Sunday Speaker – Michael Kiefer: Poorly Executed, Death Row Executions in Arizona

Sunday Speaker Topic:
Poorly Executed, Death Row Executions in Arizona

Description:
What does execution look like? What does it feel like? What gets someone there? What did Michael witness as an observer? What could ever go wrong? And… What about the victims?

Bio:
Michael Kiefer was a reporter at The Arizona Republic/USA Today from 2003 to 2019, covering courts and legal issues, especially as they pertain to immigration and the death penalty. He was part of a team that won the 2015 Hillman Prize for reporting on unaccompanied minors held in immigration camps near the Mexican border. Kiefer followed the court battles over Arizona state immigration law since their inception, and wrote an expose of prosecutorial misconduct in Arizona as part of a John Jay College/Guggenheim fellowship. He led coverage on the trial of celebrity killer Jodi Arias and was one of a handful of journalists to interview her. He reported on the legal proceedings for Jared Loughner, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson that left six people dead and seriously injured former U.S Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; some of that reporting fit into a series that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Kiefer broke the story that Arizona and other states were illegally buying drugs from Europe to carry out executions and witnessed the 2014 two-hour-long botched execution in Arizona. His reporting on erroneously imposed life sentences rewrote Arizona law. Michael has reported extensively from Europe and North and South America. A former staff writer at Phoenix New Times and a former associate editor of Outside magazine, his features, essays and profiles have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including Playboy, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Self, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times. Kiefer has taught Spanish, writing and journalism at Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University, The University of Michigan, Columbia College and Roosevelt University in Chicago. He speaks Spanish, Italian and French and is the author of eight books.

Please Note:
Doors open at 9:00 am for optional buffet breakfast ($5 donation) and socializing. Speaker program begins at 10:00 am.

Important: $5 breakfast fee waived for awesome humans bringing in food to share!

If you can help with set-up, clean-up, and/or by bringing a breakfast casserole, please go to SignUpGenius HERE

A Children's Program is available during the Speaker Meeting. Go to a separate Meetup to RSVP for your kids HERE.

Prefer to join us remotely?

1. Here's the Zoom Link.
2. YOUTUBE: You can watch live (15 second delay), or you can watch later. LINK HERE

Need help? Email humanist@hsgp.org before the day of this meeting.
The Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix presents its Sunday Speaker meetings twice a month on Sunday mornings. Meetings are free and open to the public.

**Go to our YouTube channel to see past meetings, presentations and and interviews. Please become a subscriber--it's free! LINK HERE

**We invite you to become a dues-paying member of HSGP. To become a member or make a donation, go to www.hsgp.org