T.B.

FACTS

Defendant is serving a life sentence for a murder committed in 2011. She has been

diagnosed with “schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, which is a chronic mental health

condition characterized by symptoms of schizophrenia (such as hallucinations, delusions,

and disorganized thought process) and a mood disorder (such as mania and depression).”

Since her incarceration, she has mostly been housed in an inpatient psychiatric treatment

program rather than in the general population. Even within that intensive treatment

program, she has generally been in her cell unable to participate in groups or other

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 activities. Medications administered under an involuntary medication order, which has

been in effect for years, have been ineffective.

In September 2024, the acting warden of defendant’s prison petitioned for an order

authorizing defendant to be treated with ECT. At the evidentiary hearing on the petition,

the parties stipulated that defendant lacks the capacity to give informed consent to ECT.

On appeal, she concedes that ECT is “medically necessary,” abandoning her trial court

argument that the People…