Duggar defense granted another extension in appeal

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Joshua Duggar’s defense team has been granted another two-week extension of the deadline to file a reply brief in federal appeals court.

Duggar, 34, a former reality TV personality, was found unanimously guilty on a pair of child pornography charges in December 2021. In May, he was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison. The defense has maintained his innocence and filed a notice of appeal on June 3.

On November 22, the prosecution filed a response to the defense’s opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis. That filing stated that “Duggar’s claims uniformly lack merit, and the district court’s judgment should be affirmed in its entirety.”

On November 28, Duggar’s team requested and was granted an extension of time until December 13 to submit a response. A nearly identical request was made on December 9, citing “the complexity of the issues on appeal and the need for undersigned counsel to confer with Duggar.” The motion was unopposed by the government and granted by the court, which set a new deadline of December 27 for the brief to be filed.

The December 9 defense filing added that “undersigned counsel do not anticipate filing any additional motions for extension of time.” The motion was signed by defense attorneys Justin Gelfand and Travis Story.

The appeals court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case, with the date of that hearing still to be determined.

Duggar is currently serving a 151-month federal prison sentence in Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) Seagoville, outside of Dallas. His federal prison sentence will be followed by a supervised release term of 20 years, with a host of special conditions attached.

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