Joseph Duggar is preparing to go on trial and, at his pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, the ‘Counting On‘ star’s attorney revealed that four witnesses are set to give a deposition before Joe’s trial.
Joe wasn’t present at the pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, but his attorney Albert J. Sauline appeared on his behalf. (Joe is currently out on a $600,000 bail and living in Arkansas.)
It is unknown at this time whether Joe’s alleged victim (who is now 14 years old) will also answer questions under oath before the trial. Joe’s attorney stated that a court order will be required in order for the girl to be deposed.
“There are only five witnesses listed in the case, one of which is of course the juvenile alleged victim, so realistically we’re looking at only four witnesses to be deposed minus any court order allowing a deposition of the alleged victim,” the lawyer said.
Joe’s attorney asked Judge Brantley S. Clark, Jr. for a continuance, which the judge granted. Joe’s next court date for this case will be September 15.
As you know, Joe was arrested in March after a young girl disclosed in a forensic interview that she had allegedly been sexually abused multiple times while on a family vacation with Joe in 2020. (The girl was nine years old at the time.) Joe is now facing two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior in Florida.
He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
According to online records obtained by The Ashley, Joe has been notified that he will need to appear at the court date on September 15. His attorney filed a “waiver of presence” for Joe for Tuesday’s hearing, meaning Joe did not have to appear. The former TLC reality star did, however, appear– virtually– at his hearing in June only to have both of his motions denied.
(As The Ashley told you, Joe had filed to amend the no-contact order currently in place. That order forbids Joe from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, including his own kids. It also demanded that Joe stay at least 500 feet from properties he owns that are near a home that his alleged victim and her family used to live in. During the hearing, Joe’s attorney suggested that the victim’s family was objecting to Joe being around the properties just to “harass” him.)
Unfortunately, the motions that Joe filed were not properly redacting, thus basically revealing that Joe’s alleged victim is a member of his wife Kendra‘s immediate family. Kendra’s parents Christina and Paul Caldwell have been outspoken against Joe since his arrest (in part because Joe and Kendra gave the Caldwells the boot out of the home they had been renting. The couple currently has that home up for sale.)
It is unknown who the four witnesses will be. However, it’s likely that the alleged victim’s father will be called, due to the fact that Joe allegedly confessed when the father confronted him about the alleged crimes back in March. Joe then reportedly confessed again while on the phone with detectives before his arrest.
Just days after Joe was arrested for the alleged molestation crimes in Florida, he and Kendra were both arrested in Arkansas for crimes against their own four children. Each received four charges of false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child. Both Kendra and Joe have pleaded not guilty to the alleged crimes.
They are set to appear in court for those crimes in August.
