Josh Duggar, in this Aug. 29, 2014 photo, speaks out in support of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in Arkansas at the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock. Associated Press/Danny Johnston
Josh Duggar's defense team claimed in a new court filing, that the child porn case against them should be dismissed.
They claimed that federal agents failed to retain cellphone evidence from Duggar's employee.
Investigators claimed that they found no child pornography on the phone of the employee after searching it.
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The defense team of Josh Duggar suggested that authorities have investigated a different person of concern in their latest attempt to have the child pornography case against him thrown out.
Duggar, 33 years old, was accused of possessing and receiving child pornography via an IP address connected to his Arkansas used car dealership.
Duggar has pleaded guilty to the charges. His lawyers complained in an August 20, motion that federal agents had "failed to preserve any evidence whatsoever", from three other individuals who had access the wireless internet at Duggar’s dealership.
Duggar's team tried to blame Witness #1, a witness identified in court papers. Witness #1 was interviewed by federal agents in December 2019, one month after the first search warrant was issued at the dealership.
According to court documents Witness #1 was originally designated by federal agents as a "person interested in the investigation."
Witness #1 stated to investigators that Duggar was his employer and that he had even stayed over night there "without Duggar’s knowledge or permission."
Witness #1 also "confirmed to having viewed adult pornography on websites he accessed via his cell phone", but he claimed he had not seen child pornography.
Although federal agents claimed in their report that Witness #1 had been examining Witness #1's cell phone for evidence of child pornography, Duggar's lawyers denounced the agents' failure to preserve any metadata or content from Witness #1's cell phone.
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According to court filings, federal agents also interviewed Witness #2 and Witness #3. They allowed investigators to search their phones. Duggar's defense team stated that neither phone was preserved by the agents.
Duggar's legal team asked Judge Timothy Brooks to dismiss the case against Duggar because "the Government failed to preserve potentially exulpatory evidence."
Duggar's legal team has filed several motions regarding evidence against Duggar in recent days. Brooks was asked to stop Duggar's feet and hands from being shown at trial in a recent motion. They won an attempt last week to get more information from the Arkansas police departments regarding child pornography.
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