Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yellowstone's zone of death

This is a new one on me but the problem is 150 years old. Yellowstone NP is in 3 states. The part in Idaho is only about 1% of the park's total. Apparently there's a legal black hole there. When the park was created, WY was given the authority to try and convict when a crime was committed within the park. However, the constitution says that crimes must be tried in the state where they're committed and by a jury of their peers within the region. In theory, a crime committed in that part of the park in Idaho can't be prosecuted because there are zero people living in that part of the park to form a jury. This has never been tested in court, though.

A lawmaker in Idaho is trying to close the hole. It requires an act of congress, though, since the park is controlled by a federal agency.



REBECCA BOONE Associated Press

BOISE — A panel of Idaho lawmakers is recommending the Legislature ask Congress to fix a legal loophole that has some calling a portion of Yellowstone National Park the “Zone of Death,” where crimes could arguably go unprosecuted.

The vast majority of the 3,471-square-mile (8,990-square-kilometer) park sits in Wyoming, but about 3% of it stretches into Montana and 1% of the park is in eastern Idaho. When Congress created the park in 1872, the federal court in the District of Wyoming was given jurisdiction over the crimes committed within park borders.

Boise Democratic Rep. Colin Nash, an attorney, told the House Judiciary and Rules Committee on Thursday that he first learned about the “zone of death” in law school. The phrase refers to a legal theory advanced by Michigan State Law professor Brian Kalt in 2005, which says a jurisdictional loophole could force the federal government to dismiss charges against anyone accused of committing a federal crime in the Idaho portion of the park.

In an academic paper titled “The Perfect Crime,” Kalt noted the Sixth Amendment says that people charged with crimes have a right to be tried by a jury of their peers, selected from the state and region where the crime took place.

That’s a problem for Yellowstone, because the only beings living in Idaho’s roughly 50-square-mile portion of Yellowstone are grizzly bears, elk and other wildlife — and they aren’t eligible for jury duty. Kalt theorized that someone who committed a murder in Idaho’s portion of Yellowstone could get away with it, since the federal government would be unable to seat a constitutionally sound jury.

Nash is sponsoring a joint memorial to formally ask Congress to close the loophole.

“No crimes have been committed, that I’m aware of, and gone unprosecuted,” Nash told the committee. “But every time there’s a high-profile disappearance in this area, I think about this — and there were two last year.”

During the months-long search for 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and her little brother, 7-year-old JJ Vallow, law enforcement authorities said they’d obtained video and photo evidence that the children had entered Yellowstone National Park with their mother Lori Vallow Daybell, but no evidence was found showing Tylee ever left the park. The bodies of both children were later found buried in the back yard of an eastern Idaho home owned by their mother’s new husband, Chad Daybell. Lori and Chad Daybell were subsequently charged with several crimes in Idaho state court.

When 22-year-old Gabby Petito disappeared last year shortly after calling her family from Grand Teton National Park — which borders Yellowstone — theories about the “zone of death” again came to the fore. Petito’s body was found in the Wyoming portion of the park, and authorities pinned the blame on her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, who was later found dead in a Florida swamp.

Congress could change the law to make the Idaho and Montana portions of Yellowstone subject to the jurisdictions of the District of Idaho and the District of Montana. Nash’s memorial would urge Congress to do just that, at least for Idaho.

Nash acknowledged that it’s not clear if Congress will actually do anything, since it’s long been a known issue.

“We can try our darnedest,” he told the committee, prompting some rueful laughter in the room.

The committee agreed on a voice vote to recommend that the full House of Representatives approve the resolution.

I hate to argue law with a law professor, but i think he is full of ..it.

A jury from your region, is the region that holds a jury.
I don't think region is a legally defined area.
And 50 square miles ain't squat.


People from our area have served on federal juries in Pittsburgh. Thats
100 linear miles.

Ever drive US 50 in Nevada?

Pretty sure if you commit a federal crime in numerous areas there,
There won't be 12 independent jurists in 50 square miles either.

5miles x 10 miles=50 square miles.
It's not uncommon to find areas
that big in the West with no one. Or, not enough to seat a jury.
The situation may well exist in the Allegheny National Forest, and
other areas in the East.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Train Station….

How an “academic paper” which in reality is often a expanse of logical corner cases becomes a legitimate legal problem is a bit of a stretch for me.

Application of law always corners off what a reasonable person could do….

Idiotic legal arguments like “ well he killed him where no one lives so he can’t be tried because he has no peers”…. Don’t have a good amount of evidence because all you have to do is ask “how did he get there”…

New paper writers are not great lawyers, they are paid to come up with sensational things that stir emotion and they are good at that.

"First- - - - - - -we kill all the lawyers!"

This was used as a central plot point in the C.J. Box book “Free Fire” back in 2007. I believe in the book he mentions the ‘zone of death’ loophole had been fixed. It is also supposed to be the “Train Station” in the tv series Yellowstone. Even if it was still plausible to get away with a crime there, any premeditation and crossing of state lines with intent would still get the Yellowstone crew in jail.

Just for the record, the area is about 2x24.5 miles. My map shows it to be roadless, with just a couple trails crossing it. To kill someone there, 1st you need to get them there with no roads.

Another solution in search of a problem.

Isn't crossing state lines in the commission of a felony Federal?

sounds made up.

I (from Flagstaff) have served on a federal jury in Prescott, for a crime that occurred in Whiteriver.

As long as you live within the area the federal court serves, I think you can be called for jury duty.

I was thinking the same thing

If someone does the crime in this so called “zone of death” and cannot be prostituted, just haul ‘em back in there and hang ‘em.

No they don't.

The phrase so often misquoted, "a jury of their peers," does not appear in the Sixth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE VI - Bill of Rights

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed. ... "

Ain't no "peers" in there anywhere.

L.W.

The 'impartial jury' part brings up an interesting point - OJ Simpson. He paid a law firm $1 million to get him a jury that would not convict him no matter what. It certainly was not impartial. So, does the fact that his jury was unconstitutional override the double jeopardy clause? Simpson was tried but it wasn't a legal trial. So, could he be tried again with a legal jury?

I think all the killing in the Yellowstone series is so implausible that it detracts from the legitimacy of the entire content of the story.

Other than that, who the hell cares. It's just entertainment. But seriously, there is plenty of law enforcement in every county in Wyoming. Even on the reservation. Even more in the National Parks and Forests.