Joe Exotic Has Been Resentenced To 21 Years In Prison For Murder-For-Hire Plot

A federal US judge has resentenced Joe Exotic to 21 years in prison, one year short of his original 22-year sentence.

Joe Exotic - whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage - was convicted in a murder-for-hire case involving animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. 

Both were featured in hit Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness.

Exotic was resentenced after a federal appeal court ruled last year that improper sentencing guidelines were used.

Prosecutors say he tried to hire two people - including an undercover FBI agent - to kill Baskin, who had criticised his treatment of animals.

Maldonado-Passage’s lawyers said he wasn’t being serious. 

Baskin attended the sentencing in Oklahoma City.

Last month, lawyers said Maldonado-Passage was delaying prostate cancer treatment until after his resentencing.

Federal prison officials told TMZ that Exotic has been transferred from FMC Fort Worth in Texas to FMC Butner in North Carolina.

The move was said to have taken place on 16 November with Butner providing 'extensive medical services' and cancer treatment facilities.

Writing from Fort Worth federal prison earlier this month, Joe said: "It is with a sad face that I have to tell you... that my prostate biopsy's came back with an aggressive cancer."

The second season of Tiger King was released last year and it dives a little deeper in the lives of Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin and Jeff Lowe.

It included a titbit at the end where Exotic finally expressed some form of empathy for what he's done.

But just before you think he's expressing remorse towards Baskin, think again.

These many months in prison have given Exotic some perspective on how he treated the animals at his zoo over the years.

He said he finally understands why it was wrong to keep those big cats locked up in a cage, because he now knows what that feels like.

"After being lumped up her three years, I know now how my animals felt," Joe said in the final episode.

"I'm ashamed of myself. I hope I'll get a second chance just like my tigers."