90 Day Fiance’s Michael Eloshway Accuses Judge of Abusing Discretion With 10-Year Prison Sentence
Incarcerated 90 Day Fiancé star Michael Eloshway threw his former lawyer under the bus and accused a federal judge of abusing his discretion as he fights to vacate his 10-year prison sentence, In Touch can exclusively report.
Michael, who was found guilty of possessing and distributing videos of child abuse in October 2024, filed an appeal of his sentence on March 10.
On top of the decade behind bars, Michael was ordered to pay $10,000 in fines, $5,000 to two victims featured in the videos found on his computer and serve ten years on probation after his prison release.
Michael checked into FCI Elkton, a low security federal correctional facility, to start his sentence in January.
In the newly filed appeal, obtained by In Touch, Michael claimed his former attorney made mistakes during his trial. He said the higher court should review the evidence in hopes they determine the lower court judge made the wrong decision.
Prosecutors sought 20 years behind bars for Michael, but the judge decided on ten years.
The government claimed Michael was caught sharing the illegal videos by an undercover agent. Michael and his legal team argued the reality star was a casual viewer of pornography and claimed he immediately deleted any videos he believed were illegal.
In the appeal, Michael claimed the lawyer who represented him in the trial failed to question prospective jurors about their views on adult pornography. He added that the government and his defense lawyer agreed on a list of questions to ask the jury.
He said the list included a question about their views on adult pornography or its use on the internet. Michael said his lawyer failed to ask the potential jurors the question during jury selection.
Michael’s appeal attempted to explain his pornography habit.
He said in 2021, following the pandemic, he was dealing with being stuck at home following a bad car accident, where he suffered broken ribs and a fractured hip.
He said over the next 18 months, he lost his good friend to suicide and several family members passed, along with his sister being diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
As In Touch first reported, Michael’s sister died days before he checked into prison. In his appeal, Michael claimed he turn to watching adult videos to deal with his anxiety.
“For those who for religious, moral or other reasons objected to pornography in American society, they would reject not only Mr. Eloshway’s trial defense but harbor an intrinsic bias against him,” his appeal lawyer noted.
“While defense counsel left a major factor in the defense theory untested when he failed to ascertain the venire’s views on adult pornography, the government laid out its case meticulously,” the lawyer continued.
Michael noted that he spoke to FBI agents after they executed a search warrant on his home.
“During that interview, [the agents] expressed concerns for the safety of Mr. Eloshway’s four-year-old daughter, inquiring whether Mr. Eloshway had ever touched her inappropriately. When Mr. Eloshway adamantly stated he had not, the agents asked him if he would be willing to undergo a polygraph examination regarding his daughter. Fearful that his daughter would be taken from him, Mr. Eloshway agreed,” the appeal read.
Michael said he took a polygraph where the results said he was truthful when he indicated he had no sexual interest in children.
He testified in court that he was “repulsed” by the videos, found on his computer, that were shown by prosecutors during his trial. In his appeal, he took issue with the judge ignoring all of this and still sentencing him to ten years in prison.
“The Court should find a 10-year sentence based on Mr. Eloshway’s offense conduct is substantively unreasonable,” his lawyer wrote.
Michael’s new attorney slammed his former lawyer, “Trial counsel’s performance fell below professional standards when he failed to question the panel members’ feelings about adult pornography. He continued, “Because of trial counsel’s deficient performance, the district court and the defense did not know whether the jurors’ feelings about Mr. Eloshway’s extensive adult pornography viewing biased their views against him.”
His lawyer argued, “This Court should not permit a lengthy, 121-month sentence based on Mr. Eloshway’s offense conduct, the punishment he deserves and his clear lack of dangerousness to the community. It should find the district court abused its discretion when it imposed a total sentence of 121 months for an individual who lacked the intent to distribute, download or even [view the videos] and took measures to prevent its distribution once he discovered that its presence would inadvertently appear on his computer.”
He ended, “The Court should vacate Mr. Eloshway’s sentence because it is substantively unreasonable.” Prosecutors have yet to respond to Michael’s appeal.
As In Touch first reported, ahead of his sentencing, Michael’s mother and wife wrote letters to the court pleading for the judge to consider the reality star’s character.