Josh Duggar Requests Lawyer to Assist Overturn Little one Porn Conviction

Josh Duggar is hoping to pursue one other try at overturning his conviction.

On Tuesday, Might 27, the 37-year-old wrote a letter to the decide presiding over his case, requesting a court-appointed legal professional. In response to paperwork obtained by PEOPLE, Duggar claimed he doesn’t find the money for to pay a lawyer as he continues to struggle towards his 2022 conviction on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography.

“I’m unable to afford counsel as a result of my present monetary circumstances,” he wrote.

The submitting went on to disclose that Duggar, who’s at the moment serving over 12 years in federal jail, is looking for authorized help “to assist consider” whether or not there have been “constitutional violations” in his case, “and, if acceptable, put together a movement to vacate, put aside, or appropriate my conviction and sentence.”

Duggar alleged that his trial “concerned advanced constitutional and evidentiary points, significantly regarding authorized rulings and strategic selections made throughout trial proceedings” and “errors within the admission of forensic proof.” 

He additional acknowledged that he believes the prosecution didn’t disclose the whole thing of its proof, and cited the “broad publicity of this case” and “intense scrutiny” of the info as motive for “a full and honest post-conviction evaluation.”

“As time has unfolded, new authorized theories and techniques have emerged in public discourse which may be related to the Defendant’s case,” the paperwork alleged. “In mild of those developments, the Defendant seeks to seek the advice of with counsel to totally consider the potential of those rising methods and the way they could assist a movement for reduction.”

The information comes after Duggar — a married father of seven who claimed he has “labored diligently to concentrate on training, private development, my religion, and to take care of robust household ties” whereas incarcerated — filed for an enchantment in October 2023. After it was rejected, he took it to the Supreme Courtroom, the place it was once again denied a yr later.

“A baby predator has been delivered to justice,” mentioned Homeland Safety’s resident agent-in-charge, Billy Riggins, on the time of Duggar’s conviction.

The 19 Children and Counting alum has maintained his innocence ever since Homeland Safety brokers discovered child pornography downloaded onto a pc linked to Duggar at his enterprise in 2019. The investigation discovered that he had developed a hidden system on his work laptop to view express content material of kids — some beneath the age of 10 — during which they had been being sexually abused.

It was additionally revealed that he allegedly molested sisters Jill (Duggar) Dillard and Jessa (Duggar) Seewald when he was between the ages of 12 and 15.

Regardless of his protection arguing that there was a likelihood the previous actuality star was hacked or exploited, and that the prosecution’s case lacked proof to show in any other case, a jury ultimately found him guilty.

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to remain up-to-date on the very best of what PEOPLE has to supply, from juicy superstar information to driving human curiosity tales.

In the event you or somebody you already know has been a sufferer of sexual abuse, textual content “STRENGTH” to the Disaster Textual content Line at 741-741 to be linked to an authorized disaster counselor.