‘Tiger King’: Joe Exotic’s Resentencing Date Revealed

Tiger King star Joe Exotic has been given a resentencing date in his previous federal convictions, and the date has now been revealed. According to Fox 61 News,  U.S. District Judge Scott Palk — a federal judge in Oklahoma — has set Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. local time for Exotic’s resentencing. Palk also granted Exotic’s request to be transported to Oklahoma City for the hearing.

Back in July, a federal appeals court ruled that Joe Exotic — real name, Joseph Maldonado-Passage — is entitled to a shorter prison sentence than the one he was handed down. The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in Denver, determined that Exotic’s trial court incorrectly considered two murder-for-hire convictions separately when calculating the term of his prison sentence.

In September 2018, Exotic was arrested and charged with two counts of hiring someone to murder Carole Baskin, eight counts of violating the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act for killing five tigers and for selling tigers across state lines. The investigation against Exotic was so extensive that it was a joint operation between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the U.S. Marshals Service. In January 2019, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison. He has been held at FMC Fort Worth since March 2020.

After Tiger King became a huge success on Netflix, Exotic spoke out about his sudden notoriety. “You know, it would be nice if I could actually see me being famous out there, but I’ve seen these same four walls for a year and a half now,” he said. Exotic also expressed remorse for his actions, saying, “Go in a cage with your animals for a week. I mean, when I left the zoo and I sent my chimpanzees to the sanctuary in Florida and imagined what my chimpanzees went through for 18 years, I-I’m ashamed of myself.”

Back in November, Exotic announced that he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, from a federal medical center in Fort Worth, Texas. In December, lawyers for Exotic stated that he opted to delay his cancer treatments until after his resentencing. At this time, there is no word on what the ex-private zookeeper’s new sentence will be.