'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic set to be resentenced Jan. 28 in federal court, judge rules
Nolan Clay"Tiger King" star Joe Exotic is set to be resentenced Jan. 28 in Oklahoma City federal court in his murder-for-hire case.
U.S. District Judge Scott Palk set the resentencing on Monday for 10 a.m. and granted the defendant's request to be transported to Oklahoma City for the hearing.
A federal appeals court in July ruled that Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, should get a shorter sentence. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver determined the trial court wrongly treated two murder-for-hire convictions separately in calculating his prison term.
The judge originally sentenced Joe Exotic to 22 years in federal prison for hiring hitmen to kill Carole Baskin and for crimes involving his animals.
'We came up with a plan to decapitate' Joe Exotic: The only shocking 'Tiger King' 2 reveal
But the appeals court said the court should have calculated his advisory sentencing range between 17 1/2 years and just under 22 years in prison, rather than between just under 22 years and 27 years in prison. The judge erred in deciding punishment by not "grouping" two murder-for-hire counts as part of a "common criminal objective," the appeals court concluded.
Because of the appellate decision, Joe Exotic will be resentenced under revised guidelines that, if followed, could result in as little as 17 years and six months in prison.
The judge does not have to follow the guidelines, however, and could impose the same punishment.
The "Tiger King" star also was sentenced for killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records.
Last month, attorneys for the former Oklahoma zookeeper said he was delaying cancer treatment until after his resentencing. Joe Exotic announced in November that he has prostate cancer, and he was transferred from a federal medical center in Fort Worth, Texas, to a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina.
More:Tiger King Joe Exotic delays prostate cancer treatment for resentencing
He thanked his supporters in a tearful recorded phone call posted by his attorney, John M. Phillips, to Instagram on Christmas Eve. "I'm innocent," he said. "I'm still sitting in this place rotting."
Joe Exotic became known worldwide after Netflix released "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" in March 2020, at the height of the pandemic.
The documentary series focused on his life, his murder-for-hire case and his now-closed zoo in Wynnewood. A sequel was released in November.
He was convicted at a jury trial in 2019.
More:'Tiger King 2' is coming to Netflix, and it promises 'more madness and mayhem'
Contributing: The Associated Press
