Josh Duggar court: Ex-reality star from ’19 Kids and Counting’ gets 12 years in child porn case

Prosecutors had requested U.S. District Decide Timothy Brooks to present the utmost time period of 20 years to Duggar, whose massive household was the main focus of TLC’s “19 Youngsters and Counting.” They argued in a pre-sentencing court docket submitting that Duggar has a “deep-seated, pervasive and violent sexual curiosity in youngsters.”

The decide sentenced Duggar to 12 years and 7 months in jail, at some point after denying a protection movement to overturn the responsible verdict on grounds of inadequate proof or to order a brand new trial.

U.S. Lawyer David Clay Fowlkes mentioned he was happy with the sentence.

“Whereas this isn’t the sentence we requested for, it is a prolonged sentence,” Fowlkes mentioned outdoors the courthouse.

Duggar, whose attorneys sought a five-year sentence, maintains his innocence and has mentioned he’ll enchantment.

TLC cancels ’19 Youngsters and Counting’ completely

Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective discovered little one porn information had been being shared by a pc traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that pictures depicting the sexual abuse of youngsters, together with toddlers, had been downloaded in 2019 onto a pc at a automotive dealership Duggar owned.

TLC canceled “19 Youngsters and Counting” in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested 4 of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities started investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a household pal however concluded that the statute of limitations on any attainable costs had expired.

Duggar’s dad and mom mentioned he had confessed to the fondling and apologized. After the allegations resurfaced in 2015, Duggar apologized publicly for unspecified habits and resigned as a lobbyist for the Household Analysis Council, a conservative Christian group.

Months later, he publicly apologized for dishonest on his spouse and a pornography dependancy, for which he then sought therapy.

In in search of a 20-year sentence, prosecutors cited the graphic pictures – and the ages of the kids concerned – in addition to court docket testimony concerning the alleged abuse of Duggar’s sisters.

Duggar’s previous habits “offers an alarming window into the extent of his sexual curiosity in youngsters that the Courtroom ought to think about at sentencing,” federal prosecutors wrote of their sentencing memorandum.

“This previous conduct, when seen alongside the conduct for which he has been convicted, makes clear that Duggar has a deep-seated, pervasive, and violent sexual curiosity in youngsters, and a willingness to behave on that curiosity” the court docket submitting mentioned.

Prosecutors additionally famous that Duggar’s pc had been partitioned to evade accountability software program that had been put in to report back to his spouse exercise corresponding to porn searches, in keeping with consultants.

“There may be merely no indication that Duggar will ever take the steps crucial to alter this sample of habits and deal with his predilection for minor females,” prosecutors wrote.

Duggar has maintained that he is harmless and that he intends to enchantment, his attorneys wrote of their sentencing memorandum.

“Duggar accepts that he’s earlier than this Courtroom for sentencing and that this Courtroom should impose a penalty,” his attorneys wrote. “That’s justice. However Duggar additionally appeals to this Courtroom’s discretion to mood that justice with mercy.”

The video within the participant above is from an earlier report.