Joseph and Kendra Duggar made a surprise move just hours before they were scheduled to appear in court on Monday for their child endangerment/false imprisonment court case. The former ‘Counting On’ stars have officially withdrawn the “not guilty” pleas they entered in court back in April.
Kendra and Joe— who were arrested in March — are each facing four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, as well as four counts of second-degree false imprisonment. (It was later revealed that the couple’s alleged victims were their four young children.)
Following the arrests, the kids were removed from Joe and Kendra’s custody.
While Kendra and Joe were initially not allowed to have any contact with their kids, they have since been permitted to have supervised contact with the children. (Joe later asked that he be allowed to have unsupervised contact with his kids, but his request was denied).
The legally challenged twosome was scheduled to appear in an Arkansas courtroom on Monday but, according to People, they were able to avoid showing their mugs in court due to the fact that they withdrew their “not guilty” pleas and submitted a “plea by order” to the court.
(This means their defense attorney basically submitted a request for them to be able to skip the hearing and instead submit their plea change in writing to the judge. This is typically done when a defendant withdraws their previous “not guilty” plea and plans to plead guilty or no contest, according to People.)
The judge in the case will now review the couple’s written submission and, once it’s signed by the judge, he or she will then determine what penalties Kendra and Joe will face. (The ‘Counting On’ stars are looking at up to eight years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines if they are convicted on all eight charges against them.)
According to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the couple’s decision to file a plea by order means their cases can to be diverted for 12 months. Court officials told the outlet that, despite the diversion, the cases against Kendra and Joe will remain open.
Of course, this is not the only legal challenge that Kendra and Joe are facing. When Kendra was hauled off to jail after receiving the false imprisonment/child endangerment charges, Joe was conveniently already in jail, due to him being charged with child molestation just days before. (Those charges stem from an alleged incident that occurred on a Caldwell family vacation Florida in 2020. Joe’s charges in that case are still pending.)
As The Ashley told you, Kendra was only in the jail for about an hour before she bonded out. Joe’s mom Michelle Duggar was the person who picked Kendra up from the clink and took her home to the Duggar Compound. (As you may remember, Michelle got into an unhinged verbal altercation with a paparazzi photographer who was sitting outside the Duggar’s property and trying to get the first post-jail pics of Kendra.)
Not long after the Kendra/Joe arrests, a spokesperson for the Duggar Family stated publicly that Kendra’s charges in Arkansas are “unrelated” to Joe’s child molestation charges from Florida, and that Kendra is “not suspected or accused of participating in his alleged crime.”
It is still unconfirmed what exactly caused Kendra and Joe to be arrested. Us Weekly reported at the time that Kendra and Joe’s home was searched by the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), as well as the police, on March 19. Something found during that search is what led to the child endangerment and false imprisonment charges being filed against Joe and Kendra.
“After [Joe’s Florida] charge, they automatically do a home study if minors live there. They came to her house,” Us Weekly reported. “Apparently, [Joe and Kendra] had two rooms where the lock of the doorknob was on the outside instead of inside. They arrested her and took her kids for that, saying it’s evidence that she wrongly detains her kids.”
(This story regarding the reason for the arrests in Arkansas has not been confirmed via police or court records as of press time, just FYI.)
Anyway, Joe’s parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have made it clear that they are standing by Kendra and Joe.
“Jim Bob and Michelle are heartbroken over this entire situation,” the family’s spokesperson told Us Weekly in March. “Right now, they are focused on loving their family and helping Kendra and her children during this difficult time. They are praying for the victim [in Joe’s Florida case]. They ask for privacy and appreciate the kind words and prayers offered by so many.”
In an email sent to Joe while he was in jail in Arkansas, Jim Bob expressed his anger over Kendra being charged and confirmed he paid for the family’s trusty lawyer, Travis Story, to represent his daughter-in-law.
“It is ridiculous that they charged Kendra and arrested her,” Jim Bob wrote. “We’ve hired [a lawyer] to help Kendra. We are praying that we can get her charges dropped…”
UPDATE!
On Tuesday it was revealed that a judge has diverted Kendra and Joe’s cases for one year. During this time, they are required to follow a set of rules and, if they do, their criminal charges will be dropped. Click here for the latest info!
I will never forget Michelle hysterically saying she is PROTECTING CHILDREN while she didn’t protect her own daughters from being groped (don’t forget, Joy was only FIVE at that time! What kind of sicko do you have to be to do this to your own sister?!) by their paedo brother and Kendra’s little sister (I hate that we know this now, ew gross, Joe, you are no better than your brother!) from being fondled by Joe but sure, she’s protecting children. I am glad at least the Caldwells woke up. Kendra, she will never wake up. (But then again, she married Joe very young so she was basically legally (as she was a legal adult, despite being barely) groomed by her husband. The whole situation is just sad. The only thing we know for sure is they won’t have anymore children to endanger (but as far as I remember, Anna was pregnant for the last time while her disgusting husband was facing charges so you never know unfortunately)
I still think it’s just a matter of time when we find out how many questionable things the patriarch did. It all starts with the head of the family (Maybe even Michelle did sth…I mean, we know they were a fan of the Pearl method which means smacking the kid with a ruler amongs other things), I am sure.
It seems so strange they arrested Kendra for inside door locks instead of removing them and warning her and keeping the case open for an extended time and regular pop up visits. What did they find in that house or on those kids and why isn’t it reflected in the charges?
The fact that she is still standing behind her child-molesting husband who victimized her OWN family member is mind-boggling to me. She is just as bad as he is 🤷🏻‍♀️ She will not protect her children and frankly I don’t think she should have unsupervised access to them at all, ever. I hope nothing good for either of them but I’m heartbroken for their kids and his victim. Joe shouldn’t see the light of day, ever. These people are sick 🤢
I hope she does get charged, but sadly she will get off easy most likely because she has no prior record.
Doesn’t change the fact this family still raised two pedo sons. That’s only the ones we know about so far. There will be more, mark my words. It runs in this sick family who hide behind God.