2023-08-08 19:12:01
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court Monday upheld Josh Duggar’s conviction for downloading images of child sexual abuse, rejecting the former reality star’s argument that a judge should have omitted the statements. that he did to the investigators during the search in which they found the images.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected the appeal by Duggar, whose large family was featured on the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting.” Duggar was sentenced in 2021 and is serving a sentence of 12 and a half years in prison.
Federal authorities investigated Duggar following a Little Rock police detective discovered that a computer traced to Duggar shared child molestation material. Investigators testified that images depicting sexual abuse of children, including young children, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a Duggar-owned car dealership.
Duggar’s lawyers argued that the statements he made to investigators during the dealership search should not have been included in the trial because his lawyer was not present. Prosecutors said Duggar asked the officers: “What is this all regarding? Has anyone been downloading child pornography?” and that he refused to say whether he had seen such material online, comments that were later used as evidence at trial.
The appeals panel said that although Duggar was read his rights, the officers who questioned him made it clear that he was not in custody and was free to leave. The panel also noted that he was not arrested at the end of his questioning.
“Rather, he finished the interview on his own and then left the dealership, an option hardly available to someone in custody,” the court ruled.
Justin Gelfand, Duggar’s attorney, said they disagreed with the court’s reasoning and would evaluate all options.
The court also dismissed Duggar’s argument that his lawyers might have asked questions regarding the previous sex offense conviction of a former dealership employee who had used the same computer. Duggar’s lawyers did not ask the former employee to testify following the judge ruled they might not mention the prior conviction.
The panel ruled that the judge in the case struck the right balance by allowing the former employee to be questioned without mentioning the prior conviction. The court also rejected Duggar’s objections to the fitness of the analyst who testified that metadata on Duggar’s iPhone linked him to the crime.
TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 when allegations surfaced that Duggar had sexually abused four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 following receiving a tip from a family friend, but concluded that the deadline for filing charges had expired.
Duggar’s parents said following the allegations resurfaced in 2015 that he had confessed to misconduct and apologized privately. Duggar later publicly apologized for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Months later, he also publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and admitted to an addiction to pornography, for which he later sought treatment.
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