Josh Duggar Suffers Major Legal Defeat; Judge DENIES Motion to Have Case Dismissed!
Josh Duggar is headed to trial!
Lawyers for the disgraced former reality star have been working for months to try and have Josh’s case dismissed.
It became clear early on that their main goal in having Josh’s trial date pushed back was not gaining more time to prepare, but searching for loopholes that would prevent the case from going to trial at all.
And to their credit, they tried just about everything.
The defense argued that a photo of Josh’s hands should be ruled inadmissible, as cops violated his civil rights by making him pose for the pic.
They also claimed that cops might have intentionally destroyed evidence that would exonerate Josh when they interviewed one of his co-workers and gave the man his cell phone back without thoroughly searching it first.
The lawyers tried to claim that this man was the real culprit, and had police simply opened his photo app, they would have found a stash of child pornography.
These are obviously long-shot strategies, and thankfully, the judge saw right through them.
The defense filed five motions to have evidence dismissed, and four of them were denied during a hearing held on September 27.
This was the same occasion on which Josh walked out of the courtroom with a smile on his face.
At the time, many media outlets speculated that he had received good news from the judge.
Now, however, it seems that Josh was simply maintaining a facade for the sake of the TV news cameras.
And it may have been the moment when he realized he really is going to prison.
Now, U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks has written a lengthy memo explaining exactly why he denied the motions, and reading the judge’s statement hopefully led Josh to the realization that his fame and his father’s money aren’t gonna help him here.
“All motions were denied from the bench following an in-person evidentiary hearing on September 27, 2021,” Judge Brooks wrote.
“The Court has orally explained its reasons for denying the motions; the following Order provides further explanation. To the extent anything in this Order differs from what was stated from the bench, this Order will control.”
First, he shot down the ridiculous claim about the photos of Josh’s hands.
“There is no legal authority to suggest agents needed a warrant before they could photograph Mr. Duggar’s hands and feet. Mr. Duggar consented to being photographed,” thr judge stated.
“Therefore, no fourth Amendment violation occurred.”
As for the claim that investigators let the real culprit slip away last year when they raided a car dealership owned by Josh, the judge rightly dismissed it as nonsense:
“The Court finds that law enforcement’s decision not to forensically search and image certain electronic devices was made pursuant to a good-faith belief that such additional investigative steps were unnecessary,” the judge ruled in opposition.
“Valid reasons may exist to criticize law enforcement’s thoroughness (or lack thereof) on cross-examination, but the Court is simply not persuaded that law enforcement’s actions rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation of due process that would require the dismissal of the indictment against Mr. Duggar.”
Josh’s lawyers also claimed that Josh was illegally held against his will when investigators questioned him while he was seated in the backseat of a car.
“It is also undisputed that the passenger-side door next to where Mr. Duggar was seated remained unlocked throughout the interview,” Judge Brooks wrote.
“The Court therefore finds that Mr. Duggar was not restrained, and this factor weighs in the Government’s favor.”
In their unlikeliest Hail Mary attempt, Josh’s attorneys claimed that the investigation into his alleged crimes was unlawful, as the agents who conducted iwt were acting under someone who was “improperly appointed as Acting Secretary” of the Department of Homeland Security.
Not surprisingly, the judge dismissed that claim as “frivolous,” adding that there is “no legal support for Mr. Duggar’s claim that an indictment handed down by a properly impaneled grand jury would be subject to dismissal due to an alleged Appointments Clause violation.”
Josh is due back in court for a pre-trial conference beginning November 16, and his trial is set to begin on November 30.
If he wasn’t nervous before, we’re sure the judge’s memo is giving him major cause for concern.
Source: Read Full Article