Josh Duggar Trial: The Prosecution Rips Into an ‘Expert’ for the Defense Who Claimed Josh Is Actually the Victim
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Josh Duggar’s trial is in its second week and his large family has mostly been absent from court.
- Duggar’s defense took a major hit when their “expert” tried to claim he was actually the victim.
- The prosecution and the defense are preparing for their closing arguments already.
UPDATE: Josh Duggar has been found guilty on both charges and will be sentenced in four months. For each count Duggar faces up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
The Josh Duggar trial is in its second week, and the prosecution and defense are preparing for their closing arguments. While Duggar’s legal team attempted to argue their client was the victim of someone remotely accessing his computer, the prosecution ripped into a defense expert. All of this went down on the day that Josh’s sister Jana Duggar finally showed up in court.
Josh Duggar’s family members are staying away from court
Throughout Josh’s child pornography trial, very few of his family members have been present in court. The only two to show up every day (so far) have been Josh’s wife Anna and his brothers-in-law Derick Dillard and Austin Forsyth.
Derrick is Jill Duggar’s husband and a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law. He has arrived every day wearing a suit, and he takes copious amounts of notes while sitting in the gallery.
On day six of Josh’s trial — Tuesday, December 7 — the Duggar family members in court included Josh’s always-loyal wife Anna, Derick, Austin (husband of Joy-Anna Duggar), Josh’s brother Jason, and Josh’s sister Joy-Anna Duggar.
The prosecution ripped into a defense ‘expert’
After the prosecution rested their case, Tuesday’s proceedings featured Josh’s defense. The court session began with the prosecution cross-examining Arizona-based digital forensics expert Michele Bush. The woman who examined the items seized from Josh Duggar.
Bush testified as an expert for the defense. She made statements on day 5 of the trial that contradicted the testimony of prosecution witness James Fottrell of the Department of Justice Child Exploitation.
In her testimony, Bush claimed that the router in Josh’s office at his car dealership was “extremely important” to his case. Federal agents didn’t seize the router with the other devices, but Bush says they should have.
When the prosecution cross-examined Bush, local news outlet KNWA reported that they ripped into her for an hour-and-a-half, challenging her expertise.
The prosecution claims Josh Duggar’s ‘expert’ witness embellished her experience
KNWA’s in-court reporter C.C. McCandless tweeted that Bush “embellished her experience in yesterday’s testimony, including time as a college undergrad in her years of forensic examination experience.”
McCandless explained that Bush graduated from the University of Arizona in 2015. But she claimed to have “ten years experience” as a forensics examiner.
During the prosecution’s cross-examination, Bush admitted that she never took a course specifically about Linux. Which is the type of partition that was used in Josh’s computer. Which was found to have the sexual abuse materials that he is on trial for.
Bush also claimed to have testified in federal court as an expert witness “many times.” But upon questioning from the prosecution, she admitted this trial was the first time she had testified as an expert, per KNWA.
Bush admitted that it “appeared” physical access to Josh’s computer was needed. And it could not be booted up remotely.
Jim Bob Duggar returns to Josh Duggar’s trial
Duggar family patriarch Jim Bob made his first appearance in court since testifying in Josh’s evidentiary hearing. According to The Ashley, Jim Bob sat a few rows behind Anna next to Austin Forsyth. He showed up 20 minutes late.
The Sun claims that Jim Bob was “expressionless and just listened to the evidence looking up when evidence was presented on screen.”
Jana Duggar makes her first appearance at Josh Duggar’s trial
Josh’s sister Jana Duggar made her first appearance at the trial on day 6. Her best friend Laura DeMasie showed up for her second day in a row. Jana reportedly sat next to Anna Duggar in the front row.
Anna’s brother David Keller and the daughter of Josh’s court custodians, Hannah Reber, were also in court for the very first time.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet will continue to follow this developing story.
