It’s possible that in the very near future, Josh Duggar will return to an Arkansas courthouse to re-litigate the child pornography charges that landed him in federal prison.
And if the disgraced former reality star is successful in his efforts to appeal for a second trial, then we might once again have a situation in which two courtroom dramas play out simultaneously:
While most of the media coverage will focus on what happens on the witness stand, there will also be a good deal of attention paid to the gallery, where some members of the Duggar family will publicly show support for the convicted sex offender who shares their last name.
Josh’s father Jim Bob will be on hand, but once again his mother, Michelle, will likely skip the proceedings.
Most of Josh’s 18 siblings will probably keep their distance, as they did during the first trial.
But a handful of true believers will turn out to lend their emotional support, including Joy-Anna Duggar, who was on hand throughout most of Josh’s first trial.
These days, Joy-Anna is pregnant with her third child, and there have been complications with the pregnancy, so it’s possible that she won’t be a constant presence in the courtroom as she was last year.
But if she’s able to attend the proceedings, then Duggar watchers will be on the lookout for another scene like the one that unfolded during Josh’s first trial,
Witnesses claim that Joy fled the courtroom when prosecutors broached the subject of Josh’s previous sex crimes.
As you may recall, while he was still in his teens, Josh molested five young girls, four of whom were his sisters.
Joy, was one of the victims, and it seems she fled the courtroom during the DA’s account of her brother’s abuse.
According to one gossip magazine, Joy “had been sitting in the galley” during the day’s testimony, but she abruptly excused herself when prosecutors brought up Josh’s past.
The report claims that “when they began to discuss Josh’s crimes against her when she was five years old,” Joy “got up and left the courtroom.”
Joy was described as “looking upset” upon her return to the courtroom.
Obviously, it makes perfect sense that Joy would be upset by reminders of the abuse that she endured as a child.
And while Josh is safely locked away, the parents who enabled the abuse to take place under their roof have sadly gone unpunished.
Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, several Duggars remain convinced that Josh was wrongly convicted of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Based on the support that she showed in the courtroom, it would seem that Joy is one of the few remaining people who believes in her brother’s innocence.
In his appeal, Josh reportedly plans to present an outlandish argument:
The defense will claim that Josh was framed by a longtime family friend named Caleb Williams, who is also a convicted sex offender.
Caleb was in a different state when Josh downloaded the CSAM, but that won’t stop Josh from making his case.
And it seems that he’s already got several family members thoroughly convinced of his innocence.
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Joy-Anna Duggar: Why Did She Storm Out of the Courtroom During Josh’s Trial? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .