LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — A federal appeals court upheld Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sexual abuse photographs on Monday, rejecting his contention that a judge should have withheld statements he made to investigators during the search that led to the images.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Duggar’s appeal, which was the subject of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” Duggar was convicted in 2021 and is currently serving a 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence.
Josh Duggar was probed by federal authorities when a Little Rock police investigator discovered child sexual assault material being transmitted by a computer linked to Duggar. Investigators stated that photos showing child sexual abuse, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at Duggar’s car business.
Josh Duggar’s attorneys contended that statements he made to detectives during the dealership search should not have been admitted at trial because his attorney was absent. According to prosecutors, Duggar asked the agents, “‘What is this all about? “Has anyone downloaded child pornography?” he refused to acknowledge if he had looked at such material on the internet, comments that were later cited as evidence in the prosecution.
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A federal appeals court upheld Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sexual abuse photographs on Monday.
Although Josh Duggar was read his rights, the appeals court stated that the agents questioning him made it obvious that he was not in custody and was free to leave. The panel also noted that he had not been arrested after his interrogation.
“To the contrary, he ended the interview on his own and then left the dealership — hardly an option available to someone in custody,” the court decided.
An attorney for Josh Duggar, Justin Gelfand, stated that they disagreed with the court’s rationale and would consider all possibilities.
The court also rejected Josh Duggar’s claim that his counsel should have been allowed to inquire about a prior sex-offense conviction of a former dealership employee who had used the same computer. After the judge ruled that they could not discuss the past conviction, Duggar’s counsel did not call the former employee to testify.
A federal appeals court upheld Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading child sexual abuse photographs on Monday.
The panel decided that the court struck the correct balance by allowing the former employee to be questioned without bringing up the previous conviction. The court also dismissed Duggar’s appeal to the analyst’s qualifications, who testified that the former reality star’s iPhone metadata linked him to the crime.
Following allegations that Duggar had assaulted four of his sisters and a carer years previously, TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015. After receiving a tip from a family friend, authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 but determined that the statute of limitations on any potential charges had lapsed.
After the claims arose in 2015, Duggar’s parents said he admitted to the fondling and apologized privately. Duggar then publicly apologized for inappropriate behavior and resigned from her position as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization. Months later, he publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and admitting to a pornographic addiction for which he sought therapy.
SOURCE – (AP)
