6 Sad and Shocking Things We Heard at Josh Duggar’s Trial
Here are 6 things we learned from the trial so far,
Sketch of Josh Duggar in federal court for his child porn trial | Artist: John Kushmaul
Josh Duggar is currently reaping the whirlwind. His federal trial, which began last week in Arkansaw and which just saw the Defense rest, sees the former 19 Kids and Counting star and frequently professing Christian defending against charges of possessing child pornography.
Specifically, the prosecution alleges that Duggar, 33, downloaded more than 200 images in 2019, some of which were found deleted in the recycle bin. These vessels for Duggar’s horrific masturbatory fantasies depicted child sex abuse involving children ranging from 18 months to 12 years of age, with FBI Agent Faulkner describing them as “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”
Here are 6 things we learned from the trial so far, from the Associated Press:
1. That child porn was found on the computer that he used for work is beyond dispute. His defense attorneys say that someone else put it there, pointing to the absence of porn on his phone and computer as evidence it wasn’t him.
2. “Federal prosecutors have detailed logs showing, minute by minute, the activity on Duggar’s computer that alternated between him sending personal messages, downloading child porn and saving pictures of notes.”
3. Duggar created a partition on his computer that dual booted to the Linux operating system. On the desktop visible to everyone else, there was a business computer running windows that the program Covenant Eyes installed on it. This was used to hold Josh accountable after it was revealed he’d been consuming ungodly amounts of pornography after he got busted for cheating on his wife during the Ashley Madison privacy breach, as well as molesting four of his sisters. As far as anyone knew, that computer was only used for business.
When booted into Linux, which is done from resetting the computer, it gave him access to an encrypted browser used to bypass the accountability software and to keep and store photographs on the hidden hard drive.
4. Justice Department computer expert James Fottrell “provided details obtained from a backup of Duggar’s iPhone, made on a MacBook Pro laptop, that placed the phone at the car lot on the exact dates and times that the illegal material was downloaded, accessed and shared on the dealership’s desktop computer, putting him at the scene.”
5. “A car receipt naming “Josh” as the sales agent was found behind the partition where the child pornography was downloaded, the Democrat-Gazette reported. And the password to access the hidden section was a variation on passwords Duggar had used on other personal devices for at least five years, and which included his birthday”
6. Duggar has his own computer expert which agrees that porn was downloaded on the computer, and it was done over the three days that Josh was there at work and in the building, but says that there is no proof it was Josh, as he may have been hacked and is possibly a victim of someone wanting to frame him.
The trial will hear closing arguments today, and then the jury decision. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each count.