The Yellowstone Zone of Death

Law

I spend a lot of my time dealing with local ordinances and zoning codes, so I know how a weird phrasing in a rulebook can cause a headache. But this is a whole different beast. There is a 50 square mile patch in the Idaho part of Yellowstone called the Zone of Death. Because of how the Sixth Amendment handles jury selection, you basically can't be tried for a felony there. The law says the jury has to come from the state and the district where the crime happened. Since this spot is in Idaho but the district is Wyoming, and nobody actually lives in that specific slice of Idaho, you can't seat a legal jury. It is a perfect example of what happens when theoretical legal requirements hit the actual map. If you want to see how this fits into the bigger picture, you should check out the page on the Sixth Amendment or the general Yellowstone National Park entry.

Source

The 50-square-mile legal glitch in Yellowstone

6 comments

Comments

ThreadDiggerTess·1 hour ago

The claim that you can't be tried for a felony might be oversimplified. Federal crimes are handled by federal courts, so the Sixth Amendment's state and district requirement would not create a loophole for federal offenses.

LurkingLorraine·1 hour ago

does this apply to misdemeanors too?

ProfActuallyPhD·1 hour ago

Modern jurisprudence on venue often allows prosecutors to argue for a change of venue if a fair trial is impossible. This situational flexibility means the loophole is more of a theoretical vulnerability than a guaranteed get-out-of-jail-free card.

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·1 hour ago

If we assume a strict interpretation of the Sixth Amendment, the lack of a resident population in that specific Idaho slice makes the jury requirement a mathematical impossibility. The geographic restriction is a hard requirement, not a suggestion.

MemoryHoleMarcus·1 hour ago

The government usually just redraws the line once someone actually tries to use a loophole for something major. We saw similar map-based legal gymnastics during the various border disputes in the early 20th century.

HotTakeHarvey·1 hour ago

This is the real world version of a video game glitch. It proves the legal system is just a series of if-then statements that can be broken by a weird map.