‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic should have been given shorter prison sentence, appeals court rules
Judges have ruled that “Tiger King” Joe Exotic should have been given a shorter prison sentence.
The former zookeeper was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in federal prison after being convicted of trying to hire two different men to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin and violating wildlife laws.
A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, should get a shorter prison sentence.
Maldonado-Passage, who is known as the subject of the popular Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, argued that the court should have treated him – and the other man found guilty of the murder-for-hire plot – as one conviction at sentencing.
The panel agreed that the court wrongly treated them separately in calculating his prison term under sentencing guidelines because they were both involved the same plot to kill Ms Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida.
According to the ruling, the court should have calculated his advisory sentencing range to be between 17.5 years and just under 22 years in prison, rather than between just under 22 years and 27 years in prison.
The court ordered the trial court to re-sentence Maldonado-Passage.
However, his appeals attorney Brandon Sample said he could possibly receive an even lower sentence than the range cited in the ruling because the court has to consider other factors too.
Meanwhile, another attorney representing Maldonado-Passage, John M Phillips, hinted at the possibility of seeking a new trial.
Mr Phillips said in a statement he would be filing motions citing previously undisclosed and newly discovered evidence in the case as well as examples of government misconduct.
“People should know what they saw on television isn’t the full truth. It isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. It was snowflakes on the tip of the iceberg, largely manufactured by those who wanted to see Joe Exotic in jail for their own benefit,” he said.
Maldonado-Passage, who has maintained his innocence, was also sentenced for killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records.
His supporters were disappointed that former president Donald Trump failed to issue him a pardon before leaving office.
Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue was granted control of Exotic’s zoo in June. Pic: Netflix
They were so confident in his chances that they had readied a celebratory limousine and a hair and wardrobe team to whisk him away from prison.
In his pardon application, Maldonado-Passage’s attorneys argued that he was “railroaded and betrayed” by others.
They also said the former zookeeper “will likely die in prison” because of health concerns.
Maldonado-Passage is serving his sentence at a medical prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have not “done anything” to end the Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump has said.
He called the French president a “friend of mine” and the UK leader a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.
Mr Trump made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron in Paris: Pic: Number 10/Flickr
The president also continued his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show.
The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.
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Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier this week.
They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.
Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia celebrates its victory over the Nazis.
President Trump speaks in the Oval Office on Friday. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.
However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic” and ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.
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President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.
Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.
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Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.
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