Josh Duggar is requesting new legal representation.
Duggar, 37, has asked a judge for a court-appointed attorney to represent him as he battles his 2022 conviction on child pornography charges, People reported on Wednesday, May 28.
Per court documents obtained by the outlet, Duggar submitted a letter on Tuesday, May 27, explaining, “I am unable to afford counsel due to my current financial circumstances.”
Duggar, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence, is seeking a lawyer “to help evaluate” his case for potential “constitutional violations” and, “if appropriate, prepare a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct my conviction and sentence.”
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Duggar claimed there were “errors in the admission of forensic evidence” during his trial, which he alleged had “involved complex constitutional and evidentiary issues, particularly relating to legal rulings and strategic decisions made during trial proceedings.”
Additionally, Duggar claimed that he believes prosecutors did not disclose the full evidence amid “the broad publicity of this case” and requested “a full and fair post-conviction review.”
According to People, his letter alleged that over time, “new legal theories and strategies have emerged in public discourse that may be relevant to the Defendant’s case. In light of these developments, the Defendant seeks to consult with counsel to fully evaluate the potential of these emerging strategies and how they may support a motion for relief.”
Duggar’s letter comes nearly one year after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal relating to his conviction.
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Duggar is currently incarcerated at FCI Seagoville in Texas, and will be released in 2032. He was originally arrested on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography in 2021. He pleaded not guilty and was later sentenced to 151 months in prison.
Duggar previously entered the spotlight because of his family’s TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting. Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar‘s big family and religious lifestyle fascinated viewers when the show debuted in 2008. (Josh married Anna Duggar that same year.)
In 2015, a police report revealed that Duggar molested five girls, four of whom were his sisters, when he was a teenager. His name was also mentioned in the infamous Ashley Madison leak, which included information tying him to the website created to help people have affairs.
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” he wrote via his family’s website a decade ago. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.”
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Josh and Anna remained married and share seven children together. Anna continued to show support for her husband during his trial and appeared at the courthouse for his sentencing.
At FCI Seagoville, he is subject to rules that include no unsupervised visits with his kids.
“The Defendant shall have no unsupervised contact with minors,” stated court documents obtained by Us Weekly in June 2022. “If there is a concern about the potential for inadvertent contact with a minor at a particular place, function, or event, then the Defendant shall get approval from the U.S. Probation Office before attending any such place, function or event.”
