Josh Duggar will spend the next 12.5 years behind bars.
The disgraced 19 Kids & Counting star and eldest Duggar son was sentenced to 151 months today. Back in December, Josh was convicted of receiving and possessing child sex abuse materials, and after several delays, his sentence was finally handed down on Wednesday by by Judge Timothy Brooks.
Josh–who came to court wearing a suit and tie and not prison garb— sat quietly while the sentence was read. The judge did not inform Josh where he would be imprisoned; however it’s reportedly between the Federal Corrections Institution in Texarkana, Arkansas (which is 4.5 hours away from Josh’s home in Springdale, Arkansas), or the prison in Seagoville, Texas. (That prison is nearly six hours from Springdale.)
Josh’s legal team asked the judge to send Josh to the Federal Corrections Institution in Seagoville, Texas.
Judge Brooks recommended Josh go to Seagoville, as he stated that it has a “good sex offender program.” He recommends Josh seek sex offender treatment, but noted that Josh is not required to do it.
Josh elected not to speak at the sentencing hearing, although he was allowed to.
Members of the Duggar Family, including Josh’s ever-present wife Anna, as well as his father Jim Bob, and siblings Joy Forsyth, James Duggar and Jason Duggar sat in the courtroom as the sentence was read.
According to The Ashley’s courtroom reporter, Josh started “scribbling furiously” on his notes as the sentence was read. His wife Anna and father Jim Bob “showed no reaction.”
As court was being adjourned, Josh flashed Anna the “I love you” hand sign. He was not handcuffed.
Judge Brooks told Josh that he has the right to appeal the sentence, as long it’s done within 14 days of the judgement.
As The Ashley previously reported, Josh was facing a maximum sentence of 20 years, and a minimum sentence of five years, as the “receiving CSAM” charge carried a required five-year penalty. (On Tuesday, Judge Brooks formally dismissed Josh’s conviction for possessing CSAM, which was a lesser and included offense to receiving CSAM.) The judge also denied Josh’s request for either a new trial or an acquittal.
How much of that 151-month sentence Josh will actually serve is unknown, but he will be eligible for early release— after he serves 85 percent of his sentence. (That comes to 10 years, six months, by the way.)
If Josh serves the full sentence, his youngest child— daughter Madyson— will be almost 13 when he is released from prison.
How the judge came up with the seemingly random sentence of 151 months is explained very well by attorney (and TikToker) Carrie Jernigan, who attended today’s sentencing hearing.
@carriejernigan1 Reply to @thirty_tiny_toes ♬ original sound – LAWYER CARRIE
In a minute sheet obtained by The Ashley on Wednesday, Judge Brooks spelled out special conditions that Josh must abide by after he gets out of prison (after serving at least 10 years, six months, of course). These conditions must be upheld by Josh for the 20 years following his release and include what he can— and can not— do in regard to his minor children, marijuana and more.
Click here to read the “special conditions” of Josh’s probation!
26 Responses
Ohhh I hope it’s a Texas jail.
Not long enough
Please get him in gen pop and keep him out of federal prison. I’d love to see someone make him wash some drawers. He will be tossing salads in no time. He wants to throw up the I love you sign. This man is a serial cheater, BDSM. Pervert, and a salad tosser. Makes me sick, give him 20, plus 20 on the dole
Ole’ Anna better get herself a J-O-B. $50,000 is a lot of money for a hick from the sticks with no skills.
Not surprised, I have a feeling he would get around 10-15 years.
I’m glad that he will have 20 years of probation with no unsupervised visitation with any minor.
He will appeal, let’s see how long it last before he runs out of money. Honestly, he will lose his appeal anyway, it just seems like a waste of money to pay for a very expensive legal team, and he has to pay the court fees.
He has young children, he keeps talking about how he can’t be in prison because he needs to provide for his family. Well, no one was going to hire him, he is just wasting money now.
Not surprising, I hope Anna finally realizes that she will need to take care of her family, and finally leave this monster.
They should of given him the whole 20 years and not be able to see his kids. And make him serve all his sentence and not give him lenacy at all.i used to like the dugaar family I watched all there shows. And I still like most of the kids but for Anna and Michelle and Jim Bob they will go to hell for what they are doing.
Got a lesser sentence then what he should have!
20yrs probation with no unsupervised visits with kids… does that include his own? Y’all think they’ll require a court ordered third party to supervise? Anna hasn’t exactly done the best job at keeping tabs on him.
It’s about time!!
Should have been longer!
Wish I was there to see the smug smirk on JimBobs face die!
Good riddance to bad trash!
The issue with supervised visitation: who is supervising? Jim Bob? Disgusting family “values” these fundies have.
Probably Anna, that’s how he was able to see his kids prior to his conviction. God knows Anna will turn a blind eye as she always has.
It’s usually someone court appointed.
Most likely someone court appointed upon release, given the severity of the actions and the sheer amount of public scrutiny (and general public nature of this whole thing) that’s pretty typical. It won’t be Anna herself, it won’t be anyone that vehemently defended him including his family, actually. They would be considered biased and not be able to provide proper supervisory protection. If this were a different kind of case, it might be different, but since it is a CSAM case, the stipulations change, even in backasswards states.
At least we won’t have to worry about her bringing children to see him, since he won’t be allowed visitation with any minors while in prison at all-supervised or otherwise. Because prisons can’t guarantee properly supervised visits in these cases they just don’t allow them.
Federal cases have to serve 85% of their sentence before parole
NOT enough time and no computer after he gets out! Yeah right! Should just keep him jail forever and keep kids safe!
At least it is over 10 years. And although it is terrible to say, hopefully he will never make it out. His daughter at 13 years old is still young enough to molest.
She might be too old for him at 13…he’s such a sicko!
Good Riddance….he should have gotten longer…pervert
Hopefully there will be some jail house justice as well. He is a disgusting creature!!!
Hell yea! Knew it would be over ten years becuase his stupid ass rejected that plea deal. Bye Josh.
12.5 years isn’t long enough for him to serve
NOT LONG ENOUGH.
Better than 5 years. But not as good as twenty. Thanks Miss Ashley for all the updates
Hey, jdug guess what kind of bird does not fly…………. JailBird hahahaha : )
isn’t long enough!!!
The most likely outcome.