In his article “Beyond Compare? A Codefendant’s Prison Sentence As a Mitigating Factor in Death Penalty Cases,” published in the Florida Law Review, Jeffrey Kirchmeier addresses whether the U.S. Constitution […]
Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier, Professor, teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Capital Punishment & the Courts, Lawyering Seminar, and Moot Court. He received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University.
Professor Kirchmeier is the author of the book Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty (Oxford University Press 2015), which chronicles the history of the U.S. death penalty and that history’s connection to a landmark Supreme Court case on race and capital punishment. He also has written law review articles about criminal procedure, constitutional law, and the death penalty. In addition to his writings that have appeared in journals, books, reports, and practice publications, he co-authored a study aid for first-year law students.
Before joining the CUNY Law faculty, Professor Kirchmeier worked as a litigation associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. and taught at Tulane School of Law and Arizona State University College of Law. For several years he was a staff attorney at the Arizona Capital Representation Project, where he represented indigent capital defendants in state appeals, state post-conviction proceedings, federal habeas corpus proceedings and at clemency hearings. Additionally, he supervised and helped train capital defense attorneys throughout Arizona and was the editor of a quarterly legal publication on legal developments in the death penalty area.
Professor Kirchmeier remains active in death penalty work, and is a member (and former Chair) of the Capital Punishment Committee of the New York City Bar Association.