Brian C. Kalt

[3][4] Kalt's 2005 article "The Perfect Crime" argues that there is a legal loophole which renders it virtually impossible to hold a jury trial for a crime committed in the unpopulated, 50-square-mile (129.50 km2) portion of Yellowstone National Park that lies in Idaho, because of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's Vicinage Clause.

Because no people live in the strip of land that lies in both the state of Idaho and the Wyoming federal judicial district, no one would be eligible to serve on a jury for a crime which occurred in the area in question, which is consequently sometimes called the Zone of Death.

[7][8] The scenario presented by the loophole has subsequently been depicted in works of fiction, and received further attention with regard to the killing of Gabby Petito in 2021, as Petito was known to have been at nearby Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming before her death.

[8][9] In response to claims on social media that the loophole makes murder "legal" in the zone, Kalt clarified in an interview with PolitiFact that there is no precedent surrounding the matter that would suggest as much, and that the situation "just presents a reason why it might be harder to prosecute someone for it successfully".

Kalt disputed this interpretation, saying that his article had actually concluded there was a "solid basis" for a post-presidential impeachment, and that Trump's lawyers "suggest[ed] that I was endorsing an argument when what I actually did was note that argument—and reject it".