Application of Henry

TROUT, Justice.

The petitioner, John Henry, is an insanity acquittee who seeks release from commitment on the ground that he is no longer mentally ill.

I

BACKGROUND

The facts giving rise to this appeal are similar to those in Gafford v. State, 127 Idaho 472, 903 P.2d 61 (1995), and Nielsen v. State, 127 Idaho 449, 902 P.2d 474 (1995). Henry, like Gafford and Nielsen, has a long history of mental illness. On October 18, 1979, he was acquitted of criminal charges by reason of insanity and has since been confined at State Hospital South in Blackfoot, Idaho.

In 1992, the United States Supreme Court…