Josh Duggar has filed another appeal, this time for a judge’s recent denial of his motion to vacate his conviction.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, June 18, Duggar’s legal team filed a notice of appeal earlier in the week. Instead of appealing his conviction, Duggar, 38, is appealing the judge’s decision to deny the motion which occurred two weeks ago.
A transcript request and supplement form for the appeal were also submitted by Duggar’s lawyers on Monday, June 15.
Earlier this month, a judge denied Duggar’s motion, citing that the court did not receive the paperwork past its due date. According to docs obtained by Us on June 2, Duggar’s paperwork — which was due on June 24, 2025 — was addressed to the US Attorney’s Office and received by the court’s clerk nearly a month later, on July 29, 2025. The court received an additional copy one month later.
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Duggar argued that he should be protected by the prison mailbox rule, which gives inmates leniency on court deadlines as long as the documents are “deposited in the institution’s internal mailing system on or before the last day for filing,” per the docs.
Josh also claimed that wife Anna Duggar assisted in the process of typing up the motion and sent it to her husband via mail before he sent it to the court. He also claimed to have issues with the amount of postage before getting it into the mailbox on time.
The judge found that Josh’s testimony was “not credible” because he did not have Anna come in to corroborate his claims.
“The Court can grant Mr. Duggar one coincidence,” the judge wrote in his ruling on June 1. “Perhaps even two or three odd happenstances. But Mr. Duggar is asking the Court to believe something akin to a magic bullet theory — a sequential chain of events that defies common sense. Collectively, this chain of events — where Murphy’s law was lurking at every turn — is simply not credible.”
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Josh was arrested in April 2021 and charged with one count of receiving child sex abuse material. Later that year, the former reality star was found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography. In May 2022, he was sentenced to 12 years and seven months behind bars, without the possibility of parole.
Since his arrest, Josh has maintained his innocence and has made multiple — and unsuccessful — attempts to appeal his conviction. Josh is currently expected to be released on February 2, 2033.
Josh rose to fame for appearing on 19 Kids and Counting. He is the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. The couple are also parents to Jana Duggar, John-David Duggar, Jill Duggar, Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar, Joseph Duggar, Josiah Duggar, Joy-Anna Duggar, twins Jedidiah Duggar and Jeremiah Duggar, Jason Duggar, James Duggar, Justin Duggar, Jackson Duggar, Johannah Duggar, Jennifer Duggar, Jordyn Duggar and Josie Duggar.
