Robert Franklin, 35, a jailed sex offender, has been ordered to appear in federal court to testify in Josh Duggar's child porn trial
A sex offender jail inmate will be hauled into federal court to give evidence at Josh Duggar's child porn trial, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Robert Franklin, 35, was booked into the Washington County Detention Center on drug charges just three days before Duggar was arrested and taken to the same facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
It's not clear exactly how the two men are connected but Duggar spent seven nights behind bars there before being released into home detention ahead of his trial for possession of child pornography, which began this week.
DailyMail.com can reveal that earlier this month government attorneys sought, and were granted, permission to have US Marshals transport Franklin to court to give testimony between November 30 and December 3.
His name was one of more than a dozen witnesses read out loud to jurors Tuesday by Judge Timothy L. Brooks, although he stressed that not every name on the list would necessarily appear.
Josh Duggar, pictured with wife Anna, is seen arriving at federal court in Fayetteville, Arkansas Tuesday for his first day of trial on child pornography charges
Duggar, 33, who is charged with two counts of downloading and possessing child porn, was booked into the Washington County Detention Center in April, three days after Franklin was jailed at the same facility on drug charges
Franklin was booked into jail on April 26 for various charges, including possession of meth or cocaine with intent to deliver, failure to stop and for driving on a suspended license.
According to court filings seen by DailyMail.com, he has a criminal record dating back to 2004 when he was jailed for three days and ordered to register as a sex offender for sexually assaulting a minor.
He's been convicted on four separate occasions since then of failing to register as a sex offender.
Judge Brooks is still deciding whether jurors will be allowed to hear evidence of how Duggar, 33, molested five girls, including four of his sisters, when he was in his teens.
One of his victims, Jill Duggar Dillard, 30, is listed as another potential witness, along with their 20-year-old brother Jed Duggar, though it's not been revealed whether they are giving testimony for the prosecution or the defense.
Jill spoke out in defense of Josh in 2015 after In Touch Weekly published a police report from nine years earlier documenting his history of molestation, saying the story had been 'warped' and 'distorted' by the media.