For the second time in just over a month, Josh Duggar has earned a legal victory.
Earlier this summer, the disgraceful former reality star was granted an extension on the appeal of his December conviction on child pornography charges.
And now? Well…
… he’s been granted yet another extension.
According to The Sun, Duggar’s legal team still plans to fight back against Duggar having been found guilty by a jury of his peers in late 2021.
They just need more time to get their $hit straight, basically.
“Given the length of the transcript arising out of this criminal jury trial and the complexity of the possible issues on appeal, Duggar respectfully requests an additional 21 days within which to file his opening brief,” reads the recent paperwork submitted by Duggar’s attorneys.
“Additionally, after significant coordination with the Bureau of Prisons, undersigned counsel was finally able to have an attorney-client privileged meeting with Duggar at the Texas facility in which he is detained earlier this week.”
Duggar was sentenced to 151 months in prison this past May.
He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to participate in a “sex offense-specific treatment program” after a jury determined last year that he had downloaded photos and videos of children under the age of 12 engaged in sexual activities.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes said he was pleased with the sentence at the time.
“While this is not the sentence we asked for, this is a lengthy sentence,” Fowlkes said outside the courthouse.
Conversely, Duggar’s lawyer, Justin K. Gelfand, said in a statement to USA TODAY:
“We’re grateful the judge dismissed Count 2 and rejected the Government’s request for a 240-month sentence. We look forward to continuing the fight on appeal.”
That fight now continues.
“A substantive meeting with Duggar was a necessary prerequisite to finalizing Duggar’s opening brief so as to protect Duggar’s rights,” Gelfand and his fellow attorneys just told a judge, arguing that they’ve been unable to file their appeal because they haven’t been able to get together often with their client.
Josh’s legal team assured the judge that the postponement is not intended to “hinder or delay” the proceedings.
The new deadline to file the opening brief is October 3.
Could the appeal succeed?
Could Duggar get released from federal prison a lot sooner than expected?
It seems unlikely. This is mostly just a formality.
Back in May, while issuing his sentence, a judge referred to Josh’s crimes as “the sickest of the sick,” citing the material he was found to have dowloaded of minors being forced to do explicit things.
“You have done some very bad things,” this judge added.
“But in your life as a whole, you’ve done good things… The true test of a man’s character is what a man does when no one is watching.”
Coming down hard on Josh’s insistence that he’s innocent, the judge continued:
“I find it aggravating about the lack of responsibility.”
Currently an inmate at FCI Seagoville near Dallas, Duggar — assuming he loses his eventual appeal — will be released no sooner than August 12, 2032.
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