Josh And Anna Duggar Welcome 7th Child As He Awaits Trial On Child Pornography Charges

Josh and Anna Duggar announced today the birth of their seventh child as Josh awaits his trial on child pornography charges.

“Meet little Madyson Lily Duggar!” Anna, 33, captioned a photo of the sleeping infant. She also shared in an Instagram story that the baby was born on October 23 at 2:39 am, weighing seven pounds and nine ounces.

Josh Duggar’s trial is scheduled to start on November 30. The former star of the now canceled TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting” was charged in April with two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography. Duggar has pleaded not guilty. He is due back in court on Thursday for a pre-trial hearing, according to People Magazine.

As previously reported by Oxygen.com, prosecutors want to use social media posts made by Duggar after he was exposed as a user of Ashley Madison, a website which caters to people looking for extra-marital relationships. After the site was hacked in 2015, Duggar released a statement on Facebook, which said: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever … While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction, and I became unfaithful to my wife."

The reference to pornography was later removed from the statement, according to CNN. The family later revealed Duggar was in a rehabilitation, but it’s unknown what he was treated for.

Prosecutors said the statement explains why Duggar had an anti-porn program known as Covenant Eyes downloaded to his computer. It’s aimed at reducing the viewing of pornography by reporting searches to an accountability partner. Duggar’s wife, Anna, was his accountability partner.

Prosecutors said Duggar blocked the Covenant software by using a special browser that provided anonymity as he searched the dark web.

But Duggar’s attorneys want the Ashley Madison statement kept out of court arguing that it would be “unfairly prejudicial.” They said adultery or viewing adult pornography “are not in any way relevant to whether Duggar committed the crimes pending in this case.”

"If the jury learns of allegations that Duggar was in some way unfaithful to his wife or had a supposed 'addiction' to viewing adult pornography, an unacceptable risk exists that the jury will convict him in the case, not because the Government has proven him guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt, but because the jury will improperly conclude that these unrelated allegations against Duggar somehow make it more likely that he committed the charged offenses in this case," Duggar’s attorneys said in court documents.  

He faces up to 40 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 on each count, if convicted. 

Homeland Security Agents alleged that Duggar had more than 200 images on his computer depicting some form of sexual abuse of children. As previously reported by Oxygen, one file showed the abuse of minors between the ages of 18 months and 12. One agent described the images as “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”

According to People, Duggar was released on bail to designated third party custodians, Lacount and Maria Reber, described as close family friends. He is barred from being around any minors other than his children.

The magazine reported in May that Anna is standing by her husband. “She thinks Josh is innocent,” a source told the magazine. “[Josh] has seen [his] children with Anna there. She has to be there.”