Josh Duggar BEGS for more time to convince court to throw out suspicious photos of his hands from child pornography case
JOSH Duggar is begging for more time to convince a judge to throw out suspicious photos of his hands from his child pornography case, The Sun can exclusively reveal.
Josh, 33, was arrested and charged with possessing and receiving child pornography in April.
As The Sun previously reported, Josh’s legal team filed a motion to suppress, which means to not be used in court, “photographs law enforcement took of Duggar’s hands and feet while requiring him to pose for the photographs in custody.”
Josh’s attorneys claimed authorities “did not have a warrant which authorized the taking of the photographs” and that they were taken without his lawyer present.
The court filing provided the three images taken while Josh was in custody on April 29, 2021.
In the photos, Josh has his hands stretched out over his feet, as the pictures are taken from an angle above him.
The court papers argued that law enforcement “must obtain a warrant which permits photographing a defendant’s body parts (other than a simple booking photograph) and to permit requiring a defendant to pose in a particular manner for these types of photographs.
Josh’s team called the photographs an “intrusion on [his] personal rights” and asked they be removed from evidence.
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The government responded by demanding the judge deny the request.
The court papers claim Josh “expressly consented to having the photographs taken.”
The papers continued: “The photographs document a scar on the defendant’s hand, which is plainly visible.
“Law enforcement observed the same scar in images recovered from the defendant’s electronic devices seized pursuant to a search warrant in this case.”
The documents continue to allege that the photographing of his hands “did not constitute an unreasonable or warrantless search of the defendant” and that “his hands were in plain view and clearly visible.”
He was not ordered to remove an article of clothing for the photographs.
The Sun can exclusively reveal Josh requested an extension of seven days to respond to the government’s argument regarding his hand photos.
The court papers read: “Due to the complexity of the legal issues raised in Duggar’s motions and the arguments in response raised by the Government, the defense requires additional time to prepare Duggar’s replies in support.”
REQUEST TO DISMISS CASE
Josh will also respond to his request to have the case dismissed all together.
Attorneys for the disgraced 19 Kids and Counting star filed a motion to dismiss the case because the government allegedly failed to “preserve potentially exculpatory evidence,” which is evidence favorable to a defendant that could exonerate him of the crime.
The court papers claim certain people had access to Josh’s used car lot Wholesale Motorcars’ wireless internet.
Though law enforcement searched the witnesses’ devices, they allegedly “failed to preserve any evidence obtained during these searches.”
The first witness interviewed on December 16, 2019 is described as a “person of interest.”
The court papers read: “Witness #1 admitted to investigators he worked at the Car Lot at various times and that, on several occasions, he even stayed at the Car Lot overnight without Duggar’s knowledge or permission.
“Witness #1 admitted to viewing adult pornography through websites he accessed through the internet on his cellular phone and, when asked by these federal agents, denied viewing child pornography.”
The witness’ cell phone was searched and no child pornography was found.
Authorities “preserved no evidence whatsoever from the search of Witness #1’s phone including its contents and metadata,” according to court papers.
The court docs then mention two more witnesses whose devices were examined.
Neither had criminal activity and “HSI preserved no evidence whatsoever from the search of Witness #3’s phone including its contents and metadata.”
The court papers continued: “Where the evidence the Government failed to preserve is potentially exculpatory, dismissal is mandated if the Government acted in bad faith in destroying or failing to preserve the potentially exculpatory evidence.”
Seeing the evidence is crucial for the defense, as they said of one example “the devices may have contained content as to whether these devices had any relevant internet search history, any evidence associated with the so-called ‘dark web’ and/or the Bit Torrent network, any metadata that might pinpoint the whereabouts of the devices at various dates and times, and the list goes on.”
The evidence could have “been searched by people with ‘expert skill’ in ‘a properly controlled environment,’” just as Josh’s devices were.
The documents alleged: “This Court should not permit the investigative agents to speak out of both sides of their mouth—to say imaging and preserving digital evidence is not necessary when it comes to one set of devices and to say imaging and preserving digital evidence is justified when it comes to another set of devices in the same investigation.”
Josh’s legal team calls this “troubling” and wrote “the Government concluded the three devices they searched did not further its case against Duggar and therefore deprived Duggar of the opportunity to access this potentially exculpatory evidence.
“Witness #1 even admitted to using his device to access adult pornography via the internet, but the Government failed to preserve the evidence of precisely how he accessed the pornography.”
They are asking to dismiss the case and at minimum “have an evidentiary hearing to determine what can be determined based on the searches performed and to explore the possibility of alternative remedies.”
JOSH’S CASE
As The Sun reported, Josh pleaded not guilty to the two child pornography counts.
Josh requested the court postpone his July trial date “in or after February 2022.”
The trial has been reset to November 30 and has the potential to last until December 3.
The former 19 Kids and Counting star is currently on home confinement until his trial and is living with third party custodians LaCount and Maria Reber, who are longtime friends of Jim Bob and Michelle.
Josh is residing in a massive mansion in Elkins, Arkansas with the Reber family.
The Arkansas judge on the case ordered Josh to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
Josh’s wife Anna, who is pregnant with their seventh child and due in the fall, is standing by her husband and has visited him with their children.
Josh has unlimited access to his children with Anna present.
The family’s reality show Counting On, which Josh has not appeared on, was canceled in light of the scandal.