Sideshow Bob Doesn’t Get Federal Jurisdiction. Shooting a bullet across state lines is a crime.

May 19th, 2010

On last week’s episode (around the 16:40 mark) of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob intends to kill Bart at 5 Corners, a play on 4 Corners (where the borders of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet). Bob explains that if he stands in State one, fires a  bullet in State two, and the bullet travels in State three, and the bullet hits Bart in State 4, and Bart falls into State 5, there is no single jurisdiction that can prosecute him. It is the perfect crime he claims.

Not so much. Though, this may be the only example I can think of that properly invokes the federal murder statute.