Josh Duggar: Will His Trial Be Delayed Following Birth of Seventh Child?

Josh Duggar’s current legal woes began way back in 2019.

It was in November of that year that agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided a car dealership that was owned by Josh.

At the time, little was known about the raid, and most media outlets that covered it concluded that it was probably the result of some relatively minor infraction, such as an illegal hiring practice.

Needless to say, that turned out not to be the case.

In April of 2020, Duggar fans were shocked by the news that Josh had been arrested on child pornography charges.

It’s still unclear why so much time elapsed between the raid and the arrest, but the authorities probably wanted to ensure that their case against Duggar was iron clad before they brought him into custody.

The drama was further drawn out by a request from Josh’s lawyers to delay the start of his trial.

Jury selection was initially supposed to begin in June, but is currently scheduled for November 30.

In a case like this, with dozens of underage victims and potentially hundreds of family members eagerly waiting for justice to be served, expediency is crucial, and the decision to delay the trial was met with outrage.

And now, there are fears that Josh might finagle another stay of execution.

As you might have heard, Josh’s wife, Anna Duggar, welcomed the couple’s seventh child today.

So yes, she got pregnant by Josh knowning that he was being investigated by the federal government for his involvement in a child pornography ring.

Now, the question on the minds of many is this:

Will the birth result in yet more delays in a legal process that’s already proceeding at a glacially slow pace?

The good news is, probably not.

The bad news is, Josh’s lawyers will almost certainly request another delay, which means there’s a remote chance that the trial will be pushed back until 2022.

The defense seems to feel that such delays represent their best chance of beating the odds and earning their client an acquittal or mistrial.

The postponements buy the attorneys time for more pre-trial manuevering, and thus far, they’ve taken advantage of every opportunity that’s presented itself.

Josh’s lawyers have already filed five motions to dismiss evidence, but each one was denied by the court.

But that doesn’t mean they’re done looking for loopholes.

In the past week, two developments have served as reminders of just how much a shrewd defense attorney can accomplish before a case even goes to trial:

First, Josh’s lawyers launched a campaign to prevent the prosecution from using Josh’s past sex crimes against him in court.

It seems like the fact that Josh molested five young girls would obviously be relevant to a second set of allegations of similar crimes, but the defense claims otherwise.

Shortly after embarking on that effort, Josh hired a new lawyer, a specialist from the firm that was already representing him.

A request to the judge to allow this new counselor was submitted and approved on Monday.

Why would a new lawyer be added to Josh’s legal team at such a late date?

That much isn’t clear, but it’s another reminder of how much strategizing has taken place between the time when the trial was supposed to begin and now.

So yeah, don’t be surprised if Josh’s lawyers use the arrival of his seventh kid to try and secure yet another postponement.

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