Cheatham

BACKGROUND

Cheatham has been diagnosed with two mental disorders: schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type), and substance abuse disorder. The former is responsible for his commitment that is the subject of this case. In late 2011, Cheatham escaped from criminal custody and resisted/delayed/obstructed an officer after hearing nonexistent voices that led him to believe the police planned to shoot him. The next day, after returning to custody, he again attempted to escape and resisted/delayed/obstructed an officer after again hearing nonexistent voices that led him to believe his life was in danger. A trial court committed Cheatham to a state hospital after finding him not guilty of the resulting charges by reason of insanity. In 2015, Cheatham was released from the hospital’s custody and placed on supervised release. But for reasons that are unclear from the record, Cheatham “had a

3 number of rule violations” and, in 2019, he was again committed to a state hospital until 2021. According to Cheatham, although he “got in trouble for” a “few things” while on supervised release, he was not returned to hospital custody for that reason; he instead returned to hospital custody because he…