William (Billy) Edwards, Deputy Public Defender, Los Angeles County Public Defender, Mental Health Court.
Billy Edwards is considered one of the early pioneers in the training of attorneys around issues involving fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the first lecture Billy gave back in 1997 in Lafayette, Louisiana for the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on representing a client with FASD.
William (Billy) Edwards is a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles California, working in the Los Angeles County Mental Health Court, representing clients with mental illness and developmental disorders. Prior to that Billy worked on capital habeas appeals in Florida, and a paper he co-authored on people with intellectual disabilities on death row in the United States was cited by the United States Supreme in Atkins v. Virginia. The Atkins decision finally exempted defendants with Intellectual Disabilities from the death penalty. In 2006, Edwards was appointed to serve on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and later was appointed for a second term. This is a federal advisory committee established by presidential executive order to advise the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Health and Human Services on issues concerning the lives of citizens with intellectual disabilities.
While serving on this Presidential Committee he became interested in FASD and initiated a series of workshops (still ongoing) on the disorder for attorneys around the US and the world. In 2011, he served as the editor of a landmark two-volume issue of the Journal of Psychiatry and Law which focused on the legal aspects of FASD. In 2012 he helped to draft and secure the passage of a resolution by the American Bar Association, calling on all people working in the criminal justice system to be aware of FASD.
On March 13, 2014, Mr. Edwards was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome now called FASD United which is based in Washington, D.C. On August 2014, Mr. Edwards was presented in Seattle with the Dr. Ann Streissguth, Ph.D. Annual Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of FASD and the Law. The award was named after Dr. Ann Streissguth who in 1973 was the first psychologist to administer psychological testing on children who were born with FASD. He currently serves as the Chair for FASD United Justice Task Force.
In 2014, NOFAS ( FASD United) inducted him into the Tom and Linda Daschle FASD Hall of Fame.
In 2019, he was invited to assist the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) to develop policies aimed at reducing the lifelong burden on children and families that arise from in-utero exposure to alcohol by helping to put together some papers. ASPE Research Brief(s) were prepared and published under contract between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Behavioral Health, Disability, and Aging Policy, January 2022.
Dr Valerie McGinn is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Clinical Director of The FASD Centre, Aotearoa where she is part of a multidisciplinary FASD diagnostic and treatment team. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Population Health, Centre for Addiction Studies at the University of Auckland and FASD Advisor to the Health Coalition, Aotearoa.
Dr McGinn has diagnosed and advised in the management of hundreds of at-risk children and adolescents with FASD, many in state care or before the Courts. Her evidence in the New Zealand Courts has resulted in FASD now being widely recognised and accommodated within the legal system. Dr McGinn has a special interest in false confessions, youth who have killed, and imprisoned women with FASD. Her FASD evidence to the Privy Council has resulted in the quashing of a murder conviction. Dr McGinn is an expert advisor for FASD-CAN, New Zealand’s organisation to support and advocate for people with FASD and their families and caregivers.
Dr Brandon Birath is a Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist who practises both in the United States (California) and New Zealand and specializes in evaluating criminal defendants with neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disorders. Prior to relocating to Auckland last year, he was the Chief of Psychology at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and he continues to serve remotely as Co-Director of Psychology Training. He holds the position of Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. As a member of the Los Angeles County Superior Court Expert Panel, he is regularly appointed to evaluate defendants with disorders such as FASD. He also serves as a post-conviction habeas corpus consultant with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on death penalty cases where neurocognitive disorders are suspected.