A federal judge in the United States resentenced Tiger King star Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage (aka Joe Exotic) to 21 years in prison on January 28, 2022.
The new term is only a year shorter than Maldonado-original Passage’s verdict, which was set for 2020.
Exotic, who had been delayed treatment for prostate cancer in order to appeal, told the judge on Friday:
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July 2021 that Maldonado-original Passage’s sentence of 22 years was erroneous, claiming that the trial used two “Murder for Hire” charges in calculating his jail sentence.
Both murder conspiracy counts should have been combined, according to the appeals court, because the plan’s eventual purpose in both cases was to kill Baskin.
The new Tiger Tales is up. It’s part one of my interview with James Garretson. Some seem to think lying about me to the public and FBI is a good idea. It’s a crime. I recorded nearly everything. Heck, this interview was recorded by Tiger King producers. https://t.co/aElrtRtGSv
— John M. Phillips (@JohnPhillips) January 29, 2022
What Charges Have Been Levelled Against Joe Exotic?
Joe Exotic had hatched a conspiracy to kill Carole Baskin, the CEO of Big Cat Rescue, in 2020, due to which he has been sentenced to 21 years in jail.
He was charged with two counts of murder for hire, eight counts of fabricating wildlife records under the Lacey Act, and nine counts of Endangered Species Act violations.
The Tiger King allegedly offered $5,000 to his zoo’s maintenance employee at the time to assassinate Baskin, according to the charges.
He also tried to recruit an undercover FBI agent to assassinate the 60-year-old animal rights activist later on. During a meeting in 2017, he allegedly promised the agent $10,000.
Folks: the same judge who yelled at Joe during his last sentence, re-sentenced him to almost the same sentence. He didn’t consider our evidence and said he wouldn’t until the next hearing. Yes, there will be an appeal but the Motion for New Trial is the issue. We expected this. https://t.co/5c3jQzS57f
— John M. Phillips (@JohnPhillips) January 28, 2022
In addition, the 58-year-old former zoo owner was forced to pay Carole Baskin $1 million in 2013 for utilising logos and photos that infringed on Big Cat Rescue’s IP rights.
Baskin was given Joe Exotic’s G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma in mid-2020 as a result of her case against him.
In August of last year, she sold the zoo on the condition that it never be utilised as a zoo or for any Tiger King-related event again.
Carole Baskin and her second husband, Howard Baskin, attended the resentencing procedures, according to the Associated Press.
I think the judge was fair and I believe 21 years to be just for someone who was convicted of trying to hire at least 2 people to kill me. I believe the tigers he bred for life in prison, or worse, would be satisfied to know he will continue to spend his next many years in a cage pic.twitter.com/Pkmwj3ITLE
— CaroleBaskin.ETH (@carole_baskin) January 28, 2022
Baskin later tweeted that she was happy with the resentence and thought the judge was “fair.” Meanwhile, Joe Exotic’s attorney, John Phillips, tweeted that they would file another appeal to have Maldonado-sentence Passage’s reduced.
