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To everyone who’s able to look at the situation with any objectivity, it’s obvious that the prosecution’s case against Josh Duggar is air-tight.
Ever since Josh was arrested on child pornograhy charges back in April, his lawyers have been working diligently to create a shadow of a doubt about his guilt.
Most of their efforts have been rebuffed, and it now seems more certain than ever that Josh will be going to prison for a very long time.
After the judge in Duggar’s case denied four motions to dismiss evidence filed by the defense, it was widely assumed that Josh would accept a plea deal.
The deal would obviously involve some prison time, but the sentence would be considerably shorter than the forty years that Josh is facing if the case goes to trial.
But amazingly, the deadline for accepting such a deal has now passed, and it looks as though Josh didn’t even consider playing it safe by cooperating with prosecutors.
According to the Pretrial Scheduling Order, Josh had until October 18 to accept a plea agreement and change his non guilty plea.
Now, UK tabloid The Sun is reporting that Josh has not changed his plea, and thus will be going ahead with the effort to prove his innocence in court.
If Josh were to plead guilty now, he would be entering an “open plea,” meaning that there would be no deal with prosecutors, and he would be throwing himself on the mercy of the court.
Needless to say, that probably won’t be happening.
While the move on Josh’s part is clearly foolush, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
After all, he’s maintained his innocence from the very beginning, and amazingly, he has quite a few supporters in his corner.
Josh’s parents, Michelle and Jim Bob, and his wife, Anna, are all convinced that he’ll be proven not guilty in court.
In fact, Anna is convinced that Josh has been framed by the Biden administration and would not have been arrested if Trump had been re-elected.
That argument probably won’t fly in court, but it speaks to the level of delusion within the Duggar family these days.
As for what argument the defense will rely on — well, that’s unclear at the moment.
Most of their pre-trial stratagems have involved claims that investigators either obtained evidence illegally or mishandled so badly that the judge should declare a mistrial.
Both of these arguments appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
Josh’s lawyers argued that an incriminating photo of his hands was obtained illegally, but the judge wasn’t having it.
(The image links Josh to the laptop on which the pornographic images were found. Josh has maintained that the computer never belonged to him.)
They also insisted that police misplaced evidence that might have exonerated Josh by failing to confiscate phones belonging to Josh’s employees.
(Yes, the known sexual predator is claiming that the illegal materials actually belonged to his employees.)
The judge dismissed the claim that the authorities “failed to preserve any evidence obtained during these searches” during a hearing held on September 27.
So Josh has known for several weeks now that he really doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
And yet, he passed on what might be his last opportunity to avoid spending the next four decades behind bars.
It seems Josh really believes he has a chance at beating the charges — but other than his wife and his parents, no one else shares that belief.
So unless Josh’s legal team succeeds in having his trial date pushed back again, the disgraced former reality star will go in front of a judge on November 29.
Something tells us this gamble won’t work out well for him.
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