Josh Duggar Will Be Freed After Feds BOTCHED His Case

Josh Duggar Will Be Freed After Feds BOTCHED His Case

The judge presiding over Josh Duggar’s appeal has expressed concern over behavior exhibited by federal agents tied to his child pornography case. 

The U.S. Sun reports that the fallen reality star’s lawyer, Justin Gelfand, and prosecution attorney, Joshua Handell, faced off in a Kansas City Missouri courtroom, on February 16. 

Josh Duggar was sentenced to 151 months in prison after a jury found him guilty on child porn charges. He filed an appeal in October 2022 and is requesting a new trial. 

The outlet reports that Duggar’s lawyer argued that the feds allegedly seized his phone as he was trying to contact his lawyer during the initial raid at his Arkansas car lot. The raid occurred a year and a half before Duggar’s arrest.

Gelfand stated in court — “[Duggar] takes out his phone, physically puts it to his ear… for the purpose of contacting his legal counsel. Federal agents physically took the phone out of his hand and deprived him of the ability to communicate with his legal counsel.”

He added — “He was told he was free to go. No reasonable person in his shoes at that time would believe that.”

The judge reportedly asked if Josh Duggar could have made a phone call from a neighboring business. Gelfand responded — “This lot was accessible only by a highway with no sidewalk, it was in the middle of nowhere. There was nowhere to go.”

The attorney continued — “The vehicle he came in was searched, he had no access to it. The keys to the other vehicles in the car lot were in the office. He wouldn’t be allowed to enter without an escort.”

Handell responded — “Mr. Duggar was not in custody at any point during the search of the used car lot… Mr. Duggar was repeatedly told he was not in custody and was free to leave. He said his wife was pregnant and expecting soon. He may have to leave in order to contact her. The agent said that’s perfectly fine.”

He went on — “Mr. Duggar did leave the scene at a time of his choosing and without being arrested… Mr. Duggar voluntarily ended the interview. He was not arrested until a year and a half later.”

The judge said — “I am a little concerned though… The agent knew he was trying to call his counsel. It appears that might have been the only way he could’ve done so. It does concern me when someone makes an attempt to contact counsel… and is unable to call counsel because there is no alternative way to do it. I’ve never seen that before.”

Handell noted — “It’s not clear whether there was another way to contact counsel. One of his employees had a cell phone not seized by officers.”

Duggar’s lawyer said — “The agent could’ve said, ‘Use my phone to contact your attorney.’”

Gelfand also mentioned Duggar’s former employee, Caleb Williams, who he alleged could be behind the discovered pornography. 

Duggar’s lawyer said — “Caleb Williams worked at Wholesale Motorcars, which is the scene of the alleged crime. He regularly used the only computer, the HP computer, for purposes that had nothing to do with Wholesale Motorcars or Josh Duggar.”

“He texted Mr. Duggar on May 7, approximately a week before the alleged crime, offering to go watch the lot the following week. He took a photo of Mr. Duggar in the office where the alleged crime occurred. Showing Mr. Duggar used a Macbook, not the HP computer.” 

He added — “He places himself regularly at the car lot using the only computer seized with child pornography on it. The court deprived Mr. Duggar of that ability.”

Handell argued — “The partition section of Mr. Duggar’s computer, which was the part of the computer containing all of the child sexual abuse material, had to have been installed by someone at Mr. Duggar’s computer on May 13, 2019. There is no evidence Mr. Williams was present on the car lot or even in the state of Arkansas on that date.”

“There was abundant evidence Mr. Williams was not present in Arkansas on that date. He was outside Arkansas between May 11 and May 16, the government has receipts, video and live testimony from multiple witnesses that he was outside Arkansas.”

Handell went on to outline more evidence against Duggar — “Text messages place Mr. Duggar at the scene of the crime. On May 15 at 11:15 am, Mr. Duggar sent a text message that read: ‘I’m at my car lot.’ Twenty minutes later at 11:35 am, child sexual abuse material was downloaded on the partition section of Mr. Duggar’s computer.”

He went on to describe other evidence that placed Duggar at the scene of the crime. 

The judge put the case “under advisement” and dismissed the attorneys. 

 

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