Josh Duggar Granted Request To Ban Past Admission Of Porn Addiction In Upcoming Trial: Report
Josh Duggar has been granted a major win in his upcoming child pornography trial.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum is scheduled to appear in court on November 30, where he will be tried for two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Duggar, 33, previously filed a request to bar specific information from being used in the trial later this month, including his 2015 admission that he was addicted to adult porn.
Per reports from The Sun, an Arkansas judge has ruled in favor of the former reality star in granting his request to have his former statement about his adult porn addiction banned from being used against him in court.
In 2015, Duggar released a statement admitting: “I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the years been viewing pornography on the internet and this has become an addiction.”
The court docs reveal that the prosecution intended to use this statement at the trial because it allegedly “tends to show his motive, intent, knowledge, or plan to commit the crimes charged.”
“Therefore, in the Government’s estimation, Defendant’s admission that he was addicted to adult pornography is a necessary piece of evidence in a chain of events that prove his ‘motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, [or] plan’ to download child pornography on the HP desktop at work,” the docs, obtained by The Sun, read.
However, the Counting On alum requested that the court ban the porn addiction confession on the grounds that it is “irrelevant” to the current charges against him.
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“Further, [Josh] contends that if this evidence were disclosed to the jury, the result would be more prejudicial than probative,” the documents continue. “Since some jurors who are morally offended by adult pornography may jump to the conclusion that Defendant must have committed some sort of crime, while other jurors might assume that a person who is addicted to viewing adult pornography is more likely to be interested in viewing child pornography.”
Ultimately, the judge sided with the former TLC personality, and also ruled to have another statement, made by Special Agent Faulkner, also banned from the upcoming trial.
Special Agent Faulkner previously claimed that one of the child pornography videos found in Duggar’s possession was “in the top five of the worst-worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”
The judge ruled in Duggar’s favor in that the agent’s statement was a matter of “opinion testimony” and could “mislead the jury.”
The court has not yet ruled on whether or not the prosecution will be able to use Duggar’s past sexual assault scandal against him in the trial after he allegedly molested five minor girls, including four of his younger sisters.
While Duggar was never charged for the alleged actions, which occurred in 2006, the prosecution insisted that the scandal shows “sexual interest in young girls.”
As he prepares to appear in court in the coming weeks, Duggar’s wife Anna Duggar recently announced the birth of the pair’s seventh child, Madyson Lily.
Duggar is currently allowed unlimited contact with all seven of his children as long as his wife is present.
