Could Josh Duggar be on his way to an appeal?
As we’re sure you’re aware, the 34-year-old was found guilty of possessing child pornography just over a year ago. In May, he was sentenced to serve 151 months in federal prison on that conviction after a very public trial. A month later, he was transferred to FCI Seagoville in the Dallas, Texas area, where he is set to live out the 12 remaining years of his sentence. But he isn’t done fighting the conviction yet!
Last October the disgraced reality TV star’s team filed an appeal because apparently he says he deserves a retrial. Wednesday the US Sun released the docs which stated exactly why Josh believes he was treated unfairly:
“Federal agents surveilled Duggar’s business, waiting for him to arrive. The business was accessible only by a divided highway with no sidewalk and was ‘in the middle of nowhere.’ When Duggar arrived, agents—armed and wearing tactical gear—converged in six vehicles. Duggar immediately took out his phone and said he was calling his attorney. [An agent] took the phone from Duggar’s hand, preventing him from calling counsel.”
He says he was “blindsided” and “wasn’t allowed to leave” — but come on, it was an FBI raid. Why would the agents allow their suspect to come and go while they’re in the middle of a bust?
Related: Jinger Duggar Cries Discussing Josh’s Child Porn Scandal
The government argued they let him have total freedom to leave whenever he wanted, but the docs claimed he was essentially trapped there because he had no “means” to leave — he had no vehicle or ride, so he’d have to walk. Uh, we’re failing to see how his lack of getaway car is the government’s fault…
But guys, it looks like this is a real problem in court. On Thursday, the outlet revealed the 19 Kids & Counting star’s attorney Justin Gelfand might just have the upper hand. In court, the lawyer said:
“[Duggar] takes out his phone, physically puts it to his ear… for the purpose of contacting his legal counsel. Federal agents physically took the phone out of his hand and deprived him of the ability to communicate with his legal counsel. He was told he was free to go. No reasonable person in his shoes at that time would believe that.”
As the judge listened, he asked if Josh could’ve gone elsewhere to make a phone call — but Gelfand said it was impossible:
“This lot was accessible only by a highway with no sidewalk, it was in the middle of nowhere. There was nowhere to go. The vehicle he came in was searched, he had no access to it. The keys to the other vehicles in the car lot were in the office. He wouldn’t be allowed to enter without an escort.”
Joshua Handell, for the prosecution, argued that this wouldn’t be the fault of the FBI agents:
“Mr. Duggar was not in custody at any point during the search of the used car lot… Mr. Duggar was repeatedly told he was not in custody and was free to leave. He said his wife was pregnant and expecting soon. He may have to leave in order to contact her. The agent said that’s perfectly fine.”
He continued on to say Josh DID, in fact, leave the scene without issue — and he wasn’t even arrested until over a year later! So what gives?
The judge sees issue with Gelfand’s argument, though. His concerns lie with how Josh’s phone was taken from him:
“I am a little concerned though… The agent knew he was trying to call his counsel. It appears that might have been the only way he could’ve done so. It does concern me when someone makes an attempt to contact counsel… and is unable to call counsel because there is no alternative way to do it. I’ve never seen that before.”
Yeesh.
So all of this could be sent to a retrial because of a small cell phone mishap? So scary to think about…
The case went on, with Handell arguing he could’ve used another person’s phone, and Gelfand snapping back by bringing up the point the FBI could’ve let Josh use one of their phones. The defense lawyer even went on to argue that maybe his client didn’t commit the crime at all! WTF!
Josh’s lawyer quickly shifted blame to that of Caleb Williams, an employee of the car lot:
“[Williams] places himself regularly at the car lot using the only computer seized with child pornography on it. The court deprived Mr. Duggar of that ability.”
Handell didn’t let this slip by, though, arguing that Caleb wasn’t even in the state when the crimes took place. So how could he be at fault if he wasn’t even near the computer? This whole case is such a mess…
The judge didn’t make any decisions yet, however. He put the case in a state of “under advisement” which means he’s not ready to make a ruling and there’ll have to be a lot more thought put into this.
Wow… Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below).
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Washington County Detention Center]
The post Josh Duggar May Get His Appeal?! See What The Judge Is 'Concerned' About appeared first on Perez Hilton.