Free Fire - C. J. Box [17]
Joe continued. “Because Congress wanted to keep Yellowstoneall in one judicial district, it overlaps a little bit into two other states, these strips of Montana and Idaho. Got that?”
“Got it,” Nate said, a little impatiently.
“That’s where the problem comes in with Clay McCann and the murders,” Joe said. He’d read most of the file the night beforeand finished it before breakfast that morning before taking the girls to school and driving to the reservation. “Article Three of the Constitution says the accused is entitled to a ‘local trial,’ meaning a venue in the state, and a ‘jury trial’ but doesn’t say where the jury has to come from. The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution specifies a ‘local jury trial’—that’s the vicinage. That means the jury would have to come from the state— Idaho—and the district—Wyoming—where the crime took place.”
Nate stopped his finger on the thin strip of Idaho on the map. Boundary Creek separated Wyoming and Idaho within the park. “You mean the jury would have to come from here? Within these fifty miles?”
“Right. Except no one lives there. Not one person has a residencein that strip of the national park. So no jury can be drawn from a population of zero.”
“Shit,” Nate said.
“Clay McCann declined to be tried in Cheyenne, which was his right to decide. He demanded to be tried where the crime was committed, by a jury from the state and district, as the Constitutionstates. The federal prosecutors in charge of the case couldn’t get around the loophole in the law, and still can’t. It was never an issue before, and there is no precedent to bypass it. The only thing that can be done is to change the district or change the Constitution, and I guess there is going to be legislation to do that. But even if it’s passed . . .”
Nate finished for Joe, “Clay McCann still walks. Because they can’t create a law after the fact and then go back on the guy.”
Joe nodded.
“The son of a bitch got away with it,” Nate said. “Did he know what he was doing?”
Joe said, “That’s not clear. He claims the campers insulted him and he lost his cool. He said in the deposition he’d never seen or heard of the people he killed before he killed them.”
Nate shook his head slowly. “There has to be something to get him on. I mean, I couldn’t just grab you right now and drive you up to the Idaho part of the park and put a bullet in your head, can I?”
“You better not try,” Joe said, smiling. “And it wouldn’t work for you. That would be kidnapping and you could be tried and convicted of that in Wyoming because you planned and carriedout a major felony on your way to commit the murder.”
“So McCann’s defense is that he didn’t know the victims were there and hadn’t planned to kill them when he went on his little hike, so what happened . . . happened. He just went on a little day hike armed to the teeth?”
Joe said, “That’s what he claimed in his deposition. And that’s what he said to the court in Yellowstone, where he served as his own lawyer.”
“So the murder of four people isn’t a crime?” Nate asked with a mixture of disgust and, Joe noted, a hint of admiration.
Joe said, “Oh, it’s a crime. But it’s a crime that can’t be tried in any court because no one has the power to give him a proper trial. The only thing they can legitimately get him on is possessingfirearms in a national park, and they booked him for that and he was tried and convicted of it. But that’s just a Class B misdemeanor, no more than six months or a fine of five thousanddollars, or both. So there’s no jury trial and the Sixth Amendment doesn’t apply.”
“Jesus.”
“They even tried to get him on a federal statute called ProjectSafe Neighborhoods that was set up to really nail guys who have a gun on federal property. That would have at least sent him to prison for ten years. But to qualify for that”—Joe dug a sheet out of