'Tiger King' resentenced to 21 years in murder-for-hire plot
OKLAHOMA CITY (CN) — Convicted “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic was resentenced Friday morning to 21 years in federal prison for trying to kill rival tiger enthusiast and docuseries co-star Carole Baskin, only a slight reduction from his original sentence of 22 years.
U.S. District Judge Scott L. Palk lowered the sentence of Exotic aka Joseph Maldonado-Passage, 58, during an hour-long sentencing hearing in Oklahoma City federal court.
Maldonado-Passage was originally convicted by a federal jury in 2019 on two courts of murder-for-hire, eight counts of violating the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. Jurors found he tried to hire an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin for $10,000.
Palk, a Donald Trump appointee, considered each murder-for-hire count separately when he originally sentenced Maldonado-Passage to 22 years in federal prison. The 10th Circuit disagreed on appeal, remanding the case back to Palk for resentencing after concluding last July the similar charges should be grouped together concurrently.
https://www.courthousenews.com/tiger-king-resentenced-to-21-years-in-murder-for-hire-plot/
= new reply since forum marked as read
They admiringly call him a "Trailer Trash Liberace."
I call him a murderous thug who's cruel to animals.
