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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Ind. Courts - Prominent Indy psychiatrist Larry Davis dies piloting flight from Illinois [Updated]

Vic Rychaert of the Indianapolis Star reports today:

Dr. Larry Davis, who served as an expert witness in hundreds of criminal cases, was the only person onboard the Piper Cherokee, authorities say. The plane went down about 5:30 p.m. Monday in a field south of Milford, a few miles west of the Indiana border. * * *

"This is horrible," said Bob Hammerle, an Indianapolis defense attorney. "Aside from the obvious personal tragedy, it's one of those losses that creates a professional void. There isn't anyone else that operates at his level."

Davis, 63, was thrown from the cockpit, Cheatum said. The Iroquois County Sheriff's Department and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating Tuesday trying to piece together what went wrong.

Sharon Farmer, Davis' secretary for 25 years, described Davis as kind, loving and caring. He loved to bake cherry pies, make his own noodles, and even baked and decorated the cake for his daughter's wedding, Farmer said. "He loved his work; he loved his family," Farmer said.

Davis, married to wife Betty, has two grown children, Farmer said. He also was proud of his two granddaughters.

For decades, Davis testified on behalf of psychotic and sexually deviant criminals in numerous high-profile cases in Central Indiana. Davis was chief psychiatrist for the defense in the case of Tony Kiritsis, who made national headlines when he wired a sawed-off shotgun around the neck of an Indianapolis mortgage company executive in 1977 and paraded him through Downtown streets.

"He was not only the very best forensic psychiatrist in Indiana and one of the best in the entire country, he was an excellent psychiatrist who helped thousands of people suffering from every kind of psychiatric disorder imaginable," said J. Richard Kiefer, one of Kiritsis' attorneys.

When I moved into the downtown Indy neighborhood now known as the Old Northside in the late 1970s, Larry and his brother Jim and their families were already living here and had been, I believe, since their med school days. It was thanks to their early efforts at historic preservation, running against a nationalwide craze for "urban renewal" (by demolition), that a number of magnificent historic homes north of the swath cut by the building of I-70 were saved from arson or the wrecking ball. Larry Davis was my neighbor and friend. There will be no other like him. My condolences to his wife Betty and the Davis family.

[Updated 11/23/06] WISH TV's Leslie Olsen had this report Tuesday evening, including:

"It was very sad news," said attorney Jim Voyles.

Voyles, a local defense attorney, and Marion County criminal court Judge Patricia Gifford say his psychiatric expertise will be missed locally.

Davis' web site says he testified in at least 250 cases.

"Got it down to the level that we people could understand," Gifford said.

Voyles called him one of the most intriguing people he has ever known.

"He could make jewelry. He was a black diamond skier. He was an excellent bike rider. He was a musician. He was a great doctor. So he had many facets to his personality that were very positive," Voyles said.

Here is Larry M. Davis' obituary from the Nov. 24, 2006 Star.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 22, 2006 07:51 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts