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We’re just weeks away from the long-delayed start of Josh Duggar’s child pornography trial.
Among those who wish to see Josh locked up for a very long time — a group that seems to include just about everyone except for his immediate family — there’s a mounting fear that the 33-year-old will somehow beat the charges against him.
After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that Josh committed an appalling sex crime and got off scot-free.
This time, however, it looks increasingly as though Josh will finally be held accountable for his actions.
The past several weeks have seen Josh suffer one legal setback after another.
When Duggar’s attorneys requested that the start of his trial be delayed from July to November, they claimed that they did so so that they would have more time to prepare.
It quickly became clear, however, that they hoped to prevent the case from ever going to trial at all.
Josh’s legal team filed five motions to dismiss evidence, but each of them were eventually denied by the judge.
They attempted to convince the judge that Josh’s case should be dismissed due to what they claimed were unscrupulous methods used by investigators and the prosecution.
In the end, however, these stratagems failed, and Josh’s trial is set to begin on November 30 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Josh has apparently chosen not accept a plea deal, as the deadline for cooperating with prosecutors was October 18.
It’s a bold move on Josh’s part to take his chances at trial — and he might be regretting it in the light of this week’s developments.
According to local NBC affiliate KARK, the Western District of Arkansas has filed paperwork to maintain possession of a desktop computer allegedly belonging to Josh that was seized when agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided his office in 2019.
The desktop is one of eight devices that were seized on the day of the raid, including Josh’s iPhone and laptop.
Josh’s lawyers have been arguing that the laptop doesn’t belong to their client, but a photo of Josh’s hands that was taken on the day of his arrest reportedly disproves this.
(Prosecutors say a scar that can be seen in the photo matches with the photos that were found on the computer.)
Now, it seems that incriminating material was found on the desktop, as well.
And it’s possible that prosecutors are seeking to keep the device as a sort of insurance, in case the defense is somehow able to create a shadow of a doubt with regard to whom the laptop belongs to.
Needless to say, this is not an encouraging development for Josh.
His lawyers’ central argument is that evidence was mishandld to the point that there’s no way to link Josh to the images and videos that were found during the raid of his workplace.
If evidence was found on multiple devices, that argument will be much more difficult to prove.
Something tells us that Josh really wishes he had accepted that plea deal right about now.
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