McDonough

Appellant Marie Chantal McDonough was committed to a state hospital in 2000, after having been found not guilty by reason of insanity in a felony prosecution. In 2008, the director of the Metropolitan State Hospital (MSH) filed a semiannual interval report (Pen. Code, § 1026, subd. (f); all statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated) recommending appellant be placed in outpatient treatment (§ 1603, subd. (a)(1)). The court conducted a hearing on the issue. All testifying experts concluded appellant should be placed in outpatient treatment. The court found the details of the outpatient program lacking and denied outpatient status.

We reverse because the trial court placed an undue burden on appellant, denying outpatient status not because she would not benefit from outpatient treatment, but rather because the court was not satisfied with the day-to-day details of the proposed outpatient treatment program. The court did not find appellant is currently insane. Instead, the court found the program proposed by the Fresno Conditional Release Program (CONREP) lacking.

A patient has a right to outpatient treatment upon carrying her burden of…