Zone Of Death – Where You Might Get Away With Murder

If I asked you to name the single most beautiful place in America, you might well name Yellowstone National Park.  An Act Of Congress created this national treasure in 1872, and it is the oldest National Park in the world! But within its borders lies a remote area in Idaho that has been nicknamed the “Zone Of Death.” According to at least some legal scholars, one particular part of Yellowstone is an area where any crimes – including murder, are theoretically not punishable!

How Does The Zone Of Death Work?

The entire park, which contains parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, is under the
 jurisdiction of the United States Government. Therefore any crimes committed in Yellowstone National Park are heard by a Federal Court. From speeding tickets all the way up to murder, any criminal offenses taking place in Yellowstone National Park would be tried by the Federal Court in Cheyenne, Wyoming. This court is the only Federal Court in the nation to have its jurisdiction include parts of three states. So far, all very straightforward. But that’s where this theoretical legal loophole comes into play.

The Bill of Rights, specifically the Sixth Amendment, guarantees a trial by jury. The jury members in federal criminal cases must be made up of citizens from both the district and the state where the crime took place. The problem is that 50 square miles of the park in Idaho are completely uninhabited and contain no courthouse. The theory suggests that if you committed a crime in this specific, remote section of the park, you could demand a jury trial. Since no one lives there, a jury would be impossible to convene, and you could literally get away with murder! By exerting your Constitutional right to a jury trial, you would then walk free!

The Perfect Crime

A Michigan State University Law Professor, Brian C. Kalt, discovered the loophole in 2005. Professor Kalt was researching potential loopholes in the Sixth Amendment. He emphasized, “The courts may or may not agree that my loophole exists, and in any case, this Essay is not intended to inspire anyone to go out and commit crimes,” His solution was obvious. Congress could easily change the jurisdictional lines governing Yellowstone National Park and assign the Idaho section to the Federal Court in that state. Despite repeated warnings to both the judiciary and various politicians, no action has been taken to close the loophole!

Would The “Zone Of Death” Argument Work?

The short answer is that nobody really knows!  Only one known crime has taken place in the Zone Of Death/ A poacher was caught by Park Rangers after unlawfully killing an elk. The case was settled with a plea deal, so the theory’s validity has never been tested. Some have pointed out that if committed an underlying crime, such as kidnapping a person outside the Zone before killing them or conspiring with others outside the Zone to commit a crime that took place inside the Zone Of Death, those underlying crimes could be charged and heard in a different Federal Court.  So far, the Zone Of Death’s only real effect is that it inspired the 2008 novel Free Fire by C.J. Box and later the 2016 horror film Population Zero.