The Zone of Death is a 50 square mile area of Idaho within Yellowstone National Park where any crime, including murder, is theoretically legal. Maybe I shouldn't be spreading the word about this, but I can't help myself.
The Zone of Death is the result of a loophole within the United States Constitution. Yellowstone stretches a bit beyond the state boundaries of Wyoming and into Idaho and Montana. The Federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the national park, so crimes committed in the park can't be prosecuted by state law. The loophole exists because the federal government places the entire park in Wyoming, even though it stretches slightly into Idaho and Montana.
Maybe that's why Yogi was such an incorrigible pic-a-nic basket thief.
From USA Today:
Members of a jury must be from both "the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." Typically, jurors for a court case can be drawn from a large pool, because a federal district's boundaries match the boundaries of the state, as is the case in Wyoming, or a state has multiple federal districts designated within it, like California. But the only place where one could live both in Idaho and within the District of Wyoming is in Yellowstone. The court would have to draw jurors from within the tiny, mountainous region to satisfy the vicinage clause — and no one lives there. No jurors would mean no jury, which would violate criminal defendants' right to a trial by jury, enshrined in Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. And thus, some argue, no trial could occur, and, logically, no conviction.
Photo by Paula Hayes on Scopio
