Opinion
‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic set for resentencing in Oklahoma
A federal decide is about to determine a brand new sentence Friday for “Tiger King” Joe Unique after an appeals court docket dominated final 12 months that the jail time period he’s serving on a murder-for-hire conviction ought to be shortened.
Though supporters of Joe Unique — whose actual title is Joseph Maldonado-Passage — are in search of his launch from jail, it’s unlikely as a result of federal tips counsel a sentence of 17 1/2 years to 22 years in jail.
‘TIGER KING’ STAR JOE EXOTIC PLEADS FOR PUBLIC’S HELP IN PAYING OFF NEMESIS CAROLE BASKIN
Maldonado-Passage was anticipated to attend Friday’s sentencing in Oklahoma Metropolis after a decide authorised his switch from a federal medical heart in Butner, North Carolina. Final month, attorneys for the previous Oklahoma zookeeper stated he was delaying prostate most cancers remedy till after his resentencing.
FILE – On this Aug. 28, 2013, file picture, Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also referred to as Joe Unique, is seen on the zoo he used to run in Wynnewood, Okla.
(AP Photograph/Sue Ogrocki, File)
The previous zookeeper was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in jail after he was convicted of attempting to rent two completely different males to kill animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. A 3-judge panel of the tenth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals agreed with Maldonado-Passage that the court docket ought to have handled them as one conviction at sentencing as a result of they each concerned the identical purpose of killing Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for giant cats in Florida and had criticized Maldonado-Passage’s remedy of animals.
‘TIGER KING’ JOE EXOTIC TO BE RESENTENCED ON JAN. 28
Each have been featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King: Homicide, Mayhem and Insanity.” The present was a breakout hit as individuals have been pressured to remain house within the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.
Joe ‘Unique’ Maldonado-Passage
(Santa Rosa County Jail through AP)
Prosecutors stated Maldonado-Passage provided $10,000 to an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin throughout a recorded December 2017 assembly. Within the recording, he advised the agent, “Similar to observe her right into a mall parking zone and simply cap her and drive off.” Maldonado-Passage’s attorneys have stated their consumer — who as soon as operated a zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Oklahoma Metropolis — wasn’t being severe.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Maldonado-Passage, who maintains his innocence, additionally was convicted of killing 5 tigers, promoting tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife information. His attorneys are asking for a lesser sentence than what the rules name for, alleging “imperfect entrapment, sentencing manipulation, and outrageous authorities conduct.”
“From choices made within the preliminary phases of the investigation to charging choices to overzealous sentencing suggestions, one factor stays clear: this case was about doing no matter it took to place Mr. Maldonado-Passage behind bars for so long as potential,” his attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Federal prosecutors stated in court docket information that they might defer recommending a brand new sentence for Maldonado-Passage due to the allegations he raised.
“Within the unlikely occasion that any of those claims face up to scrutiny and in the end are decided to be credible, these developments may influence the US’ final sentencing suggestion” as a result of the prosecutors are obligated to analyze them, U.S. Legal professional Robert Troester wrote.
