The start of this book has pulled me in and has not let go or should I say I don't want to put it down. The setting for this book is still in Wyoming as the others, but this particular book takes place in Yellowstone National Park.
Before I get into details on part one, I want to give you a little information on Yellowstone as stated in the book. Yellowstone was conceived by the Hayden Expedition in 1871 as the world's first national park. It is a set aside of 2.2 million acres containing more than 10,000 thermal features, canyons, waterfalls, and wildlife. Some of the sights in the park are Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Lower and Upper Falls. As a kid, Joe used to go to Yellowstone every year with his family. It was his and his father's love for the park that made him want to be a game warden.
The start of the book takes place at Bechler River Ranger Station at Yellowstone National Park. Clay McCann walked into the ranger station fully armed with weapons announcing that he just brutally killed four campers by Robinson Lake. The ranger looks at him and tells him that law enforcement will be here any minute and does he want him to call him a lawyer. He looks up and says, "I am a lawyer."
Now lets back up a little bit. At the end of Plain Sight, Joe was fired. Well, he is currently working on his father-in-law's ranch as a foreman ranch hand. He and his wife Marybeth along with their two daughter's Sheridan and Lucy are staying there as well in the guest house. One day while working on the fencing, some government vehicles approach the property asking to speak to Joe. Joe goes back to the ranch house to find out what is going on. Well, they have a position for him that they need help with. They want him to go up to Yellowstone and help sort out the information on this murder that took place up there. Joe takes the information and tells him that he needs to talk to his family about this and will get back to him. Meanwhile, they give him the folder with all the information on the case. When the time is right, Joe talks to his wife and is pretty happy that she said yes. This is want he does, this is what he wants.
In reading into the information he asks his good friend Nate to join him. He tells him a little about the case. This guy, Clay McCann takes a hike into Yellowstone National Park armed with two SIG-Sauer P220 .45 ACP semiautomatic handguns and a Browning BT-99 Micro twelve-gauge shotgun. Basically, this guy goes into this one part of the park, kills four campers, walks out a free man three months later. The reasoning behind this is jurisdiction and venue, or what is called "vicinage." Joe explains that there is a hidden loophole in the federal law.
Yellowstone is broken down by boundaries. Boundaries drawn before Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana were granted statehood Joe goes on to explain. The square border of Wyoming, which contained more than 92% of the park, north into Montana and west into Idaho. There is approximately 260 square miles of Yellowstone in Montana, and approximately 50 in Idaho. There is no state law in Yellowstone, it is only Federal Law. Any crime that is committed there, the perpetrator is bound over under federal statues. The trial will take place either inside the park at a courthouse in Mammoth Hot Springs, or the federal district court over in Cheyenne. As stated in the book - "Article Three of the Constitution says the accused in entitled to a 'local trial,' meaning a venue in the state, and a 'jury trial' but does not say where the jury has to come from. The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution specifies a 'local jury trial' - that's the vicinage. With that said, the jury would have to be picked from the state Idaho and the district Wyoming because of the way the park overlaps into this area and these states. Being that no one lives in this area, there is no trial and the guy walks committing "the perfect crime." Sounds too good to be true. That is where Joe comes in.
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