 'Significant Evidence' Josh Possessed & Received Child Pornography
The witness expert also said Josh was at his car dealership on the dates the files were downloaded to his office computer.
"There is no merit to Mr. Duggar's argument in favor of an acquittal. There was significant evidence presented at trial to convince a reasonable jury that Mr. Duggar was physically present during the offense conduct and that he had the means to to commit these crimes," Brooks wrote, referring to Duggar's criminal intent.
Josh was set to be sentenced on April 9, but his legal team was able to get the date postponed by 30 days.
Josh Could Get Up To 20 Years In Prison
The father-of-six will be sentenced tomorrow. Prosecutors have asked for the ex-reality TV star to serve the maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
His legal team has requested he receive a much LESSER sentence of five years.
Josh’s team argues his alleged crimes were far less severe than other prominent child pornography convictions.
