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North Texas Millionaire Allegedly Delivers Legal Papers To White House To Free Joe Exotic

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM/CNN) — A North Texas millionaire has reportedly joined the fight to free Tiger King 'Joe Exotic' from a Fort Worth prison.

Eric Love is working with a group of lawyers who call themselves the 'Team Tiger'. The group is asking President Trump to pardon the Netflix TV star. CBS News reported earlier this month that Joseph Maldonado-Passage, whose stage name is Joe Exotic, also sent a handwritten letter to the President requesting the pardon.

The Tiger King was convicted in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Florida wildlife sanctuary owner Carole Baskin, who is currently appearing on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."

Passage is currently being held in the inmate medical center at the federal prison in Fort Worth. In addition to punishments for animal cruelty, Exotic was sentenced to 22 years for two counts of murder-for-hire. He isn't scheduled to be released until 2037.

Team Tiger put together a 257-page legal document that was delivered to the White House -- papers they claim prove Joe Exotic's innocence.

Love said, "When you think about precious cargo [the document], it's beyond precious. Because it's someone's life. This is somebody's entire life. This is their freedom. This is it."

A Netflix film crew followed Love on his way to the airport headed to Washington. Team Tiger claims the documents have been delivered to the White House. There's no word yet about any plans for a presidential pardon for the TV personality.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The CNN Wire™ & © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report.)

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