As followers of his legal ordeal know well, Josh Duggar is scheduled to be sentenced to federal prison on May 25.
According to official guidelines, he could face up to 20 years on each count of child sex abuse for which he was convicted late last year.
Upon making his decision on Duggar’s fate, a judge will weigh numerous factors — from the convicted star’s level of contrition to how the details of his crime stack up against other examples of sex offenders who have been found guilty on similar charges.
Now, meanwhile, we’ve been alerted to another factor in this decision.
According to KNWA, a local news station in Arkansas, one of Josh’s victims provided the prosecution with what is known as an impact statement ahead of sentencing.
The statement was one of two addenda the prosecution submitted to the court on March 18.
These documents were sealed by the court and no details about their contents have been available.
As a result, we’ll likely never know what the impact statement specifically says; nor will we even know who submitted it to the court.
But an impact statement is a frequent took used in sentencing.
Like we cited previously, a judge considers a number of factors when determining just how long a criminal should spend behind bars.
Often, a victim of this criminal’s illegal deeds may choose to speak out and express his/her sentiments to a judge, relaying what he or she went through at the hands of the convict and expressing a desire for the judge to either be lenient in his sentencing or to be harsh.
Typically, for reasons you can imagine, it’s the latter.
On December 9, 2021, Duggar was found guilty of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
A jury of the former TLC personality’s peers decided at the time that Josh had downloaded countless photos and videos of children under 12 years old … engaged in various sex acts.
During the trial, a federal agent testified that one of these videos featured the rape of an 18-month old and was one of the worst things he had ever seen throughout his career in this field.
As for the identity of the victim who submitted the impact statement?
It could be someone related to one of these minors.
But it could also be one of Josh’s victims from many years ago.
From the period, as a teenager, that Duggar confessed to inappropriately touching little girls, at least on one occasion under her dress while he was reading the bible to her.
A number of these molestation victims were Josh’s own sisters.
But we know that at least one of the women was NOT related to Duggar.
Could this individual have now decided to send a message through the prosecution to the judge who will sentence her abuser in a few weeks? In order to make sure Duggar is punished as severely as possible for all his sins?
We don’t know for sure.
But mad props to her if so.
Source: HollyWood Gossip
