Desperate Joe Exotic Vows He'll Kill Himself if He Loses Jail Appeal — and Details How He'll End It
The former reality star is begging President Biden to pardon him.
Nov. 4 2024, Published 3:47 a.m. ET
Defiant Tiger King Joe Exotic has vowed to snuff out his own life behind bars if he fails to win his freedom.
In an exclusive interview from jail, Joe told RadarOnline if he loses his appeal: "One night I'm going to take a very long nap. I refuse to allow the United States of America to do this to me. They have the evidence that I'm innocent."
The TV personality said he managed to take three overdoses behind bars. He once swallowed 106 blood pressure tablets despite being locked in solitary confinement.
Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado, is serving a 21-year sentence.
Joe, 61, said he was confident his legal team would secure his freedom, saying: "I've got a plan either way. If I get released I'm going to go to get married.
"Then if I don't, then one night I'm going to take a very long nap."
Joe has a new man in his life after proposing to a 33-year-old fellow inmate named Jorge Marquez after dumping a former fiance on the outside by letter.
He shared on X: "He is so amazing and is from Mexico. Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out."
Joe told us he didn't want to grow old surrounded by fellow inmates smoking the mind-bending drug K2 – a synthetic cannabis smuggled inside the jail soaked in paper.
Exotic became a cult figure globally after Netflix series Tiger King aired over lockdown.
Joe said: "That has no value of life for me. I refuse to become one of these people.
Joe said: "If I put in my whole sentence, I will be 73 when I walk out of here with nothing. I've put in seven years, I'm not going to put in 30 years like the Menendez brothers did."
The Menendez brothers, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty, in LA have been back in the public eye since the release of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story which argues their case should be revisited.
Joe Exotic said he doesn't want to do 30 years of jail like the Menendez brothers.
And confident Joe said he believed "God has plans for me" and he intends to become a prison reformer if he is freed next year.
He also revealed that donations from fans and well-wishers were funding his legal fight and he had run up costs of $31,000 since March.
Joe said he drew strength from the more than 50 letters he receives each day from supporters across the globe.
Confident Joe Exotic said he believed ‘God has plans for me’ and he intends to become a prison reformer if he is freed next year.
The former exotic animal park owner is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, is hoping he'll be released in the next year after his legal team filed an appeal for a retrial based on newly discovered evidence.
Joe was convicted of two counts of murder for hire, nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act, and nine counts for violations of the Lacey Act, a law that prohibits the illegal trafficking of wildlife, fish, and plants.
He was jailed in 2019 and is currently set to be released in 2036.
Joe Exotic was jailed in 2019 and is currently set to be released in 2036.
Before he was imprisoned, Joe operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, also known as the G.W. Zoo from 1999 to 2018.
He was arrested three months after leaving the zoo on suspicion of hiring two men to kill his rival Carole Baskin, the founder of Big Cat Rescue.
This isn't the first time Joe's legal team has filed a motion for a new trial.
In January 2021, Joe Exotic's team also hoped he would be given a presidential pardon from Donald Trump – and they were so confident they even had a limo waiting for him outside prison.
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In 2021, his attorney John Phillips filed a motion for a new trial which resulted in the US appeals court ruling that the convictions for the two murder attempts were wrongly treated as separate.
The following year, Joe had his sentence reduced from 22 to 21 years.
In January 2021, Joe's team also hoped he would be given a presidential pardon from Donald Trump – and they were so confident they even had a limo waiting for him outside prison.
The pardon didn't materialize.
Joe Exotic’s current attorney Roger Roots said he has evidence that shows that Joe's initial trial was ‘undamentally riddled with errors that went to the very heart of the accusations.’
His current attorney Roger Roots says he has evidence that shows that Joe's initial trial was "fundamentally riddled with errors that went to the very heart of the accusations".
"Had that evidence been known at the time, he would not have been convicted," he claimed.
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