Supreme Court declines to hear ex-reality star Josh Duggar's appeal of child porn conviction

June 24 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear former reality TV star Josh Duggar's appeal on his conviction for downloading images of child sexual abuse.

The Supreme Court gave no comment. Duggar, 36, told the Supreme Court that the decision deprived him of his right to present a complete defense in violation of the 6th Amendment.

The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals last year affirmed the conviction by the district court in Arkansas in 2021.

Duggar, whose Christian family members were the subject of the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting, was sentenced to 151 months in prison after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography. Federal authorities testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

Duggar has said that a former employee, who had a prior sex offense conviction, may have been responsible for the illicit material found on his computer when federal agents executed a search warrant at his business.

But the trial court declined to allow Duggar to introduce the prior conviction as evidence unless he could first establish that the employee had access to the computer.

Duggar is an inmate in a low-scurity federal prison in Seago, Texas. Last year, his sentence was extended by two months to conclude in October 2032. He was placed in solitary confinement at the time after allegedly being found with a contraband cellphone.

19 Kids and Counting was canceled in 2015 after revelations that Duggar, as a teen, had molested four of his sisters and another girl.

The allegations against Duggar date to 2006.