Have You Heard of the Yellowstone “Zone of Death?”
The U.S Constitution sits as the overarching law of the land and helps keep citizens from having their constitutional rights from being infringed upon. But what happens when that very document could create a legal loophole leading to the perfect crime?
Yellowstone National Park is governed and managed by the state of Wyoming, despite the fact that the park bleeds into parts of Idaho and Montana. Michigan Law Professor Brian Kalt wrote a paper in 2005 titled "The Perfect Crime," about the strip of Yellowstone that sits in Idaho.
You see, this is one of the only places in the world where you could, technically, get away with murder. Let's say you're an awful person and decide to take your victim into the part of Yellowstone that sits in Idaho. First, you'd be tried in the courts in Cheyenne. But you could point out that you actually committed the crime in Idaho and be shipped back to their courts.
However, here's where it gets difficult. The accused has the right to a jury composed to people from the state where the murder was committed: Idaho. But those people also have to be from the federal district where the crime was committed: Yellowstone.
The population in the Wyoming part of the park is around 2,000. Even in Montana, there are still people living within the National Park. Idaho, however, has zero (0) residents that live in Yellowstone. Thus you get into a tricky loophole and paradox. There aren't any people to serve on your jury, so how do you get a fair trial?
So, as Kalt says, "The loophole looms, waiting for a murderer to exploit it. I feel like I've done what I can to prevent this; the blood will be on the government's hands."