A federal choose resentenced Joe Unique of Netflix’s “Tiger King” to 21 years in jail on Friday, decreasing his punishment by one 12 months.
The up to date sentencing comes after Unique begged the court docket for leniency as he begins remedy for prostate most cancers.
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‘Tiger King’: Joe Unique’s zoo handed over to rival Carole Baskin
Unique, whose actual title is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was convicted on 17 federal costs of animal abuse and two counts of tried murder-for-hire for the plot to kill animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. Each appeared as archenemies within the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King: Homicide, Mayhem and Insanity.”
Friday’s resentencing took place after a federal appeals court docket dominated final 12 months that the sentence Unique is serving on the murder-for-hire conviction must be shortened. In line with the Related Press, the previous zookeeper’s supporters packed the courtroom, a lot of them carrying animal-print masks and shirts that learn “Free Joe Unique.”
In January 2020, Unique was sentenced to 22 years in jail after he was convicted of trying to rent two completely different males to kill Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for giant cats in Florida and was publicly outspoken towards Unique’s animal abuse.
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Prosecutors stated Unique provided an undercover FBI agent $10,000 to kill Baskin. In a recorded assembly from December 2017, Unique tells the agent, “Identical to observe her right into a mall parking lot and simply cap her and drive off.” Unique’s attorneys insisted he was not being severe.
Baskin, who attended the proceedings together with her husband, stated she was nonetheless fearful that Unique might threaten her.
“He continues to harbor intense emotions of ailing will towards me,” Baskin stated. Unique was additionally convicted of killing 5 tigers, promoting tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife data.
