Josh Duggar’s past molestation scandal ALLOWED to be used at child pornography trial as he faces prison time
JOSH Duggar’s past molestation scandal is allowed to be discussed at his child pornography trial this week despite the disgraced star fighting to keep it out of court.
The 33-year-old, who showed up to court with his wife Anna, will now face trial for child pornography charges from his April 2021 arrest.
At an Arkansas court hearing on Wednesday, a judge ruled in favor of the state’s request to discuss the ex TV star's 2006 molestation police report to the jury, where he was accused of molesting five underage females in the family home from 2002 to 2003.
As The Sun previously reported, the state requested the court allow the molestation report to be used at trial earlier this month, but the defense then filed a response moving to exclude any evidence regarding the scandal.
In order to resolve the matter, the judge called for an evidentiary hearing, held on Monday, in which Duggar's father Jim Bob Duggar and his longtime family friend Bobye Holt were called by the prosecution to testify.
During his testimony, Jim Bob, 56, said he couldn't remember the details of Duggar's admissions that he had touched the victims, identified during the proceeding as Jane Does 1 through 4.
"The Court found Mr. Duggar's selective lapse in memory to be not credible; he was obviously reluctant to testify against his son," Brooks wrote in his ruling on whether to allow the molestation scandal in the trial.
Holt more specifically recalled that Duggar repeatedly admitted, in 2003 and in 2005, to inappropriately touching four Jane Does over and under their clothes.
Because Holt is married to Jim Holt, an elder in the Duggar family's church, the defense tried to get her testimony removed on the basis of clergy privilege, a motion that Brooks denied on Wednesday.
"It is clear from her testimony—which the Court found very credible—that she was not a clergyperson at the time [Duggar] made certain disclosures to her about molesting children," the judge wrote.
The request on Monday read: “Specifically, the government notices its intent to introduce evidence that in approximately 2002 and 2003… the defendant attempted to and did commit a crime as defined by Arkansas state law involving contact between any part of the defendant’s body and a child’s genitals or anus—namely, sexual assault in the second degree.”
Now that it will be introduced at trial, the evidence will include “testimony that the defendant was investigated for, admitted to, and received counseling for touching and sexually molesting multiple minor females, including at least one instance involving the digital penetration of a prepubescent minor.”
The court papers filed on November 3 continued to explain that the evidence can establish Josh’s “propensity to commit the charged child sex offense.”
The documents claimed: “Evidence of the defendant’s molestation of and sexual interest in minor girls—including, in this case, girls in the approximate age range of the victims depicted in the child sexual abuse material the defendant downloaded or attempted to download from the internet—is highly probative of the defendant’s knowing receipt and possession of child pornography on his computer.
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"Evidence of the defendant’s sexual interest in minor girls, as shown through his prior molestation conduct, is especially probative in that it strongly demonstrates that it was the defendant who sought out and possessed the child pornography material at issue in this case and that he did so intentionally.”
JOSH DEMANDS BAN
Josh fought back, as he demanded the judge not allow the government and witnesses from discussing the molestation that took place when he was a minor.
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The documents continued that Josh was a minor at the time of the molestation and that it has “nothing to do with computer-based conduct.”
The filing claimed the conduct “sheds no light on whether Duggar knowingly received or possessed alleged child pornography on three days in 2019 as the indictment alleges.”
The court documents continued: “If the jury were to hear about the allegations lodged against Duggar when he was a minor, an unacceptable risk exists that the jury would convict him in this case, not because the Government has proven him guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt, but because the jury would improperly conclude that the prior allegations against Duggar somehow make it more likely that he committed the charged offenses in this case.”
His legal team also claimed he may have not committed the molestation.
The court papers obtained by The Sun claimed: “There is no question the allegations at issue arise at a time when Duggar was a child and the allegations at issue in this case arise at a time when Duggar was in his 30’s.
“Furthermore, there is no question Duggar was never charged with a crime related to those allegations.”
The defense then claimed that it is “unclear” if the “uncharged allegations actually constitute a crime" of sexual assault in the second degree "under Arkansas state law.”
MOLESTATION SCANDAL
In 2015, InTouch Weekly uncovered a 33-page Arkansas police report.
The police report revealed his father, Jim Bob, confessed to local authorities that Josh fondled the breasts and genitals of five young girls while they were asleep in the family home.
His younger sisters Jill, 29, and Jessa, 28, came forward as two of the victims in an interview with Megyn Kelly, where they insisted they had forgiven Josh, who was never charged, for his sins.
Josh admitted the molestation in a statement at the time on his Facebook page, however, he was never charged.
JILL TO SPEAK
Jill and his brother Jedidiah are set to testify this week, however, it is not clear at the moment if it will be for the prosecution or the defense.
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Jim Bob was forced to take the stand on behalf of the prosecution, and he has received plenty of backlash for not remembering details of his son's past scandal.
It has been said that Josh's trial could last until December 3, and if found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
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