On this Aug. 28, 2013, file picture, Joseph Maldonado-Passage, often known as Joe Unique, solutions a query throughout an interview on the zoo he runs in Wynnewood, Okla. (AP Picture/Sue Ogrocki, File)
OKLAHOMA CITY --
A U.S. federal decide resentenced "Tiger King" Joe Unique to 21 years in jail on Friday, decreasing his punishment by only a yr regardless of pleas from the previous zookeeper for leniency as he begins remedy for early-stage most cancers.
"Please do not make me die in jail ready for an opportunity to be free," he tearfully instructed a federal decide who resentenced him on a murder-for-hire cost.
Joe Unique -- whose actual identify is Joseph Maldonado-Passage -- was convicted in a case involving animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. Each had been featured in Netflix's "Tiger King: Homicide, Mayhem and Insanity."
Sporting an orange jail jumpsuit, Maldonado-Passage, 58, nonetheless had his trademark mullet coiffure, however the bleach-blonde had light to brown and grey.
Baskin and her husband, Howard Baskin, additionally attended the proceedings, and she or he mentioned she was fearful that Maldonado-Passage might threaten her.
"He continues to harbor intense emotions of unwell will towards me," she instructed the decide.
Baskin mentioned even with Maldonado-Passage in jail, she has continued to obtain "vile, abusive and threatening communications" during the last two years. She instructed the decide she believes Maldonado-Passage poses an much more critical risk to her now that he has a bigger group of supporters due to the recognition of the Netflix sequence.
Maldonado-Passage's attorneys instructed the decide their shopper is affected by stage-one prostate most cancers, together with a illness that compromises his immune system, making him notably weak to COVID-19.
Stage-one prostate most cancers means it has been detected early and hasn't unfold. Maldonado-Passage beforehand mentioned that he deliberate to delay remedy till after his resentencing. Federal officers have mentioned Maldonado-Passage will want as much as eight weeks of radiation therapies and can be unable to journey in the course of the therapies.
His lawyer Amy Hanna instructed the decide he is not receiving the right medical care contained in the federal jail system and that a prolonged jail sentence is a "dying sentence for Joe that he does not deserve."
Prosecutors additionally instructed the decide Friday that Maldonado-Passage acquired a disciplinary write-up in September for being possession of a contraband cellphone and unauthorized headphones that was not included in his pre-sentencing report. Palk added that Maldonado-Passage had 4 earlier disciplinary write-ups, though he described these as "comparatively minor and never violent."
Friday's court docket proceedings happened after a federal appeals court docket dominated final yr that the jail time period he is serving on a murder-for-hire conviction must be shortened.
Supporters packed the courtroom, some carrying animal-print masks and shirts that learn "Free Joe Unique." His attorneys mentioned they might attraction the resentencing and petition for a brand new trial.
"The protection submitted a sequence of attachments that confirmed extreme authorities involvement within the creation of the offense for which he is been convicted," lawyer Molly Parmer instructed reporters after the listening to.
"We're going to proceed our post-conviction litigation, however we did preview for the court docket the proof we now have via our post-conviction investigation."
The previous zookeeper was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in jail after he was convicted of making an attempt to rent two totally different males to kill Baskin. A 3-judge panel of the tenth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals agreed with Maldonado-Passage that the court docket ought to have handled them as one conviction at sentencing as a result of they each concerned the identical objective of killing Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for giant cats in Florida and had criticized Maldonado-Passage's remedy of animals.
Prosecutors mentioned Maldonado-Passage provided $10,000 to an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin throughout a recorded December 2017 assembly. Within the recording, he instructed the agent, "Identical to observe her right into a mall car parking zone and simply cap her and drive off." Maldonado-Passage's attorneys have mentioned their shopper -- who as soon as operated a zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Oklahoma Metropolis -- wasn't being critical.
Maldonado-Passage, who maintains his innocence, additionally was convicted of killing 5 tigers, promoting tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife information.
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Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
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