With only a few exceptions, Yellowstone makes murderers out of its main characters. Monica (Kelsey Asbille), Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes) wife, vehemently opposed his family’s track record of violence, and she wanted no part of it. Still, due to Yellowstone’s grave themes, even Monica has blood on her hands. Monica helps Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) catch a killer on the Broken Rock Reservation, luring him to his kill site, where Mo Brings Plenty takes a fatal shot at him. Even Tate (Brecken Merrill) is a killer, forced to shoot an intruder in Yellowstone season 4.

It’s more compelling for television to witness the Dutton family tree get away with their crimes, and Yellowstone‘s message helps us somewhat subscribe to their necessity. Still, if Yellowstone played out realistically, all of the paramount members of John Dutton’s clan would be in prison for the crimes they committed. Will prison time be on the table for some of Yellowstone‘s central figures as their stories continue in respective Yellowstone spinoffs?

5John Dutton III

Governor Dutton Was Responsible For Countless Murders

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Still, John’s ancestors lived in a different time with more moral ambiguity. John has committed countless crimes protecting his ranch, though, in spirit, it has always been about protecting the land from greed, the same duty his ancestors were tasked with. While John isn’t the one tasked with dumping bodies at the train station by the time Yellowstone begins, we know that John was the one who trained his cowboys to do his dirty work from flashbacks that show John going to the train station with younger Lloyd (Forrest Smith) and Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein).

4Beth Dutton

Beth Dutton Could Go To Prison For Murdering Jamie Dutton In The Finale

Beth attacked her brother in his own home after Jamie, the attorney general of Montana, played a role in their father’s murder. While he didn’t sign off on the deal, Jamie had discussed going after Montana’s governor with Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), who was operating as a Trojan horse for Market Equities by sleeping with John’s son. After John Dutton’s death in Yellowstone season 5, Beth immediately sniffs out her brother and Sarah’s involvement, vowing to wage war on her brother and, later, to kill him. Beth follows through on her threat in Yellowstone season 5’s finale, warranting prison time.

3Jamie Dutton

Jamie Was An Accessory To The Governor’s Murder While Impeaching Him As Attorney General

Wes Bentley’s Jamie Dutton won’t go to prison because Beth took his trial into her own hands, deciding that her brother should die for betraying their father. That said, the investigation into John Dutton and Sarah Atwood’s murders is ongoing, and either investigation could tie Jamie to his crimes, forever tainting his legacy as Montana’s attorney general. More than the rest of them, Jamie Dutton was morally bankrupt. Let’s not forget that he killed his biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton), at the end of Yellowstone season 4, shooting him as he looked on at the creek.

2Kayce Dutton

Kayce Dutton Murdered Tate’s Kidnappers Without A Fair Trial

Kayce’s handling of his son’s perpetrators is perhaps his most unforgivable crime. While Kayce is responsible for other murders throughout Yellowstone, many are morally sound. For instance, in Yellowstone season 1, Dutton kills the men who kidnapped a girl from the Broken Rock Reservation, preventing an active abduction with his quick action. Though they trace the crime to him, Thomas Rainwater and Broken Rock Tribal Police Chief Ben Waters (Atticus Todd) help Kayce cover up his crimes, seeing the heroic actions behind the violence. Kayce’s crimes against Tate’s kidnappers are more complex to look past in a moral sense.

While Rip Wheeler has committed countless murders in his promise to defend the Yellowstone Ranch for John Dutton, Rip’s first crime on the ranch is perhaps the one that could have landed him in prison. In a flashback in Yellowstone season 5, a younger version of Rip, portrayed by Silverstein, is protecting the herd from a pack of wolves in the mountains with fellow Yellowstone Ranch cowboy Rowdy (Kai Caster). However, in a fit of boredom, Rowdy tells Rip that he detests their task, saying he could otherwise “be holding that girl’s ass in each hand,” referring to Beth.

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