Last year, the Federal Court of Appeals invalidated the first sentence of the plot featured in the Netflix series “Tiger King.” Petitions for amnesty from the two presidents also failed.
Former Oklahoma Zoo owner Joe Exotic, who was the centerpiece of the 2020 Netflix documentary series Tiger King, has been re-sentenced on Friday for 21 years after a failed hiring plan targeting self-proclaimed Carole Baskin. He was indignant at the prison. Animal rights activists who criticized the treatment of animals in his zoo said his lawyer.
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The new ruling reduces his punishment by a year. The original sentence was 22 years in prison and was withdrawn by the Federal Court of Appeals last summer as inappropriate.
“We are dissatisfied with the court’s decision and will appeal,” John M. Phillips, a lawyer for Joe Exotic and whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, said in a statement. At a press conference, he said Joe Exotic was disappointed.
In a court document on Friday, Joe Exotic’s statement said, “Don’t let the cancer be dealt with in a prison awaiting an appeal.”
In November a Joe Exotic statement said he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
Joe Exotic, 58, was sentenced to imprisonment in 2020 after attempting to hire people, including undercover agents, twice to kill Baskin. Their rivalry was one of the main plots of “Tiger King”. He was also convicted of tampering with wildlife records and violating the Endangered Species Act for his role in trafficking and killing tigers.
Last summer, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in support of Mr. Joe Exotic’s decision that it was too long. A reality show star lawyer claimed that the Oklahoma Federal District Court did not group his two murder convictions when his decision was calculated.
The court said his imprisonment could have been as short as 17 and a half years if the two counts were grouped together rather than being considered in separate judgments.
In a recording his lawyer provided to the New York Times after the decision, Joe Exotic stated that his original decision was “absolutely crap.”
Joe Exotic has always been innocent and has conducted public campaigns primarily through social media for his release from prison. He was unable to receive a pardon from former President Donald J. Trump in 2021 after a few months of the petition he has since refocused on President Biden.
According to lawyer Phillips, Joe Exotic was later transferred to a medical facility in North Carolina after he was diagnosed with cancer.
The following month, court documents showed that treatment had been postponed until Joe Exotic was resentenced, according to the Associated Press.
At the Oklahoma City Courthouse on Friday, supporters of Mr. Joe Exotic (Maldonado-Passage) attended a hearing, and AP reported that some wore animal print masks and T-shirts labeled “Free Joe Exotic.”
