Supreme Court rejects Josh Duggar's appeal of child porn conviction
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from former reality TV star and Christian conservative activist Josh Duggar, who is serving over a decade in prison for possessing child pornography.
In an orders list released Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case of Joshua Duggar v. United States, doing so without comment and allowing his 2021 conviction to stand.
Duggar was part of the large conservative Christian family at the center of the popular TLC reality program "19 Kids and Counting" and briefly worked for the social conservative activist organization Family Research Council.
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Allegations also surfaced in 2015 that Duggar had sexually molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier, prompting TLC to cancel "19 Kids and Counting."
In August 2015, Duggar also confessed to being unfaithful to his wife when reports surfaced that he had created an account with Ashley Madison, a dating website that specialized in extramarital affairs.
"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have been unfaithful to my wife," stated Duggar in 2015. "I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him."
In April 2021, Duggar was arrested after authorities accused him of having more than 200 images of child porn on his devices, with some of the kids being as young as 18 months.
According to prosecutors, the images were found on a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned and downloaded in 2019. Duggar denied any wrongdoing, claiming that someone else had downloaded the materials.
A federal jury found Duggar guilty in December 2021 of one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced in May 2022 to over 12 years in prison. He was ordered to pay fines totaling $50,100.
In March 2023, reports surfaced that Duggar had been placed in solitary confinement for having a contraband phone and had his prison sentence extended by a couple of months.
Once he has served his sentence, Duggar will be on parole for 20 years and will not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors, including his own children. Duggar will also have to attend sex offender treatment.
