Josh Duggar' fate has been sealed.
A jury on Thursday found the previous reality star, political activist and father of seven guilty of 2 charges of wittingly receiving and possessing kid pornography, additionally referred to as child statutory offense material.
He faces up to twenty years of imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines when his conviction on each counts — though, as a result of possession may be a lesser enclosed offense, he can solely be sentenced for the receipt crime.
His sentencing is anticipated in four months however a date hasn't been scheduled unfinished a pre-sentence investigation.
Shortly when his conviction, Duggar, 33, was junction rectifier away in handcuffs by U.S. marshals — and he was seen growing visibly overwrought as he paused to talk in brief together with his wife, Anna.
Outside the courthouse, authorities celebrated the guilty verdicts. "A kid predator has been delivered to justice," aforesaid motherland Security' resident agent-in-charge, Billy Riggins.
"First and foremost, this shows that nobody is on top of the law," Clay Fowlkes, the acting U.S. lawyer for the Western District of Arkansas, told reporters beside Riggins.
Duggar' attorneys vowed to attractiveness however aforesaid they "respect the jury' verdict."
Duggar had been unproven in judicature in Fayetteville, Arkansas, since last week with Pakistani monetary unit and a few members of the family observance daily from the front row. pappa Jim Bob et al. attended Thursday to listen to the verdict.
Afterward, they left in a very cluster and didn't speak with the press.
By the time the jury began deliberating, prosecutors and also the defense had painted 2 whole separate portraits of Duggar: either he was a classy criminal seeking out depraved content regarding kids or he was a naive native man of affairs with a homeschooled GED inadvertently exploited by somebody else. Jurors had to make a decision who to believe.
Their finding comes regarding 2 years when Homeland Security agents initial searched Duggar' Wholesale Motorcars in 2019, seizing two personal devices and a piece desktop that became key to the case.
The nineteen children associated investigation alum was later on indicted earlier this year on each of his charges, with prosecutors at his trial showing proof he had devised an elaborate hidden system on his work laptop with that to look at the kid smut over 3 days in might 2019.
In his gap statement to the jury, Assistant u. s. professional person Dustin Roberts urged them to "hold [Duggar] accountable."
The prosecution' main witness was James Fottrell, director of the Department of Justice' engineering fact-finding Unit, who in person analyzed Duggar' three devices.
In testimony over 3 days, Fottrell testified that he found proof that photos and videos of kids (some younger than 10) being sexually abused may are accessed then deleted from a separate password-protected OS on Duggar' work computer.
Fottrell conjointly careful various specific and time-and-place connections that investigators found — the same password, similar programs, geolocated and timestamped texts and photos — between Duggar' whereabouts and once the black material was downloaded and viewed.
Other prosecution witnesses closed the little Rock, Arkansas, detective who aforesaid he initial discovered a laptop victimization the informatics address at Duggar' automobile heap was sharing porn online. two agency agents involved at intervals the search of his business were to boot called, as were two men who remembered Duggar being tech-savvy and listening to the thanks to install a second computer code on a laptop to escape monitoring. AN govt from Covenant Eyes, Infobahn "accountability" software program Duggar used, conjointly spoke regarding its functionalit
In the most emotional testimony from the prosecution' case, old family friend Bobye Holt testified that Duggar double admitted to her — in 2003 and 2005 — that he had ill-treated four Jane will from once he was twelve to when he was 15. one in all the women was 5. (The defense unsuccessfully tried to dam Holt' testimony.)
The defense, crystal rectifier by Justin Gelfand, referred to as solely 2 witnesses however conjointly used their cross-examinations to create a parallel argument: that police were each too sloppy and too slow in investigation kiddie porn connected to Duggar' automotive heap that led them to ignore key clues regarding whether or not Duggar was hacked or exploited by a former worker or somebody else at the business.
"If you wish an honest mystery, then this is often the case for you," Gelfand same in his gap statement, contestation that "the actual rhetorical path presents a lot of queries than answers."
non-public forensic examiner Michele Bush testified for 2 days for the defense that she believed the idea of "remote access" was probable and will not be dominated out. Gelfand conjointly noted she was restricted in her associate degreealysis as a result of enforcement didn't seize Duggar' work router or different devices at the automotive lot. (On the stand, the Homeland Security agents same something not confiscate was "cleared" via an on-the-spot review which the router wasn't relevant.)
Bush and Fottrell' dueling testimonies ultimately took up the bulk of the trial.
Duggar' arrest was solely the newest in a very series of non-public scandals that rocked his family: the truth show that initial created all notable was canceled in 2015 once a 2006 police report was free revealing he had been investigated for molesting the four younger women when he was a boy and teenager.
Later in 2015, Duggar additionally admitted to having a smut addiction and being "unfaithful" in his marriage.
A byproduct of nineteen children and investigation that followed his siblings, referred to as investigation On, was canceled after his arrest on the kid pornography charges.
in a {very} statement instantly once their son was charged, folks Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said: "The accusations brought against banterua these days are very serious. it's our prayer that the truth, irrespective of what it is, will come back to light, which this may all be resolved in a timely manner. we tend to love Josh and [his wife] Pakistani monetary unit and still pray for his or her family."