Josh Duggar’s Complete Child Pornography Conviction and Appeal Timeline
Josh Duggar is currently incarcerated at FCI Seagoville. The disgraced former reality TV star will spend the next decade behind bars while his wife, Anna Duggar, raises their seven children, the youngest of which was born just two months before Josh was convicted of possessing and receiving child pornography. His most recent appeal failed, and the courts have upheld his conviction. In light of the recent development, let’s look back at how Josh Duggar’s conviction and appeals process has gone.
Josh Duggar was convicted of possessing and receiving child pornography in December 2021
In November 2019, news broke that federal agents had raided properties belonging to the Duggar family. It would be more than a year before Duggar family followers learned what the raid was all about. In April 2021, Josh Duggar was arrested for possessing and receiving child pornography.
In May 2021, he was released to a chaperone to await trial. His trial began in late November 2021 and ran until early December, when a jury of his peers returned a guilty verdict to the courts. Josh was immediately taken to a detention center to await sentencing. Several members of the Duggar family, including Josh’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, were on hand to hear the verdict. Michelle Duggar, Josh Duggar’s mother, was never present in the courthouse.
The former reality TV star was not sentenced until May 2022
While a jury of his peers found him guilty on both counts in December 2021, Judge Timothy L. Brooks needed several months to mull over the evidence, prosecution suggestions, and a series of letters written in Josh Duggar’s defense. While he awaited sentencing, Josh was held at the Washington County Detention Center.
On May 25, 2021, Judge Timothy L. Brooks sentenced Josh to 151 months behind bars. The sentence was shy of what the prosecution had suggested but longer than what Josh’s defense team had requested. The prosecution advised Judge Brooks to consider the maximum sentence of 20 years, noting that Duggar appeared to be at high risk of reoffending.
Duggar was moved from the Washington County Detention Center to FCI Seagoville in June 2022. He has remained at the facility since and likely will complete his sentence there. His wife, Anna Duggar, and the seven children they share have stayed in Arkansas close to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, although rumors suggest there is serious tension between Anna and her in-laws.
Duggar’s legal team launched an appeal
Immediately after his conviction, Josh Duggar’s lawyers announced they planned to appeal the verdict. The legal team, largely led by Justin Gelfand, filed an appeal and requested a new trial on two grounds. First, the team argued that statements made by Duggar before he was allowed to speak to counsel should not have been allowed in court. They also claimed the father of seven was not given the chance to mount a complete defense. The team asserted that they were not allowed to discuss a former employee who was a registered sex offender during the trial.
While the appeal was filed several months ago, an official ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals was not submitted until Aug. 8. According to CNN, the Court of Appeals denied Duggar’s request for a new trial. In their statement, the three-judge panel said that Duggar was not denied his right to counsel. They noted that he was free to leave the interview with federal agents at any time. The courts also argued that Duggar was given the opportunity to mount a complete defense and opted not to call the former employee to the stand.
The denial of Duggar’s appeal means he will not receive a new trial. His previous sentence will remain intact, and he will not be released from federal prison until October 2032.
