Josh Duggar’s fate has been sealed.
A jury on Thursday found the former reality star, political activist and father of seven guilty of two charges of knowingly receiving and possessing child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material.
He faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines for each conviction — though, because possession is a lesser included offense, he will technically only be sentenced for the receipt crime.
His sentencing is expected in four months but a date hasn’t been scheduled pending a pre-sentence investigation.
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Outside the courthouse, authorities celebrated the guilty verdicts. “A child predator has been brought to justice,” said Homeland Security’s resident agent-in-charge, Billy Riggins.
“First and foremost, this shows that no person is above the law,” Clay Fowlkes, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, told reporters beside Riggins.
Duggar’s attorneys vowed to appeal but said they “respect the jury’s verdict.”
Duggar had been on trial in federal court in Fayetteville, Arkansas, since last week with Anna and some family memberswatching daily from the front row. Dad Jim Bob and others attended Thursday to hear the verdict.
Afterward, they left in a group and did not speak with the press.
Their verdict comes about two years after Homeland Security agentsfirst searched Duggar’s Wholesale Motorcars in 2019, seizing two personal devices and a work desktop that became key to the case.
Center, from left: Anna and Josh Duggar (with Josh’s defense team) enter federal court in Fayetteville, Arkansas.Backgrid
The19 Kids and Countingalumwas subsequently indictedearlier this year on both of his charges, with prosecutors at his trial showing evidence he had devised an elaborate hidden system on his work computer with which to view the child pornography over three days in May 2019.
Inhis opening statement to the jury, Assistant United States Attorney Dustin Roberts urged them to “hold [Duggar] accountable.”
The prosecution’s main witness was James Fottrell, director of the Department of Justice’s High Technology Investigative Unit,who personally analyzedDuggar’s three devices.
In testimony over three days, Fottrell testified that he found evidence that photos and videos of children (some younger than 10) being sexually abused could have been accessed and then deleted from a separate password-protected operating system on Duggar’s work computer.
Fottrell also detailednumerous circumstantial and time-and-place connectionsthat investigators found — a similar password, similar programs, geolocated and timestamped texts and photos — between Duggar’s whereabouts and when the illegal material was downloaded and viewed.
A sketch of Josh Duggar at his federal trial in Fayetteville, Arkansas.John Kushmaul
Other prosecution witnesses included the Little Rock, Arkansas, police detective who said she first discovered a computer using the IP address at Duggar’s car lot was sharing child pornography online. Two Homeland Security agents involved in the search of his business were also called, as were two men who remembered Duggar being tech-savvy and listening to how to install a second operating system on a computer to escape monitoring. An executive fromCovenant Eyes, the online “accountability” software program Duggar used, also spoke about its functionality.
Josh Duggar.Washington county arkansas
“If you like a good mystery, then this is the case for you,” Gelfand said in his opening statement, arguing that “the actual forensic trail presents more questions than answers.”
Private forensic examiner Michele Bushtestified for two days for the defensethat she believed the theory of “remote access” was probable and could not be ruled out. Gelfand also noted she was limited in her analysis because law enforcement didn’t seize Duggar’s work router or other devices at the car lot. (On the stand, the Homeland Security agents said anything not seized was “cleared” via an on-the-scene review and that the router wasn’t relevant.)
Bush and Fottrell’s dueling testimonies ultimately took up the majority of the trial.
A sketch of Josh Duggar’s trial in Fayetteville, Arkansas.John Kushmaul
Duggar’s arrest was only the latest in a series of personal scandals that rocked his family: The reality show that first made them all famouswas canceled in 2015after a 2006 police report was released revealing he had been investigated for molesting the four younger girls when he was a boy and teenager.
Later in 2015,Duggar also admittedto having a pornography addiction and being “unfaithful” in his marriage.
A spin-off of19 Kids and Countingthat followed his siblings, calledCounting On,was canceled after his arreston the child pornography charges.
Ina statementimmediately after their son was charged, parentsJim BobandMichelle Duggarsaid: “The accusations brought against Joshua today are very serious. It is our prayer that the truth, no matter what it is, will come to light, and that this will all be resolved in a timely manner. We love Josh and [his wife] Anna and continue to pray for their family.”
source: people.com
