No pardon for Joe Exotic
There was no celebratory limousine ride from prison for Joe Exotic after all.
Instead, there was only bitterness.
President Donald Trump left office Wednesday without granting the former Oklahoma zookeeper a pardon. Afterward, Joe Exotic lashed out on social media at Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.
“I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump,” he said. “I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.”
Early Wednesday, the White House announced Trump had granted pardons to 73 individuals and commuted the sentences of another 70. Among those pardoned were Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, and Elliott Broidy, a fund raiser in Trump's 2016 campaign.
In his final hour Wednesday, Trump granted one additional pardon — to Albert J. Pirro Jr., the ex-husband of Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro.
Joe Exotic's legal team, led by wealthy private investigator Eric Love, had hyped up the possibility of his release so much in the media Tuesday that it became a trending topic on Twitter. Team Tiger even had a limousine ready to go.
“I ask my group of Angels to please help God guide this to happen,” Joe Exotic said in social media posts Tuesday.
Joe Exotic — whose real name is Joseph MaldonadoPassage — is serving 22 years in federal prison on murderfor-hire crimes and other offenses. He claims a former business partner set him up.
He is being held at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth.
In 2019, a jury in Oklahoma City found the former big cat breeder guilty of twice trying to have his chief critic, Carole Baskin, murdered. The jury also found him guilty of crimes involving his zoo animals including illegally killing five tigers with a shotgun.
A federal judge sentenced him last year. An appeal is pending.
After the pandemic hit, he became known worldwide from “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” the Netflix documentary series about his life, case and his now-closed zoo in Wynnewood.
Trump was asked in April during a pandemic press briefing if he had any thoughts about pardoning Joe Exotic.
“I'll take a look,” Trump said.
By co incidence Wednesday, three judges at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver heard oral arguments about Joe Exotic's punishment. Attorney Brandon Sample contended the sentence is excessive.
“So two months is what we're talking about, theoretically,” one judge remarked after a discussion of sentencing guideline ranges.
“Well, your honor, if we assume that the district court imposes the low end — if this court was to vacate and remand for resentencing — then we're talking more than two months,” Sample replied.
“Hope springs eternal,” the judge said.
Baskin operates Big Cat Rescue, an animal rights sanctuary based in Florida.
Joe Exotic targeted her because she was actively seeking to collect court judgments against him of more than $1 million for trademark infringement and other civil violations, according to testimony at his trial. He also was angry because she accused him of exploiting tiger cubs for profit at his zoo and on traveling shows, according to the testimony. Baskin had sought to stop him for years.
“I am sure it will not surprise anyone that we were not thrilled with the prospect of Joe being pardoned and are grateful that, as far as we know, he did not receive one,” her husband, Howard Baskin, said Wednesday from Florida.
“If you look through the list of pardons and reasons for them, in many cases the officials who recommended the pardons pointed to behavior after conviction, either while incarcerated or not, that were good deeds that helped offset ... past behavior,” he also said.
“There are numerous examples, both within and outside the exotic animal arena, where people who started their careers as part of the problem have had an awakening and become powerful advocates for solving the problem,” he said.
“Joe has told the media that after experiencing life in a cage he has regrets and does not feel these animals should be in cages,” he said. “If Joe is sincere in saying that ... he has an opportunity to do something truly meaningful with the rest of his life and end up a hero.
“He could expose the cub-petting industry and use his newfound fame to urge the public to ask Congress to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act that would end so much of the misery caused by big cat exploitation. While ideally he should do that for the unselfish reason of stopping the abuse, selfishly it might help make the case for a pardon someday based on legitimate grounds.”