The Josh Duggar child pornography trial won't begin until November 30, but we've already seen several early indications that the disgraced former reality star and Washington lobbyist will be going to prison for a very long time.
Each new day seems to bring another pre-trial legal setback for Josh, and if he was still under the delusion that he has a shot in hell of being acquitted, we'd imagine the past week has disabused him of that notion.
In the past 24 hours alone, two major developments have dealt crushing blows to Josh's defense strategy.
First, we learned that prosecutors intend to use Josh's molestation of his sisters against him during the trial.
(The attacks took place while Josh was still in his teens, but the DA plans to argue that they serve as evidence of a pattern of predatory behavior.)
Now, another revelation about the prosecution's case has surfaced, and it's likely left Josh's lawyers in panic mode.
According to a new report from Radar Online, prosecutors are planning to make use of startling confession that Josh issued following one of his earlier sex scandals.
As you may recall, when Josh's assaults against five young girls -- four of whom were his sisters, the fifth a family babysitter -- first came to light in 2015, the world also learned that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar went to great lengths to protect their eldest son from prosecution.
Josh got off scot-free, save for some bizarre punishments from his church.
These included shaving his head and issuing a written confession.
Perhaps because it got him out of hot water once, Josh continued to confess to his misdeeds in writing during each ensuing sex scandal (but only after he got caught, of course).
Shortly after word got out that he had molested his sisters, Josh was caught using the affair-facilitating website Ashley Madison after the controversial company became the victim of a hack and massive data dump.
On that occasion too, Josh attempted to make things write by jotting down a confession.
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this has become an addiction," he wrote.
Insiders say Josh also verbally admitted to his porn addiction in conversations with various friends over the years.
Now, prosecutors are reportedly planning to use those confessions to further establish Josh's pattern of behavior.
And since Josh's lawyers' case is built around denying that the porn found on Josh's computers belongs to Josh, impressing upon the jury that the 33-year-old has a long history of porn addiction could prove devastating to their argument.
Add to that the fact that prosecutors are now planning to introduce evidence from Josh's desktop as well as his laptop, and it becomes clear that Josh's defense is imploding before his case even goes to trial.
We're guessing that Josh is beginning to regret the fact that he didn't accept a plea deal when the offer was still on the table.