TIL: There's One 50 Square Mile Place in America Where Murder is Legal

This isn't the usual thing I would post on my blog but I just learned about it and find it fascinating. While I'm not encouraging you to kill or commit a crime I find this to be fascinating because there's an area in Yellowstone National Park that's a no-man land, there are no roads or man-made structures but because of a legal loophole if you were to kill someone in this area there's no way for "the law" to charge you with a crime. 

How is this possible?

The Federal Government set up Yellowstone many years ago, and when they did, they created a situation where the State Borders and the District Court borders don’t line up, with relatively small portions of the park going into Idaho and Montana, with all of it being under the District Court of Wyoming.

It's all because of the Constitution. 

The Constitution, in the 6th amendment, guarantees a jury trial with a jury of the state and district where the crime occurred. So, the argument goes that because no one lives in the Idaho portion of the park, that it would be impossible to assemble a Jury composed of residents of both the State of Idaho and the District Court of Wyoming, that this right would be violated. Therefore, without being able to conduct a Jury Trial in compliance with the Constitution, that the only option would be for the state to free the criminal.

Learn more about the zone of death here


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