A divorce lawyer says the evidence of Josh Duggar's criminal sexual molestation past can be admitted at the boy's criminal trial, which could be held as early as next year.
The City and County of Fayetteville, AR recently asked a judge to approve a divorce filing, seeking the return of Josh's family property. Lawyers for the parents are seeking the custody of Josh's 5-year-old son, Michael.
But John Douglas & Co. partner Kelly D. Broughton said the city's application was made more abruptly than needed' and his legal clients can't be forced to give up records of child molestation the star allegedly committed as a teen.
In a filing of his own, Duggar's lawyer Richard Skaker said the Duggars&aposse filing broke US court rules by not including a “fair notice' provision that mandated the court has 60 days to give notice of the next step in court proceedings or a loss by Duggar's team of the right to introduce depositions of the Duggar's on their own behalf.
Skaker said he was not given a deadline for filing his own application for a divorce. City attorneys can't rush the move to protect their interests, and should do so “thoughtfully, prayerfully, deliberately,” Skaker said.
His lawyer urged Duggar's lawyers to seek the divorce “in good faith,” and try to work things out in their own time. “The place for mediation is between the parties. Why would that be better than an anti-climactic and adversarial divorce?”
Skaker's reaction to this (partial) ruling from the judge in a civil and a criminal trial:
“We are dismayed at the lack of maturity of the City to see through the obvious juvenile years that the Duggars may have experienced. There was no innocence at 16, but that didn't mean that Josh could change.
“Josh was a child. He could not have expected to change. He was, indeed, a boy. He was handed down adult responsibilities and responsibilities that were beyond his understanding and comprehension. Any adult would have found it difficult to come to terms with the truth of his past but that was an adult world that could not have otherwise been confronted.
“Despite being faced with the possibility of possible adult charges, Josh was, indeed, more mature and aware than any normal 15-year-old at that age. No amount of distance from home or time in a virtual solitary world has taken that maturity away from him. However, that remains an ongoing issue.
“There are multiple areas of settled and fair minds that would have been far more far more reasonable than this City coming before a judge and showing an infringement of a time limit in filing their own application to retain this information.”