The Perfect Crime, or how to get away with murder in Idaho

IANAL, but given there is no statute of limitations on prosecuting most major felonies like murder. it seems that the legislators would just change the law after a felony was committed allowing for the prosecution of the crime. At least from my limited knowledge they have done that in the past to fix issues, so I am not sure how this would be any different.

I do think it is interesting how the legislating bodies allow this type of stuff to occur (and not fix it timely), but it seems more a procedural technicality then a way to get away with anything. In addition, I am sure a prosecutor would allege the crime originated outside the jurisdiction giving the place where the "thought" or "plan" occurred jurisdiction to prosecute. And in the end it would be heard by a jury in that jurisdiction and regardless of the truth they would get their conviction.

This is a great story to tell (as the book written from it likely does) but no one would likely get away with a major crime if they were caught just because it occurred in this area. Petty crimes, I bet would go unnoticed and never be brought to a hearing because of the quagmire, but not a major felony.

From the abstract: "This article argues that there is a 50-square-mile swath of Idaho in which one can commit felonies with impunity. This is because of the intersection of a poorly drafted statute with a clear but neglected constitutional provision: the Sixth Amendment's Vicinage Clause."

Mods: The title "The Perfect Crime" seemed insufficiently descriptive, so I took the liberty of augmenting the title.