Yellowstone’s Zone Of Death: Is It A License To Kill

In The Show Yellowstone, Nobody Wants To Go To The Train Station

With the final season of Yellowstone just around the corner, it's time to revisit "The Train Station".

The Train Station, or as it's really called, The Zone of Death, where it's theorized that you could actually get away with murder.  If you live anywhere around Yellowstone National Park, in Montana, Idaho or Wyoming, you've probably heard about this patch of the park.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this thing, this is not a class on how to get away with murder.  This is an interesting loophole in the law, that is known, yet congress has done nothing to fix it.

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What Is The Zone Of Death?

From Wikipedia:

The Zone of Death is the 50-square-mile (130 km²) area in the Idaho section of  Yellowstone National Park in which, as a result of a reported loophole  in the Constitution of the United States, a person could theoretically avoid conviction for any major crime, up to and including murder.

How Is There Such An Insane Loophole In Our Constitution?

Stick with me here, it's kind of wonky, but once you get what they're saying, it's crystal clear.  From Wikipedia

• Yellowstone National Park has one district court with jurisdiction, The United States District Court for the court of Wyoming
• The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over Yellowstone Park, and all national parks.
• The 6th amendment to the US Constitution states that juries in a federal criminal case must be made up of citizens who are from the district AND the state where the crime was committed, AND take place in that area.
• The portion of Yellowstone Park that's in Idaho, literally has no people living in that area

How Did A Loophole Like This Even Happen?

It's the federal government.  No one will ever fess up.

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Once The Zone Of Death Was Discovered, It Was Fixed Immediately, Right?

Wrong.  In the early 2000's, a law professor, Brian C. Kalt, discovered the loophole when writing a paper on the 6th amendment.  When the loophole was discovered, he switched his focus to writing "The Perfect Crime",  to get the government's attention.

As of writing, congress hasn't even been willing to discuss this subject.

How Many Felonies Have Been Committed Here?

As of writing, there have been no known felonies committed in The Zone of Death.

So THAT'S Where "The Train Station" Is In The Show Yellowstone

Yep.  I always suspected that.  Just dumping bodies over a ravine is pretty brazen.  I figured the Duttons had the loophole in mind.

Thing about what the Duttons do, where was the crime committed?  I don't think you could use the Zone of Death loophole if you killed someone in say, Bozeman, then took their body to the Zone of Death and dumped it.  Something tells me they'd find a way to try you in Bozeman where there is an ever growing population of a jury of your peers.

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