Why Congress Still Hasn't Fixed a Legal Loophole in Yellowstone's 'Zone of Death'
Is a lifeless place turning into a popular crime scene? Yellowstone National Park has some mystery to it. A tiny strip of 50 square miles of the national park in Idaho is strangely unexplored, without any roads and overgrown hiking trails. Surrounded by the lodgepole pine forests, a couple of rivers, and a waterfall, the place is quite rich in ecosystem and wildlife. But the nature and wildlife in the area remain untouched. No infrastructures are built around it, and humans are nowhere to be seen. Therefore, the land, which is essentially abandoned, could be an ideal place to commit a crime and not be caught. At least that's what Brian Kalt, a professor at the Michigan State University College of Law, thinks.
The place has been dubbed a "Zone of Death." It earned its name after Kalt published an article titled “The Perfect Crime” in the Georgetown Law Journal. He argued that the 50-square-mile Yellowstone strip could enable someone to "commit felonies with impunity." The person committing the felony may not be prosecuted, not because of the lack of witnesses, but due to a legal loophole. Yellowstone National Park is a federal property, and federal courts are responsible for handling crimes committed in the area rather than state courts. However, the park was established in 1872, way before the existence of the surrounding states.
After the surrounding states were established, Yellowstone was found to be spread across three states: Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. However, the jurisdiction of the entire park was placed under the U.S. District Court of the District of Wyoming, including the park parts from the other two states. The District of Wyoming is the only district court that handles jurisdiction of lands from multiple states. This “sloppy” legal design, according to Kalt, is what created the loophole that could free criminals without trials.
The Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants the right to be tried in the state and district where the crime occurred. Based on this, the person who allegedly committed a crime within the Yellowstone swath of Idaho will require a jury of locals. But with zero population in the area, there can't be a jury, which means there won't be a trial. Due to this, a criminal can conveniently get away with the crime without a trial. “Crime is bad, after all,” Kalt wrote. “But so is violating the Constitution. If the loophole described in this essay does exist, it should be closed, not ignored," he added.
Before publishing his article, Kalt gave a heads-up to the federal leaders, including the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming, as he didn't want anyone to take advantage of the loophole. However, no serious legal action has been taken. In 2022, then-Idaho Rep. Colin Nash, D-Boise, urged Congress to close the legal loophole, but nothing concrete happened. “There has been no movement on the issue, even with the Idaho Legislature’s resolution,” Kalt told SFGATE. Yellowstone spokeswoman Linda Veress had previously said, "If a crime occurs there, we will treat it like a crime occurred anywhere else in the park." No one has reportedly taken advantage of the loophole yet, but that doesn't negate the possibility of it happening in the future.
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