There is one place in the United States where the Constitution itself creates a safe harbor for crime. A 50 sq mile strip of Yellowstone National Park, tucked inside Idaho, is the only territory in America where you could commit a serious felony and the government cannot prosecute you. Welcome to the Zone of Death:
Here, no jury can be formed. The Sixth Amendment requires that a federal jury come from both the state and the district where the crime occurred. Yellowstone is entirely under the District of Wyoming, but that Idaho corner is in Idaho state. The problem: nobody lives there. Zero residents. No jury pool. No constitutional trial.
Congress drew Yellowstone’s judicial boundaries carelessly. Instead of splitting the park along state lines, it lumped everything under Wyoming’s federal district (28 U.S.C. § 131). That oversight collides with the Vicinage Clause of the Sixth Amendment.
Brian C. Kalt, The Perfect Crime, 93 Geo. L.J. 675 (2005), laid it out clearly: this is a constitutional loophole large enough to drive a getaway car through. His follow-up, Tabloid Constitutionalism (2008), showed how the DOJ and Congress were warned, but ignored it.
The map, the statute, and the Constitution don’t line up. And when form collapses, law collapses. The Idaho corner of Yellowstone is more than an academic curiosity: it is the one place designed by accident to be the perfect place for the perfect crime.
Here, no jury can be formed. The Sixth Amendment requires that a federal jury come from both the state and the district where the crime occurred. Yellowstone is entirely under the District of Wyoming, but that Idaho corner is in Idaho state. The problem: nobody lives there. Zero residents. No jury pool. No constitutional trial.
What crimes can be done there
- Murder, assault, manslaughter
- Felony poaching, arson, kidnapping
- Any serious offense where venue cannot be shifted outside the zone
Why it exists
Congress drew Yellowstone’s judicial boundaries carelessly. Instead of splitting the park along state lines, it lumped everything under Wyoming’s federal district (28 U.S.C. § 131). That oversight collides with the Vicinage Clause of the Sixth Amendment.
Who discovered it
Brian C. Kalt, The Perfect Crime, 93 Geo. L.J. 675 (2005), laid it out clearly: this is a constitutional loophole large enough to drive a getaway car through. His follow-up, Tabloid Constitutionalism (2008), showed how the DOJ and Congress were warned, but ignored it.
Some case law:
- United States v. Belderrain (D. Wyo. 2005): a poacher cited Kalt’s article as a defense. Court sidestepped, defendant pled, loophole survived.
- Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78 (1970): jury requirements clarified.
- United States v. Cabrales, 524 U.S. 1 (1998): venue and continuing offenses.
The map, the statute, and the Constitution don’t line up. And when form collapses, law collapses. The Idaho corner of Yellowstone is more than an academic curiosity: it is the one place designed by accident to be the perfect place for the perfect crime.
