How to Get Away With Murder in Yellowstone National Park

In 2005, a Michigan State law professor published a paper in a law journal where he described a way to commit the perfect crime and get away with it. His article got a lot of attention, because unlike a lot of fictional crime stories with “perfect crimes”, the scenario that law professor Brian C. Kalt described was real and very much possible. Prof. Kalt’s perfect crime takes place within a 50-square mile area dubbed the “zone of death” situated atop America’s famous supervolcano, the Yellowstone National Park. Inside this lawless oasis, one can commit any major crime, such as homicide, freely admit to it, and still get off scot-free. Here’s how it works: The vast majority of Yellowstone National Park is situated in the state of Wyoming. However, the northernmost and westernmost parts of the park spill over the border into the adjoining states of Montana and Idaho. This is where the opportunity lies, thanks to a poorly drafted statute in the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution. Let us imagine a man killing someone in the Idaho section of the park. He is arrested, arraigned and taken to Wyoming—under which the jurisdiction of the park falls—to be tried. However, because the US Constitution demands that any trial should be held in the state where the crime itself was committed, the man successfully convinces the authorities to take him to Idaho instead. While standing before the judge in an Idaho courtroom, he pulls out his trump card—the Sixth Amendment. The Amendment states that every criminal should have a fair trial before an impartial jury drawn from the state and district where the crime was committed. This should have been straightforward, but not in the case of Yellowstone National Park. You see, when Yellowstone was created, the entire park was placed in the federal district of Wyoming, including the parts in Montana and Idaho.