Joe Exotic Juror Says Tiger King Did 'Huge Injustice To The Jury'

***WARNING: TIGER KING SPOILERS AHEAD (BUT HONESTLY, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET, WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING AT?)***

Since the docuseries Tiger King dropped on Netflix last month, it has been captivating and baffling viewers across the world with its inimitable mix of 'murder, mayhem and madness'.

The show centres around the feud between gun-toting polygamist zoo-owner Joe Exotic and animal sanctuary rival Carole Baskin. Inevitably, viewers have picked sides, but a juror from Exotic's trial has warned people against casting judgements based on the show alone.

Netflix

Exotic - whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage - is now serving a 22-year prison sentence, having been convicted in 2019 of attempting to hire a hitman to kill Baskin, as well as a series of violations of the Endangered Species Act, including killing five tigers.

Despite this, many Tiger King viewers have supported Exotic. Now a juror from his trial - named only as Kristin - has said the show didn't tell 'the same story' to that which was heard in court.

Speaking to Nancy Grace on Fox Nation series A Tiger King Investigation, she said: "Don't believe everything you see, because there was so much more to it than what they're showing you.

Fox

"They made him out to be almost a victim. It just wasn't even the same story.

"It did a huge injustice to the jury because now people think that we convicted him based on absolutely nothing."

Kristin went on to say that the strongest evidence supporting his conviction was omitted from the series.

Netflix

She said: "There was a long recording of [the apparent hitman] meeting Joe and we could have convicted on both murder for hire counts based on one sentence that Joe said, which was 'the first guy that I hired to kill her ran away with my $3,000 (£2,427). Now we're going to try this again.'"

Speaking on the new series, a former employee of Exotic's at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park named Gaylynn Eastwood also contested his depiction in the series.

She said: "I was very disappointed in how it was presented to me. They just loaded it with all this sensationalism. They barely touched on anything and kind of left it open to the public just to fill in the blanks.

"He has this uncanny ability to meet someone and read them within seconds. And kind of... if you have a weak spot, he knows exactly how to use that in his favour to get what he wants from you. I mean, it's uncanny and it's indescribable. You know, this man is a lunatic. He will do anything."

LADbible has contacted Netflix for comment.

Topics: tiger king, TV and Film, crime, Netflix

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey