SC Rejects Josh Duggar’s Appeal in Child Porn Conviction
The Supreme Court has denied Josh Duggar’s appeal on his 2021 conviction.
The disgraced star, who rose to fame after appearing on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, was found guilty on two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography.
The father of 7 sought to overturn his 12-year prison sentence but is now expected to remain behind bars at FCI Seagoville federal prison in Texas until 2032. His sentence was increased by 2 months after he was found with a contraband cell phone.
After his release, he will spend two decades under supervision.
Authorities said they began investigating Duggar after a police detective in Little Rock, Arkansas, traced child pornographic material to the former reality TV personality. The illicit material was reportedly downloaded to a computer in a car dealership that Duggar owned at the time.
Department of Justice agent James Fottrell claimed that Duggar had downloaded an explicit video of a “crying and screaming” three-month-old child. “It’s one of the most offensive videos that I’m familiar with throughout my whole career,” he said.
Duggar’s attorney, Justin Gelfand, has maintained his client’s innocence.
In a petition to the high court, he suggested that evidence of an alternative perpetrator was excluded from the trial for being too “speculative” by the judge.
“Courts should trust juries to decide what is, and is not, pure speculation. But in this case, it was the judge—not the jury—that made the ultimate decision,” he penned.
He added that the images could have been downloaded by a remote user.
This comes after the lower court of appeals voted to uphold the conviction, denying the 36-year-old American convicted sex offender’s plea for another trial in October.
The court reasoned that “[i]t is the Government’s burden to prove that [petitioner] committed the crimes set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt, and [petitioner] is entitled to create reasonable doubt in the jury’s minds by pointing the finger at others who may have possibly committed the crimes.”
The TLC Network pulled the plug on the show in 2015 after it came to light that he allegedly molested four of his sisters and a babysitter a couple of years earlier.
Josh, the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, also released an apology addressing years-long rumors on the Duggar family’s Facebook page. He wrote, “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends.”
“I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling.”
Not one to let go of the gravy train, the network launched a spin-off in the wake of the Duggar’s child molestation controversy entitled Counting On.
However, the show was shut down after Duggar’s arrest in 2021.
You can take a look at how the Duggar family handled this controversial event in the documentary series Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.
