Representatives for 'Tiger King's' Joe Exotic are said to be chasing Trump down for a pardon

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

"Tiger King's" Joe Exotic, or Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is one of multiple people seeking President Donald Trump's pardon before he leaves office, The New York Times reported.

Maldonado-Passage owned a private zoo in Oklahoma and is currently serving a 22 year sentence, after being found guilty of two counts of murder for hire and 17 counts of animal abuse, for killing tigers and plotting to murder his rival, the animal-rights activist Carole Baskin.

He was a subject of the Netflix documentary series "Tiger King."

Trump pardoned former national security advisor Michael Flynn on Wednesday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/representatives-tiger-kings-joe-exotic-065415207.html

[moose65]

1. Is that even possible?

Trump can only pardon federal offenses. I don’t think animal cruelty and plotting murder are federal crimes, are they?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. He was convicted of federal animal trafficking offenses, and

an interstate murder-for-hire plot, which was also a federal crime (because it crossed state lines). So he could be pardoned for those offenses. He could be charged with similar state crimes, and the Supreme Court recently held that separate state and federal prosecutions for the same acts don't violate the double jeopardy rule. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/us/politics/supreme-court-double-jeopardy.html

[rsdsharp]

3. These are federal crimes?

I mean I recently saw a Waltons episode where Pa Walton got FDR to pardon a friend for a murder conviction, but that was make believe.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Yes, see #4.