Dominguez closing arguments begin in deadly 2023 Davis stabbing spree
Closing arguments in the guilt phase of Carlos Dominguez’s second murder trial in the 2003 stabbing rampage that left two Davis men dead and critically injured a third victim began Tuesday afternoon in Yolo Superior Court.
Dominguez, a former UC Davis student, faces murder charges in the deaths of David Breaux, 50, and Karim Abou Najm, 20, who were fatally stabbed in Davis’ Central and Sycamore parks in late April 2023.
He also faces attempted murder charges in the near-fatal stabbing of then-64-year-old Kimberlee Guillory, who was stabbed through her tent at a downtown homeless encampment. Guillory survived the attack and testified at Dominguez’s first trial and again during his retrial in June.
Dominguez also faces an assault with a deadly weapon charge causing great bodily injury. Special circumstances allege multiple murders.
Once a verdict is delivered in the case before Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam, the trial shifts to a second phase to determine whether Dominguez was sane at the time of the crimes. He remains held in Yolo County sheriff’s custody.
Dominguez, diagnosed with the symptoms of schizophrenia, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the violent attacks.
Yolo Superior Court jurors deliberated for weeks at Dominguez’s initial 2025 trial in the stabbings that paralyzed Davis before acquitting him on one murder count and failing to reach a verdict on a second murder count. Jurors also deadlocked on the attempted murder charge related to Guillory’s attack.
The decision prompted McAdam to declare a mistrial, setting the stage for a second trial.
Prosecutors at the first trial argued that Dominguez was angry and spiraling at the time of the killings, calling the attacks a deliberate act of violence. Dominguez testified that he heard voices and saw “shadow figures,” which his defense said were signs of his worsening schizophrenia.
“It’s not just the physical acts,” Dominguez’s attorney, Yolo County deputy public defender Daniel Hutchinson said in his May opening statement at Dominguez’s second trial, “but what was happening in his mind when he did them.”
At the retrial, however, prosecutors changed tack and argued that prolonged use of potent cannabis heightened his psychosis and led to the attacks.
Prosecutors have also argued that Dominguez exhibited “goal-oriented” behavior during the attacks despite his mental state, demonstrating that he intended to attack and kill his victims.
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