The Supreme Court has denied Josh Duggar’s request for an appeal on his conviction on child pornography charges. The 19 Kids and Counting star is continuing to serve his prison sentence as his legal team determines what the next steps in his defense will be. Here is what has been revealed about the appeals process so far.
Josh Duggar Gets Shut Down By The Supreme Court
News regarding the court’s denial broke on Monday, Jun 24. While the decision was made public, the court did not dive into why it made the decision it did. This update comes after the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit made the decision to uphold his conviction.
Right now, Josh Duggar is serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute Seagonville in Texas. Given his current sentence of 151 months in prison, he is slated to be released in 2032. Duggar was initially arrested in 2021 after being charged with the receipt and possession of child pornography.
Reality television fans may remember seeing Josh Duggar on the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting. It debuted in 2008 when Josh was 20 years old. The show followed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, documenting their enormous family and their religious lifestyle. The same year that the show debuted on television, he married his wife, Anna Keller.
Josh Duggar first got the attention of the police in 2015 when it was reported that he molested five young girls when he was a teenager. Four of the girls that came forward were Josh’s own sisters. His name came up in the Ashley Madison leak as well, which tied Josh to even more deviant behavior.
“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,” Josh said in a statement at the time. “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.”
Anna Duggar Remains By Her Husband’s Side
Even though the charges against her husband are disgusting, Anna Duggar has remained loyal to Josh. They stayed married through everything and had seven children together. She was also present and showed her support for her husband throughout his CSAM trial.
He served the first two months of his sentence in the Washington County Jail in Arkansas before being transferred to FCI Seagonville. He is not able to visit with any of his children without supervision. Additionally, Josh Duggar is only permitted four hours of visits each month.
“The Defendant shall have no unsupervised contact with minors,” court documents read. “If there is a concern about the potential for inadvertent contact with a minor at a particular place, function, or event, then the Defendant shall get approval from the U.S. Probation Office before attending any such place, function or event.”
Josh’s attorneys first filed an appeal in October 2022, requesting a new trial. Justin Gelfand said that Josh Duggar’s phone was taken away from him when he was trying to call a lawyer. His most recent appeal focused on the charge that police discovered that child sexual abuse material was being distributed by a computer that was traced to Josh.
The argument was that Josh’s attorneys should have been allowed to ask about a former employee’s previous sex offense who worked at the same dealership where Josh used the same computer. Instead, it was ruled that they could not mention the ex-employee.
What do you think about Josh Duggar’s appeal attempt being turned down? Let us know in the comments.
