Tiger King Joe Exotic resentenced to 21 years in prison

A federal judge resentenced “Tiger King” Joe Exotic to 21 years in prison on Friday, reducing his punishment by just a year after an appeals court ordered a new sentence.

Joe Exotic — whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage — was convicted in a murder-for-hire case involving animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. Both were featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”

Maldonado-Passage was resentenced after a federal appeals court ruled last year that improper sentencing guidelines were used.

Prosecutors say Maldonado-Passage tried to hire two people — including an undercover FBI agent — to kill Baskin, who’d criticissed his treatment of animals. But Maldonado-Passage’s attorneys said he wasn’t being serious.

Several supporters of Maldonado-Passage packed into the courtroom, some wearing animal-print masks and T-shirts that read: “Free Joe Exotic”.

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The court also heard Baskin, who testified that she was fearful that Maldonado-Passage could threaten her.

“He continues to harbour intense feelings of ill will toward me,” she said.

Last month, attorneys said Maldonado-Passage was delaying prostate cancer treatment until after his resentencing.

The former zookeeper was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in prison after he was convicted of trying to hire two different men to kill Carole Baskin. A three-judge panel of the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Maldonado-Passage that the court should have treated them as one conviction at sentencing because they both involved the same goal of killing Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida and had criticised Maldonado-Passage’s treatment of animals.

Prosecutors said Maldonado-Passage offered $10,000 to an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin during a recorded December 2017 meeting. In the recording, he told the agent: “Just like follow her into a mall parking lot and just cap her and drive off.” Maldonado-Passage’s attorneys have said their client — who once operated a zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, about 105 kilometres south of Oklahoma City — wasn’t being serious.

Maldonado-Passage, who maintains his innocence, also was convicted of killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records. His attorneys are asking for a lesser sentence than what the guidelines call for, alleging “imperfect entrapment, sentencing manipulation, and outrageous government conduct”.

“From decisions made in the initial stages of the investigation to charging decisions to overzealous sentencing recommendations, one thing remains clear: this case was about doing whatever it took to put Mr. Maldonado-Passage behind bars for as long as possible,” his attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Federal prosecutors said in court records that they would defer recommending a new sentence for Maldonado-Passage because of the allegations he raised.

“In the unlikely event that any of these claims withstand scrutiny and ultimately are determined to be credible, those developments could impact the United States’ ultimate sentencing recommendation” because the prosecutors are obligated to investigate them, US Attorney Robert Troester wrote.

• Americas