Two motions have been filed by Josh Duggar's legal team in a bid to dismiss the child pornography charges against him.
The motions, which were filed with the Western District of Arkansas on August 20, argue that the case should be dismissed for two reasons: because of the details of who was running the Department of Homeland Security when the investigation took place and because the team believes the investigators did not "preserve potentially exculpatory evidence."
Josh Duggar pleaded not guilty back in April, after an investigation that reportedly found he had at least 200 photos depicting child pornography on his work computer. Agent Gerald Faulkner described the images as the "top five of the worst of the worst" that he has seen in his career.
Duggar's legal team has also tried to argue that the images might have been transferred to his computer from the work computer of a coworker, but investigators deny the possibility of such an exchange taking place.
The motion reads:
"The problem is that [DHS' Homeland Security Investigations division] may have not identified evidence of child pornography during the field examination of these devices — but failed to preserve other potentially exculpatory evidence."
It continues:
"For example, the devices may have contained content as to whether these devices had any relevant internet search history, any evidence associated with the so-called 'dark web' and/or the Bit Torrent network, any metadata that might pinpoint the whereabouts of the devices at various dates and times, and the list goes on."
The trial against Duggar was set to begin earlier this summer, but the date was moved to November to allow the defense team more time to examine each device that was confiscated by investigators.
Duggar currently faces a hefty sentence: up to 20 years each for both counts against him, which could put his total sentence at 40 years in jail, along with fines of $250,000.
