drawing a checkbox in a TListView

One relatively simple way to get rid of this bug is to owner-draw the entire item. Set OwnerDraw := true, remove your OnCustomDrawSubItem routine, and add

procedure TForm15.ListView1DrawItem(Sender: TCustomListView; Item: TListItem;
  Rect: TRect; State: TOwnerDrawState);

  function ShrinkRect(const r: TRect; const X0, X1, Y0, Y1: integer): TRect; inline;
  begin
    result := r;
    inc(result.Left, X0);
    inc(result.Top, Y0);
    dec(result.Right, X1);
    dec(result.Bottom, Y1);
  end;

const
  CHECK_COL = 2;
  PADDING = 4;
var
  r: TRect;
  i: Integer;
  s: string;
  size: TSize;
  h: HTHEME;
begin

  FillRect(Sender.Canvas.Handle, Rect, GetStockObject(WHITE_BRUSH));
  r := Rect;
  inc(r.Left, PADDING);
  for i := 0 to TListView(Sender).Columns.Count - 1 do
  begin
    r.Right := r.Left + Sender.Column[i].Width;
    if i <> CHECK_COL then
    begin
      if i = 0 then
      begin
        s := Item.Caption;
        if not IsWindowVisible(ListView_GetEditControl(Sender.Handle)) then
        begin
          if UseThemes and ([odSelected, odHotLight] * State <> []) then
          begin
            h := OpenThemeData(Sender.Handle, 'LISTVIEW');
            if h <> 0 then
              try
                DrawThemeBackground(h, Sender.Canvas.Handle, LVP_GROUPHEADER, IfThen(odSelected in State, LVGH_CLOSESELECTED, LVGH_OPENHOT), ShrinkRect(r, -2, 6, 1, 1), nil);
              finally
                CloseThemeData(h);
              end;
          end;
          if (odSelected in State) and not UseThemes then
            DrawFocusRect(Sender.Canvas.Handle, ShrinkRect(r, -2, 6, 1, 1));
        end;
      end
      else
        s := Item.SubItems[i - 1];
      Sender.Canvas.Brush.Style := bsClear;
      DrawText(Sender.Canvas.Handle,
        PChar(s),
        length(s),
        r,
        DT_SINGLELINE or DT_VCENTER or DT_LEFT or DT_END_ELLIPSIS);
    end
    else
    begin

      size.cx := GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXMENUCHECK);
      size.cy := GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYMENUCHECK);
      if UseThemes then
      begin
        h := OpenThemeData(Sender.Handle, 'BUTTON');
        if h <> 0 then
          try
            GetThemePartSize(h, Sender.Canvas.Handle, BP_CHECKBOX, CBS_CHECKEDNORMAL, nil, TS_DRAW, size);
            r.Top    := Rect.Top + (Rect.Bottom - Rect.Top - size.cy) div 2;
            r.Bottom := r.Top + size.cy;
            r.Left   := r.Left + PADDING;
            r.Right  := r.Left + size.cx;
            DrawThemeBackground(h, Sender.Canvas.Handle, BP_CHECKBOX, IfThen(CompareText(Item.SubItems[1],'True')=0, CBS_CHECKEDNORMAL, CBS_UNCHECKEDNORMAL), r, nil);
          finally
            CloseThemeData(h);
          end;
      end
      else
      begin
        r.Top    := Rect.Top + (Rect.Bottom - Rect.Top - size.cy) div 2;
        r.Bottom := r.Top + size.cy;
        r.Left   := r.Left + PADDING;
        r.Right  := r.Left + size.cx;
        DrawFrameControl(Sender.Canvas.Handle, r, DFC_BUTTON, IfThen(CompareText(Item.SubItems[1],'True')=0, DFCS_CHECKED, DFCS_BUTTONCHECK));
      end;

    end;
    inc(r.Left, Sender.Column[i].Width);
  end;

end;

The code above needs further testing, but is probably in the right direction. Now it's very late, and I have to go.