OOPS

Court Tosses Joe Exotic’s Sentence in Murder-for-Hire Case

But the ‘Tiger King’ star’s conviction was upheld, so he’ll eventually be re-sentenced.

Joe Exotic’s 22-year prison sentence was vacated by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. The judge that originally determined the Tiger King star’s prison time didn’t group together both of his murder-for-hire counts, so he was sentenced under incorrect guidelines, the court found. “Maldonado-Passage hired two different hitmen on two different occasions, though his ‘end, goal, or purpose,’ was the same. Thus, the acts or transactions of the two counts shared a common criminal objective—Baskin’s murder,” the court said. “The district court erred by not grouping the two murder-for-hire counts.”

Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, isn’t out of the woods yet as his convictions were still upheld, and he will be re-sentenced at some point, according to court filings. Convicted in 2019, Maldonado-Passage hired hit men in an attempt to kill his rival Carole Baskin. Maldonado-Passage will remain in prison as he awaits re-sentencing