The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Josh Duggar’s appeal of his child-pornography conviction.
The former reality TV personality is serving a 151-month prison sentence. A federal jury in Fayetteville convicted Duggar, now 36, in December 2021 on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. Duggar had argued that he deserved a new trial because of evidentiary issues.
The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its decision, one of several denials it handed down Monday. Duggar’s chance of success before the court was never good. The Supreme Court only accepts a small fraction of the many thousands of cases it is petitioned to review on an average year.
“The [Supreme] Court usually is not under any obligation to hear these cases, and it usually only does so if the case could have national significance, might harmonize conflicting decisions in the federal Circuit courts, and/or could have precedential value,” a federal court website says. “In fact, the Court accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year.”
Duggar and other members of his large family became famous while appearing on the TV series, “19 Kids and Counting,” a show reflecting the family’s evangelical lifestyle.
Duggar is being held at a low-security federal prison in Seagoville, Texas, and isn’t due for release until Oct. 2, 2032. That’s also the facility where Richard “Bigo” Barnett, a Gravette man convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the nation’s Capitol, is imprisoned.