Perfect way to entrap that killer who has never heard of trials being moved when an unbiased jury cannot be found.
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When reading the headline I thought maybe it would be about the “Valley of Death” in Siberia, where animals would mysteriously all die, which then attracts other animals who smell the rotting carcasses, and also die.
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Ok so
Yellowstone stretches a bit beyond the state boundaries of Wyoming and into Idaho and Montana
but then
federal government places the entire park in Wyoming
So wait, is that bit of the park in Wyoming or is it Idaho and Montana? Where are the actual state lines? Wait no, where does the federal government put the state lines? That’s probably the more important datum.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if “places in Wyoming” is just for record keeping purposes, like what state to put on letters and such.
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Yeah, this is getting dangerously close to some sort of “Sovereign Citizen” levels of technicalities. Since this has never come up, and hasn’t been established in the courts, it just ain’t so. (Unfortunately “void on the grounds of being bloody stupid” doesn’t always happen, e.g. with “qualified immunity” situations, because they built up to the stupidity via series of legal decisions.) And, as pointed out, trials can be moved.
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That didn’t work out so well for Thomas Capano, who relied upon frenemies:
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I prefer the Wall of Death.
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Trust me, they will think of a way to have a state or federal jurisdiction for a major felony.
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The murder was on land.
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Congratulations! By reading this article (unless you are doing so in the Zone of Death, and will commit your murder before leaving it), you have taken the first step to premeditating your future murders in a place other than the Zone of Death.
That will suffice to give jurisdiction to the DA where you are now, or in places where you might commit acts related to the crime you’ll someday commit in the Zone of Death.
Happy murdering!
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It all hinges on the fact that the bit of the park that is in Idaho is uninhabited, and so no jury could be formed comprised of people who both live within the state and the park. The bit of the park that is in Montana does have people living in it, so they could comprise a jury.
The US District Court in Wyoming has jurisdiction over the park, including those parts that aren’t in Wyoming. I think the author here misinterpreted that to mean the federal government places the entire park in the State of Wyoming. That is incorrect.
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Ah, but that is stupidity in support of state power. This would be an attempt to use stupidity to undermine it.
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Yeah, that’s an important element too.
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We go there annually for the Monkey Knife Fights.
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On a recent trip to Yellowstone one of my kids was really interested in this legal quirk, and not just for murder. He was thinking about all kinds of federal crimes you could potentially commit on that land, including copyright infringement (a current obsession of his), pirate radio stations, and other stuff. I think he got a little disappointed when I pointed out that this quirk works both ways.. If the authorities got pissed off at you acting with impunity, they too could act with even more impunity than lawmen are usually granted, and murder you with absolutely no fear of legal consequences.
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I highly recommend this podcast episode on the subject:
Does this also hold true for National Monuments? IIRC, Liberty Island and part of Ellis Island are part of the state of New York but are within the Federal Court District of New Jersey. This caused a problem for a naturalization ceremony held at the Statue of Liberty Centennial in 1986 as the judge who was initially intended to give the oath was from the Court District of New York. The problem was solved by having a Supreme Court Justice administer the oath.
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They just have to get the battle royale down to just 11 survivors before jury selection time. Or 12, I guess, 11+defendent at each trial
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And then fall into a pothole and boil themselves to death? Well okay then
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