Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, mental retardation at NOFAS
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National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Protecting children and families by fighting the leading known cause of mental retardation and birth defects
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“When he was eight, our son Dalante's second grade teacher said to us, 'I think this child has FAS.' At this point in time, we had been involved in social systems, medical systems, psychiatric systems and educational systems, and yet this was the first time that FAS had been brought up. We're hopeful to get an accurate diagnosis. He is a wonderful little boy. We fear for his future. He is extremely naïve. He is extremely sweet. He would be the ideal drug runner. He would be the ideal child to be taken advantage of and this has already happened with food fights in the cafeteria: somebody gives him a dime and promises to be his friend, so he takes the blame.”
Francine White

NOFAS Submits Amicus Brief in Death Penalty Case

NOFAS has submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in support of a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Louisiana Supreme Court in the case of Brandy Aileen Holmes, a 29-year-old woman with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) on death row in Louisiana. The brief was prepared on behalf of NOFAS by Patton Boggs LLP, a top international law and lobbying firm concentrating on public policy, litigation, intellectual property, and business law.

The NOFAS brief argues that Ms. Holmes’s FAS should have been considered as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing. The petition for writ challenges the adequacy of the Louisiana Supreme Court's mandatory proportionality review of her  death sentence.

NOFAS owes enormous gratitude to our pro bono attorney and board chair, Kate Boyce, and the Patton Boggs team who worked on the project, led by Harry Silver and Karen Thiel.

For more than 40 years, Patton Boggs has maintained a reputation for cutting-edge advocacy by working closely with Congress and regulatory agencies in Washington, litigating in courts across the country, and negotiating business transactions around the world.

Copyright 2001-2004 National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome