Competency trial begins Monday for suspect in Davis stabbing rampage that left 2 dead
Hearings begin Monday to find whether suspect Carlos Reales Dominguez, held in the deadly knife rampage that terrorized Davis in April and May, is mentally fit to stand trial.
The trial in Woodland before Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam represents the mental competency phase of the criminal case against the 21-year-old Reales Dominguez. Days after being expelled from UC Davis in April, Reales Dominguez allegedly stabbed two men to death in Davis city parks and brutally set upon an unhoused woman as she slept in her encampment.
A jury will determine whether Reales Dominguez is mentally fit to stand trial for deaths of Davis residents 50-year-old David Breaux and Karim Abou Najm, 20, who was six weeks from graduating when he was slain, as well as the knife attack on 64-year-old Kimberlee Guillory, who was grievously wounded but survived.
Reales Dominguez faces two counts of murder as well as allegations of attempted murder and special circumstances for multiple murders in the attacks.
Defense attorney Yolo County deputy public defender Daniel Hutchinson first called his client’s mental fitness in doubt at a May hearing. McAdam suspended criminal proceedings to give a court-appointed doctor time to examine the one-time college sophomore and present findings.
The doctor determined Reales Dominguez unsound in June and McAdam set the July trial date. Despite protests from Hutchinson that jury competency trials were “extremely rare,” McAdam sided with prosecutors and set the competency trial in motion.
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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