Jeff Kirchmeier
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kirchmeier.bsky.social
Jeff Kirchmeier
@kirchmeier.bsky.social
730 followers 630 following 160 posts
Law professor, CUNY Law School. Author of "Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McClesky, Race, and the American Death Penalty" about the history of capital punishment. Criminal law, social justice, etc. he/him.
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kirchmeier.bsky.social
South Carolina Man Is Executed By Firing Squad For 2004 Killings.
www.huffpost.com/entry/south-...
South Carolina Man Is Executed By Firing Squad For 2004 Killings
He is the seventh person put to death by South Carolina in 14 months after the state had a 13-year pause in executions when it couldn’t obtain lethal injection drugs.
www.huffpost.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
radleybalko.bsky.social
Eye-popping reporting from my better half on systemic misconduct in two Oklahoma death penalty cases. Despite that (and against the recommendation of the OK clemency board), the condemned in one case will be executed today. The state has vowed to re-try the other.

theintercept.com/2025/11/12/r...
Judge Failed to Disclose Personal Ties to Prosecutor in Two Death Row Cases
Veteran prosecutor Fern Smith convicted both Tremane Wood and Richard Glossip. She calls a judge in both cases a friend.
theintercept.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
eji.org
Veterans are overrepresented on death row across the United States. The Death Penalty Information Center's new report explores the cases of veterans sentenced to death and the injustices they face in the criminal legal system.
Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
**Executive Summary** - Though the Supreme Court has rec­og­nized the impor­tance of mil­i­tary ser­vice in cap­i­tal mit­i­ga­tion, the legal...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
simongerman600.bsky.social
Last year the UN member states voted on a moratorium to end the death penalty. The green countries want to abolish the death penalty, the red countries want to keep it. Russia voting against the death penalty is a teeny bit funny. HT @maroni_editor
November 12, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
texasobserver.org
Yesterday: "The death penalty is extremely fiscally irresponsible. It costs more to sentence someone to death and execute them than to sentence them to life in prison without parole. It’s also an ineffective deterrent to violent crime."
Pro-Life, Anti-Death Penalty
Nan Tolson is the face of the conservative movement against capital punishment in Texas.
www.texasobserver.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:13 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Tremane Wood Receives Last-Minute Clemency, Sparing Him From Execution.
www.huffpost.com/entry/treman...
Tremane Wood Spared From Execution In Shocking Decision
His case marks only the second time Gov. Kevin Stitt has commuted a death sentence since entering office in 2019.
www.huffpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Sotomayor says GOP-appointed Supreme Court wing ‘abandons its duty’ in death penalty case. www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...
Sotomayor says GOP-appointed Supreme Court wing ‘abandons its duty’ in death penalty case
The Democratic appointees dissented from the majority’s refusal to halt the execution of Charles Crawford, who, they said, raised an important issue.
www.msnbc.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:23 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Anti-death penalty protesters walk 30 miles across Missouri after governor denies man clemency. www.ky3.com/2025/10/13/a...
Anti-death penalty protesters walk 30 miles across Missouri after governor denies man clemency
A group is walking across Central Missouri to send a message about the death penalty.
www.ky3.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
sophiepedder.bsky.social
Despite everything else going on, France last night honoured Robert Badinter, the former justice minister who ended the death penalty in 🇫🇷 in 1981. He entered the Panthéon in a moving moment of national tribute that the French do so well
October 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
aclu.org
Racism is embedded in the death penalty.

This World Against the Death Penalty Day and every other day of the year, we’re calling on our elected officials to work toward an end to capital punishment once and for all.
Graphic reading "Black adults compromise 14% of our nation's population but they account 41% of people currently on death row." Hands holding through jail cells.
October 10, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
aclu.org
We must end the death penalty, once and for all.

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, add your name to the growing number of people calling for an end to capital punishment.
Abolish The Death Penalty Now
Capital punishment is a moral stain on our nation: Add your name to the growing calls to abolish the death penalty now.
action.aclu.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Missouri man who maintains innocence set to be executed for killing state trooper. www.nbcchicago.com/news/nationa...
Missouri man who maintains innocence set to be executed for killing state trooper
Lance Shockley was condemned for killing Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in March 2005.
www.nbcchicago.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Pam Bondi Transfers People Who Received Biden Commutations To Supermax Prison.
www.huffpost.com/entry/pam-bo...
Pam Bondi Transfers People Who Received Biden Commutations To Supermax Prison
The ACLU previously contested such transfers and raised concerns about the prison's conditions.
www.huffpost.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
freedcproject.bsky.social
Our statement on Trump's most recent Executive Order, promoting the death penalty in DC.
September 25, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
atrupar.com
Trump signs an EO directing Bondi and Pirro to reinstate the death penalty in Washington DC
September 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
NC crime bill goes to Gov. Stein’s desk with changes to bail and death penalty laws.

www.newsobserver.com/news/politic...
NC crime bill goes to Gov. Stein’s desk with changes to bail and death penalty laws
The wide-ranging bill would open the door to restarting executions in North Carolina after ongoing legal challenges are resolved.
www.newsobserver.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:36 AM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
Democrats Go After Law Firms Doing Free Work For Trump, Warn Of Law-Breaking.
www.huffpost.com/entry/democr...
Democrats Send A Warning To Law Firms That Cut A Deal With Trump
They may not get far in their demands for details, but key Democrats are laying the groundwork for full-blown investigations when they’re back in the majority.
www.huffpost.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:34 AM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
"The Indiana Capital Chronicle recently sued the Dept of Correction for public records, learning the state paid more than a million dollars to purchase enough drugs for four lethal injections. Two doses expired before they could be used." #deathpenalty www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/13/t...
30 People Have Been Executed in The U.S. This Year. Is Trump Behind This Surge?
States have executed 30 people this year — already the highest annual total in more than a decade.
www.themarshallproject.org
September 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
baileydbarnes.bsky.social
I wrote for the KC Star (@kansascity.com) about the inability of civilians to sue federal agents for civil rights violations & the need for Congress to codify Bivens as the President escalates his campaign to deploy federalized military personnel to some of America’s large cities.
If Trump sends the National Guard to KC, Missourians’ rights are at risk | Opinion
Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt say they care about personal liberties. They need to step in to protect their constituents. | Opinion
www.kansascity.com
September 8, 2025 at 12:08 PM
kirchmeier.bsky.social
It's hard to keep up with troubling events and it is easy to miss things in the news cycle. But this week's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Noem v. Vasquez about ICE stopping people in California has potential broad troubling implications. A few initial thoughts. 🧵
1/10
September 10, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
innocenceproject.bsky.social
Bestselling author and Innocence Project Board Member John Grisham is telling the story of Robert Roberson—an innocent man Texas plans to execute on Oct. 16. Time is running out. www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2...
Why author John Grisham is chronicling the life of Robert Roberson in ‘SHAKEN’
The book will chronicle the story of Robert Roberson III, an East Texas man at the center of a controversial “shaken baby syndrome” case, who, for the third...
www.dallasnews.com
September 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
portiamcgonagal.bsky.social
Yet another example of why I oppose the death penalty.

"...a "key witness" in Hooper's trial, allegedly confessed to the murder in July, Hooper's attorney said."

abcnews.go.com/US/man-freed...
Man freed from prison after 27 years for a crime he didn't commit, his attorney says
A man who was wrongfully convicted of murder back in 1998 was released from prison after a key witness in the investigation confessed to the crime, officials said.
abcnews.go.com
September 7, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING: The Supreme Court — over the objection of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson — allows the Trump administration’s racial profiling of people working certain types of jobs in its immigration raids during litigation.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES - No. 25A169 - KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. U. PEDRO VASQUEZ PERDOMO, ET AL. ON APPLICATION FOR STAY [September 8, 2025] The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. The July 11, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Central District of California, case No. 2:25-cv-5605, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting. In early June, the Government launched immigration enforcement raids across Los Angeles and its surrounding counties. During the raids, teams of armed and masked agents pulled up to car washes, tow yards, farms, and parks and began seizing individuals on sight, often before asking a single question. A Federal District Court found that these raids were part of a pattern of conduct by the Government that likely violated the Fourth Amendment. Based on the evidence before it, the court held that the Government was stopping individuals based solely on four factors: (1) their apparent race or ethnicity; (2) whether they spoke Spanish or English with an accent; (3) the type of location at which they were found (such as a car wash or bus stop); and (4) the type of job they appeared to work. Concluding that stops based on these four factors alone, even when taken together, could not satisfy the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonable suspicion, the District Court temporarily enjoined the Government from continuing its pattern of unlawful mass arrests while it considered whether longer-term relief was appropriate. Instead of allowing the District Court to consider these troubling allegations in the normal course, a majority of 2 NOEM v. VASQUEZ PERDOMO SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting this Court decides to take the once-extraordinary step of staying the District Court's order. That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent. * * The Fourth Amendment protects every individual's constitutional right to be "free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 878. After to-day, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation's constitutional guarantees, I dissent.
September 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
stevevladeck.bsky.social
#BREAKING: With no explanation (save for a solo concurrence by Justice Kavanaugh), #SCOTUS has frozen lower-court rulings that had enjoined allegedly suspicion-less arrests as part of "roving" immigration patrols in California.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissents:
www.supremecourt.gov
September 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Jeff Kirchmeier
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Justice Sotomayor is crystal clear in dissent as to what's happening: "We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent."
NOEM v. VASQUEZ PERDOMO SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting this Court decides to take the once-extraordinary step of staying the District Court’s order. That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.
September 8, 2025 at 4:27 PM