Here’s when Carlos Dominguez, accused in fatal Davis stabbing spree, will face trial
A judge in Woodland on Wednesday ordered that the trial against Carlos Reales Dominguez, the former UC Davis student accused of a stabbing spree that left two dead and rocked the Davis community last year, will begin as early as June.
Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel T. McAdam bound Reales Dominguez for trial last month after hearing testimony from Davis police officers detailing the attacks inflicting upon three people. On Wednesday, McAdam set the trial date for June 18.
Reales Dominguez is charged with murder and attempted murder with special circumstances in the three attacks in late April and early May. David Breaux, 50, and Najm, 20, were killed in separate Davis city parks days apart. Their slayings were followed by the brutal attack on 64-year-old Kimberlee Guillory as she slept in her tent May 1 in a homeless encampment. She survived the stabbing.
At Wednesday’s brief hearing, public defender Daniel Hutchinson entered not guilty pleas to all charges for his 22-year-old client.
Reales Dominguez appeared as well, in gray and navy blue jail clothing, and showed no reaction during the proceedings. He briefly said “yes” when asked by McAdam if he understood he was waiving his right to a speedy trial.
Prosecutors had said during a February hearing that they would not seek the death penalty against Reales Dominguez, whose mental health had deteriorated in the months before the knife attacks but was later deemed mentally fit to stand trial.
The criminal case against Reales Dominguez was suspended after prosecutors conceded he was mentally incompetent to understand the charges he faced and assist in his own legal defense. This announcement came after impaneled jurors heard testimony from his ex-girlfriend, roommates and friends to determine whether he was mentally fit.
In December, state hospital doctors determined that Reales Dominguez’s mental competency was restored after receiving treatment at Atascadero State Hospital to restore his mental competency. Reales Dominguez was quickly brought back to Woodland where McAdam reinstated criminal proceedings against the 22-year-old on Jan. 5.
At the time, the judge said the doctor’s report indicated that Reales Dominguez has “sufficient knowledge and sufficient understanding of the legal procedure and charges, and his mental health disorder of schizophrenia with catatonia.”
“The report also indicates that the defendant has the capacity to rationally assist legal counsel,” McAdam said. “The report further indicates that the risk of self-harm is low, and the risk of harm to others in an institutional setting is low. And again, most importantly, the report indicates that the defendant is certified as competent to stand trial.”
Before he was transferred to the state, Reales Dominguez at times had refused antipsychotic medication while at the jail.
Reales Dominguez was a UC Davis biological science major who had excelled as a high school student-athlete in the East Bay but was dismissed from the university for academic reasons on April 25, two days before the deadly rampage started. In court testimony in June, his friends described him displaying bizarre behavior, becoming further withdrawn from society.
