Back in May, Josh Duggar was sentenced to 12 and a half years in federal prison on charges of possessing and receiving child pornography.
At the time, his attorneys vowed to appeal Josh’s conviction, and amazingly, the Duggars seemed confident that the known serial sex offender would eventually be exonerated.
But more than ten months after Josh’s conviction, his legal team is no closer to convincing the court of the need for a second trial.
And now we have word of yet another delay in the process.
Back in June, Josh was transferred to Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution, the facility that will serve as his home for the next decade.
(With good behavior, Josh will be eligible for parole in just over 10 years.)
Now, his lawyers are claiming the transfer is preventing them from getting their appeal in order in a timely fashion.
According to documents filed this week, Josh’s attorneys have requested that the judge extend their deadline for filing an appeal.
The problem, they say, is that they’ve had trouble meeting with their client since he’s been locked up in a federal facility in a different state.
(Josh spent the first months of his incarceration in a county jail in Fayetteville, Arkansas, not far from his family’s home in Tontitown.)
Josh’s attorney Justin Gelfand, noted in the filing that he’s not attempting to “hinder or delay” the proceedings.
Gelfand says that the extension is necessary, however, after spending considerable time in “significant coordination with the Bureau of Prisons,” he has been unable to spend sufficient time with his client.
“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,” the documents read.
If the extension is granted, Josh’s lawyers will have until October 3 to file their appeal.
Such delays are not unexpected, but Josh’s family is probably a bit surprised that his legal team has now requested a third filing extension.
After all, these are the same attorneys who insisted after the first trial that the need for an appeal was obvious, and who claimed that they’d be back in court ASAP.
Once the appeal is submitted, it’ll likely take several months before the judge in Josh’s case issues a ruling.
Which means it might be more than a year before he’s back in court.
And that’s if the judge agrees that there’s sufficient cause for a second trial.
Josh’s lawyers are fighting an uphill battle, and by all appearances, they’re struggling before the fight even gets underway.
Hopefully, reality is starting to hit home for Josh, and he’s beginning to realize that he won’t be a free man for a very long time.
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