Joe Exotic to be re-sentenced for Carole Baskin murder plot

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, made popular as Joe Exotic on the Netflix docuseries Tiger King, will be resentenced for his murder plot against Carole Baskin, reported Reuters.

The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Maldonado-Passage’s 22-year prison sentence, which was handed to him last year for plotting animal rights activist Baskin’s murder and violating multiple wildlife rules, on a technicality on Wednesday.

The court has ordered the trial court to resentence him, with Maldonado-Passage’s attorney John Phillips suggesting that the court should reduce his sentencing. He also said that they will further challenge the conviction in court.

Maldonado-Passage garnered fame last year when Netflix featured his Oklahoma private zoo and rivalry with Baskin in the series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

After being handed a 22-year prison sentence, he appealed only the murder-for-hire counts, arguing that Baskin was not entitled to attend the trial as a victim because she was not physically harmed in the murder plot, reported Reuters.

The argument was rejected on Monday by US Circuit Court Judges Gregory Phillips and Paul Kelly Jr who rallied for victims saying they can also suffer emotional and financial harm.

“Her harm was one sustained, ongoing harm. She learned that Joe Exotic intended to have her killed and lived with that fear,” the court said of Baskin.