How you could get away with murder in Yellowstone’s “Zone of Death"

This is a map of Yellowstone National Park. For the most part the park is in Wyoming, but it extends a bit into Montana and Idaho. This little 50 square miles section in Idaho is what concerns us. It's called the zone of death, because of a loophole that exists in the Constitution of the United States. If someone were to exploit that loophole they might be able to get away with murder. Yellowstone was established in 1872 before Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana joined the Union. It's federal land and always has been, but federal land across the U.S. is split up and divided into its corresponding state district courts. Except for Yellowstone. And this is where the loophole begins. Law professor Brian C. Kalt points out in his 2005 paper, "The Perfect Crime", that Yellowstone National Park was assigned fully to Wyoming's district court, even though small portions fall into Montana and Idaho. "Unlike every other district, the district of Wyoming includes land in other states." So Kalt asks the question: what happens if you're caught for a crime you committed in that 50 square mile Idaho region of the park? The first thing law enforcement would do is bring you to Cheyenne, the hub of the district court of Wyoming, because the crime technically happened within Wyoming's jurisdiction. But Article 3 Section 2 of the United States Constitution says that the trial should happen in the state where you committed the crime. If you're a savvy murderer you'll invoke your right to a trial in Idaho. So they bring you back to Idaho no big deal. "In the sixth amendment they said that they would require local juries and the language they use is that the jury has to be from the state and district where the crime was committed." This is called the Vicinage Clause. That leaves you with a sort of venn diagram. You have the right to demand jury from that middle area, where the state in which you committed the crime, that's Idaho, overlaps with the judicial jurisdiction where you committed the crime: the Wyoming district that has jurisdiction over Yellowstone National Park. And here's the problem: "nobody lives there. There's there's no way for them to give you a trial and so I argue they should have to let you go." This could also happen in the Montana portion of the park, except a few dozen people do live there, so a jury could theoretically be called. Kalt has proposed numerous solutions to Congress to fix the loophole, but they have yet to act. "All they have to do is redraw the district line so that the district of Wyoming is Wyoming, the district of Idaho is Idaho, and the district of Montana is Montana and if they do that this all goes away." So if you're planning a gathering of your adversaries, exes, and debtors, maybe try Yosemite.

Channel: Vox

Views: 3,092,555

Rating: 4.8957992 out of 5

Keywords: yellowstone national park, murder, policy, constitution, vox, explains, zone of death, idaho, montana, wyoming, history, how to, death, halloween, spooky, ghosts

Id: -E4OqN9tJnw

Length: 3min 34sec (214 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 29 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/jsm21]

I've seen this before. It's a very intriguing theory, but I would bet that judges could find a way to ignore the laws on the books and prosecute the would-be murderer.

Of course, it's almost an impossible scenario, because you could not plan the crime beforehand. This would certainly include abducting/tricking the person you want to kill into going into the "Zone of Death".

I do not have a link to the story, but I heard of one instance where a man was caught hunting elk illegally in this area, and IIRC he did not get away with it.

[u/SirLordWombat]

I thought based on some cases this was used or rather tried to be used in it is debunked/not possible. I think one or the other state simply takes the case into their jurisdiction?

It was some time since i read about it so I might of messed up some information.

[u/Idahotato21]

Sounds like the perfect place for a cult

[u/typicallybrandy]

Basically you could commit murder and exploit legal loopholes to be free.

[u/wordnerd1023]

Stuff they don't want you to know had a pretty good episode on this.