Area 51 has got nothing on the Zone of Death. This 50-square-mile area in Yellowstone National Park, United States is a place that has plenty to offer. This includes the theoretical idea that it will be hard to prosecute someone if they committed a crime here. So, in theory, this is the area you could murder someone and the court might let you walk away free. Unilad explained that it is all because of a legal loophole all thanks to the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This was founded in 2005 by Brian C Kalt, a law professor. To break it down simply, the Sixth Amendment declares that a person who is on trial must face a jury from the state and district where they committed the crime.
The Zone of Death is special. Yellowstone falls under the jurisdiction of the state of Wyoming. This is because the vast majority of the area of the national park is there. But it is also in the surrounding states of Montana and Idaho. Now, if the crime was committed in Idaho, according to the Six Amendment the jury will have to be from there. But under the judicial district of Wyoming.
The only place that fulfils these criteria is that 50-mile area. Sounds easy enough? The problem is no one lives there. Since no one lives there, the place has no person to pick the jury from. In the United States, a jury is needed to put a person on trial. With no one on the jury, in theory, you can walk away even after committing the most heinous crimes in the area.
It sounds all fun and games until being proved wrong. The Atlantic in The Experiment podcast covered a case that happened in the Zone of Death. In December 2005, Mike Belderrain committed the crime of illegally shooting an elk. This act was committed in the area of Yellowstone that is in Montana. Using Kalt’s theory he argued that he could not be tried unless a jury is selected from the Montana residents of the park. While it was technically possible, it was a difficult case.
The judge presiding the case was having none of it. It was declared that any crime committed in Yellowstone will be tried in Wyoming. Naturally, the jury would be selected from there too. Mike Belderrain took a plea deal and was sentenced to four years in prison.
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