Yeah, you read right, you might be able to get away with murder in Yellowstone., there is a way you can commit a crime and not be punished for it. Sounds horrible I know, but it’s the product of a confusion between rights, and it is very tricky as well. There is just one place to do it and that is the Yellowstone National Park, but not in the entire actual territory. Brian C. Kalt discovered it and also explained the way it can be corrected.
There’s a way you can commit a crime and not be punished for it. Sounds horrible I know, but it’s the product of a confusion between rights, and it is very tricky as well. There is just one place to do it and that is the Yellowstone National Park, but not in the entire actual territory. Brian C. Kalt discovered it and also explained the way it can be corrected.
The main part of the Yellowstone National Park takes place in the state of Wyoming, but there is an extension between the states of Idaho and Montana. The Idaho piece is the place for the perfect murder and it’s called “The Zone of Death”.
Yellowstone was established in 1872 there before the states the park is in join the unification.
Professor Kalt explained that the park is Federal land and while the rest of Federal Lands are divided, Yellowstone is not. It was fully assigned to the District of Wyoming, ignoring the parts of the park extended to the other two states.
According to the constitution, if you committed a crime in the Idaho part, you need a trial in the state the park’s in, that means Wyoming jurisdiction. But the tricky thing about it is that it also says it should happen in the state where the crime was committed. Also, you need local juries from the state and district where the crime took place. That’s called Vicinage Clause.
You have the right to ask for a jury of the state and district where it happened but turns out no one lives there, so they can’t give you a trial and should let you go.Unlike the Montana area where 2000 people live.
A solution may be to redraw the district and separate the park in the correspondent states, but it hasn’t been done.
Wath the full explanation here: