MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Forensic pathologist J.C. Upshaw Downs has studied death
firsthand and answered questions about it for more than 25 years, and now he
wants to help find answers to the ethical challenges in his life’s profession.
Downs,
the fall 2016 guest of MTSU’s William M. Bass Legends in Forensic Science
Lectureship series, will speak Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the
university’s Student Union Ballroom.
MTSU’s
Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, is presenting Downs’ free
public talk, “The Seven Deadly Sins of Forensic Ethics.” A searchable,
printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.
Downs,
who’s served as coastal Georgia’s first regional medical examiner in Savannah
since 2002, has worked continuously as a medical examiner and consultant in forensic
pathology since 1989. He was Alabama’s state forensics director and chief
medical examiner from 1998 to 2002.
He also is
a consultant at the Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico,
Virginia, a major in the Civil Air Patrol Legislative Wing and a forensic
pathology consultant for the C.S.S H.L Hunley Project in Charleston, South
Carolina.
The
Hunley project is one of Downs’ widely known successes. Experts extensively
studied and identified the remains of the eight crew members of the Confederacy’s
H.L. Hunley, the first successful combat submarine in history, which sank near
Charleston in 1864 and was raised in 2002. Those experts, including Downs, were
disappointed when they couldn’t find conclusive evidence for the crew’s causes
of death.
Downs, however,
continued investigating and discovered brain tissue among the remains, which
may finally help experts determine what killed the Hunley’s crew.
He also
provided the scientific identifications for all 339 victims in the “Operation
Noble Cause” Georgia Tri-State Crematory case and served as pathologist on the
first capital murder trial using DNA evidence in South Carolina history.
Along
with multiple appearances on TV shows including NBC’s “Dateline,” CBS’s “48
Hours” and the syndicated “Forensic Files,” Downs consults on the FOX medical drama
“Rosewood” and worked with author Patricia
Cornwell on her Charleston-set “Book of the Dead,” even serving as the
inspiration for fictional Savannah medical examiner Colin Dengate in Cornwell’s
2012 book “Red Mist.”
Downs is
founder and president of forensic LLC, a medicolegal consulting firm that
specializes in case consultation, courtroom exhibits and illustrations, and
forensic training.
The Bass
Lecture Series, named for internationally renowned University of Tennessee
forensic anthropologist Dr. William M.
Bass, brings forensic science experts to the MTSU campus each fall and
spring.
MTSU’s
FIRE, established in 2006, also provides regular educational and training
opportunities for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys,
social workers, and other groups in forensic science and homeland security.
For more
information on this lecture or other FIRE programs and events, contact the FIRE
offices at 615-494-7713 or visit http://www.csimtsu.com.
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