Josh Duggar was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years and a half years in federal prison on child pornography charges.
The 34-year-old father of seven rose to fame on the long-running TLC reality series 19 Kids And Counting, which is a show about a fundamentalist Christian family.
Per People, U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks passed the sentence of 151 months to the former reality TV star on Wednesday at the Western District of Arkansas Federal Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Duggar has been in custody since December for possessing images of child sex abuse but Judge Brooks overlooked that conviction after ruling that under federal law it was an included offense in the receiving child abuse images count, as reported by Sky News.
"The images were some of the worst that this court has ever encountered," Judge Brooks told Duggar, as his wife Anna Duggar, 33, sat behind him during Wednesday's hearing.
United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas David Clay Fowlkes said he was satisfied with the sentence. "While this is not the sentence we asked for, this is a lengthy sentence," Fowlkes said outside the courthouse.
Fowlkes said he hopes this trial sends a message to the victims of child pornography: "They are real. Their pain is real. And we will do everything within our power to make sure justice is served."
After Duggar's release, he will be ordered to be under the supervision of a parole officer for 20 years and he will be banned from any unsupervised contact with minors, including his own children who range from six months to 12.
Duggar will be expected to partake in a sex offender treatment and will not be allowed to access or view pornography, including adult pornography. He will also be barred from accessing the internet and hit with a fine of $50,100.
"We’re grateful the judge dismissed Count 2 and rejected the Government’s request for a 240-month sentence," Duggar's lead defense attorney Justin K. Gelfand said to USA TODAY. "We look forward to continuing the fight on appeal."
Gelfand said that Duggar maintains his innocence and that the legal team would be filing a statement of appeal within the 14 days mandated by law and looked forward to litigating the last count on appeal.
"Duggar accepts that he is before this court for sentencing and that this court must impose a penalty," his attorneys wrote. "That is justice. But Duggar also appeals to this Court’s discretion to temper that justice with mercy."
