Dr. Greg Davis Speaks at College of Law

The Kentucky Innocence Project hosted Dr. Greg Davis, a professor in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on Friday, February 14, in the College of Law courtroom. Students from the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville and Chase gathered to listen to Dr. Davis discuss his role as the Kentucky State Medical Examiner.

His lecture, titled “Introduction to Forensic Pathology and Medicolegal Death Investigation,” discussed topics answering the who, what, when, where and why of forensic pathology. Spectators learned who a forensic pathologist is, their job responsibilities, who they interact with frequently, and the types of deaths they see – gruesome pictures included! His lecture was filled with jokes, interesting facts and stories from his past to captivate the audience.

“I love this job!” exclaimed Dr. Davis. “It’s the teaching aspect I love the most.”

His love for teaching showed as he taught future attorneys a thing or two throughout the conversation.

“The bottom line is competence is 10% what you know, and 90% of what you don’t know and acting accordingly,” said Dr. Davis.

He emphasized the importance of being polite in the courtroom, telling students that good lawyers lose cases when they are disrespectful. He also mentioned medical examiners are not advocates for either side stating, “I’m not against you, but I’m not for you.”

Dr. Davis does a lot of criminal work, publishes articles routinely, and every year, his team in Frankfort performs around 850 autopsies.