Anna Duggar Breaks Silence, Fiercely Defends Convicted Husband Josh: 'There Is More To The Story'
Feb. 4 2022, Published 5:50 p.m. ET
Anna Duggar has broken her silence for the first time since her husband, Josh Duggar, was convicted on charges of child pornography – and she's defending him.
Taking to her Instagram account on Thursday, the 33-year-old new mother of seven posted a blank white square that contained the words: "There is more to the story."
Below, she encouraged her followers to "see link in bio."
By clicking the link on her profile, readers are taken to a 27-page legal document that was actually filed last month in the U.S. District Court Western District of Arkansas Fayetteville Division by Josh's legal team.
The motion is a demand that he be acquitted of his conviction and granted a new trial, due in part to the claim that prosecutors provided "no evidence" he ever "personally viewed" the explicit material for which he was convicted.
By sharing the court papers on social media, Anna is essentially making the same argument; however, it's unclear why she posted them two weeks after they were filed.
On Dec. 9, Josh, also 33, was found guilty on one count of downloading/receiving and one count of possessing child pornography that was characterized during his high-profile trial as "the worst of the worst" investigators had ever seen.
On Jan. 19, his attorneys filed the motion for an acquittal and/or a retrial.
If both requests are denied by the court, they are asking to dismiss count 2 – the possession charge, which is the lesser offense.
Regarding the motion to acquit, Duggar's team claims prosecutors "failed to adduce any evidence that Duggar 'knew that the visual depictions were of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct' – a necessary element for conviction of each count."
"The evidence at trial established that certain files allegedly found on the HP desktop computer were never viewed by any user of the computer and that all the files at issue had been deleted shortly after being downloaded," his lawyers said, adding that "the jury had no evidence that Duggar personally viewed any specific portion of any of the files allegedly found on the computer."
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In their argument for a new trial, Duggar's attorneys claim prosecutors failed to present exculpatory evidence in a timely manner, which they say can create reasonable doubt for the defendant.
Additionally, they claim they were unable to call on Wholesale Motorcars worker Caleb Williams, who they believe had access to the car lot and desktop computer (on which the content was downloaded) at "relevant time periods" and that law enforcement "failed to meaningfully investigate the possibility that anyone other than Duggar may have committed the crimes charged."
His team insists Williams used the computer in the weeks leading up to when the child sex abuse content was downloaded and that prosecutors "disregarded" this alleged evidence.
Duggar's attorneys described the aforementioned information as "critical," given that prosecutors tried to prove that only Josh had the password to the partition.
Additionally, his team believes one of the expert witnesses who testified using geolocation to place him at the car lot at certain dates and times when the materials were downloaded was "unqualified" to do so.
Duggar's lawyers accused James Fottrell of having "no knowledge about how geolocation, EXIF data, or GPS coordinates work."
It's odd that this is the hill Anna has chosen to die on given that she could not even stomach sitting through the evidence that was presented during Josh's trial. Sobbing, she ran out of the courtroom more than once.
Still, she held her husband's hand – literally and metaphorically – right up until the jury handed down its verdict. And she still claims to be "happily married" in her IG bio.
Sentencing will take place in March or April. Josh faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count, meaning he could spend the next 40 years behind bars.
The Duggars rose to fame on TLC's reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, and later on the spinoff, Counting On, both of which have been canceled.
