Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Josh Duggar In Child Sex Abuse Case
Former reality TV star and Christian activist Josh Duggar was sentenced in December 2021 to 12 ½ years in a federal prison for downloading and possessing child pornography. (Photo courtesy of Washington County Detention Center)
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from former reality TV star and Christian activist Josh Duggar regarding his conviction for downloading child sex abuse material, according to court records.
The nation’s highest court made no comment or notes on its decision to decline. Instead, the court just listed Duggar’s case as one in several petitions that were denied.
Duggar, 36, was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison in 2022 after child sex abuse materials were found on his work computer, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.
Investigators accused Duggar of having over 200 images of child sex abuse on his devices, including children ranging from 18 months to 12 years old. Federal agents found the content on his devices while executing a search warrant at a used car lot where Duggar worked in 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.
A federal jury in Arkansas convicted Duggar in December 2021.
Duggar, who starred on the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” pleaded not guilty, but the court found the evidence against him overwhelming.
Duggar claimed that a former employee, who had a prior sex-offense conviction, could have been responsible for the illegal content found on his computer, according to court records. Duggar argued his Sixth Amendment rights to “present a complete defense” were violated.
However, the trial court declined to allow Duggar to introduce the employee’s prior conviction as evidence unless he could first establish that the employee had access to the computer, CNN reported.
Duggar challenged and appealed his conviction to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to court records. In 2023, a three-judge panel at the federal court upheld the trial court’s decision.
In February, Duggar then filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. Duggar will remain in jail after the court’s recent denial.
Duggar is the oldest of 19 siblings. They, along with their parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, were in two hit TLC-produced TV shows, “19 Kids & Counting and Counting On,” in which the family professed Christian beliefs and morals
The network canceled the original show in 2015 following revelations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. TLC later canceled “Counting On” after Duggar was charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.
Duggar’s parents said he had confessed to the molestation of his siblings and apologized. Though authorities investigated the abuse, they concluded that the alleged crimes were not prosecutable because the statute of limitations had expired, TRR reported.
His sister, Jill Duggar Dillard, who was one of his multiple alleged victims, said that his issues were known to their parents. In her memoir, “Counting the Cost,” she claimed their parents had sent Josh away prior to the family filming their first documentary special because of his impure thoughts and actions.
“By the time 14 Children and Pregnant Again! was complete, Josh had returned to live with us,” she wrote, according to PEOPLE Magazine. “His head had been shaved, I guess in an attempt to punish him or instill some humility. I wasn’t worried about him, though. I was a kid, and I trusted that things would get better now that Josh had been ‘fixed.'”
After Josh’s 2022 sentencing, Jill shared in an online statement, “We are neither rejoicing nor disappointed by the sentence, but we are thankful it’s finally over. ... God has carried out his vengeance today for his unspeakable criminal activity. Until now, he has yet to be held accountable to the extent necessary to cause change in his dangerous pattern of behavior.”
Josh Duggar and his wife, Anna, have seven children together. The couple’s youngest child, Madyson, was born just weeks before the beginning of Josh Duggar’s trial in 2022.
This story was republished with permission from The Roys Report.
Liz Lykins is a freelancer who writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.