Joe Exotic is currently serving 22 years in jail on two counts of hiring someone to murder Carole Baskin. Photo / Supplied
Joe Exotic is currently serving 22 years in jail on two counts of hiring someone to murder Carole Baskin. Photo / Supplied
Joe Exotic is to be re-sentenced.
The former zoo owner is currently in prison on a 22-year sentence after being found guilty of plotting to have animal rights activist Carole Baskin murdered, and for multiple wildlife violations.
But the "Tiger King" star - whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage -appealed the decision, claiming the court shouldn't have allowed Baskin to attend the whole trial because she was a witness, and that his two murder-for hire convictions should've been combined rather than separated.
And on Wednesday, a district court agreed the court should have initially grouped his two murder-for-hire convictions together, but insisted it was Baskin's right to attend the trial as a victim.
According to CBS News, circuit judge Harris Hartz wrote in a concurring opinion: "Although the district court apparently thought that the two murder-for-hire plots shared a common criminal objective, it mistakenly (although quite understandably) thought that grouping would not be proper unless they were also part of the same course of conduct.
"Today my sentence was vacated, which we knew was absolute crap to start with and I'm looking extremely forward to ... the rest of the lawyers proving the rest of my innocence in the very, very near future.
"We're going to get through all of this corruption and expose the truth for a chance and I'm finally going to have a voice in hopes to walk home."
Exotic's attorney Brandon Sample is hopeful the decision is "one of many more victories to come" for the star, who is currently in prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
He told E! News: "I am pleased with the appellate court's decision in Joe's case.
"I knew when I agreed to represent Joe that an appeal would be difficult, but I also knew that the law was on Joe's side.
"I am optimistic that the decision today is but one of many more victories to come for Joe — and his eventual freedom."
Exotic was previously hopeful he would be pardoned by former President Donald Trump in his last days at the helm, but he left office without signing the paperwork.
