Suspect of stabbing in Davis can now stand trial, judge rules

A former student accused of stabbing two people to death and wounding a third near the campus of the University of California, Davis, is now competent to stand trial after being treated at a psychiatric hospital, a judge ruled judge in Northern California Friday.

On the recommendation of the Department of State Hospitals, Yolo County Superior Court Judge Samuel T. McAdam concluded that the former student, Carlos Reales Dominguez, 21, now met California’s statutory requirement that criminal defendants understand and comply with the legal proceedings against them be able to assist their lawyers in their defense.

Mr Reales Dominguez was arrested shortly after the attacks and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder. But his mental condition, which had been a concern from the start of the case, soon disrupted preparations for his trial.

At a hearing in August, Judge McAdam ruled him incompetent, and he was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Atascadero, California, shortly afterward, a spokeswoman for the Yolo County district attorney said.

A finding of mental incompetence, which is not the same as an insanity defense, requires that criminal proceedings be paused while the suspect is treated. Thanks to the judge’s ruling on Friday, the proceedings can be resumed.

Mr. Reales Dominguez, who had been extremely sloppy in previous court hearings, and was either agitated and incoherent or as stiff as a statue, was clean-shaven on Friday with his shoulder-length hair combed back from his face. When the judge asked him if he was waiving his right to a speedy trial so that criminal proceedings could be scheduled, Mr. Reales Dominguez responded with a clear and firm “yes.”

The stabbings, which occurred over a five-day period in the spring, roiled residents of Davis, a city of about 70,000 west of Sacramento and best known for the University of California campus there.

The attacks claimed the lives of David Breaux, 50, a local pacifist who slept on a park bench near downtown, and Karim Abou Najm, 20, a computer science major and son of a university professor. Another person, Kimberlee Guillory, 64, who had been sleeping in a tent at a homeless camp, was also stabbed but survived.

During a court appearance in May, Daniel Hutchinson, the public defender representing Mr. Reales Dominguez, urgently requested a competency hearing, saying he did not believe his client’s mental fitness met the legal standard.

During a subsequent proceeding held before a civil jury, classmates and friends of the suspect said he came to UC Davis as a freshman in 2020 but quickly spiraled into mental illness.

Housemates and fellow students testify that he had a breakdown in the spring of 2021, at the height of the corona pandemic. A former girlfriend said he withdrew socially, stopped bathing or eating regularly, sometimes lapsed into a near-catatonic state and confided to her that he heard voices and that “the devil talked to him in his dreams.”

His friends, mostly underclassmen like him, said his behavior frightened and overwhelmed them, and they unsuccessfully encouraged him to seek treatment, pointing out that mental health care was readily available and free at the University of California.

Three psychiatric experts who examined Mr. Reales Dominguez testified that he suffered from schizophrenia; a court-appointed psychologist called his symptoms a textbook example of the disorder.

University officials said Mr. Reales Dominguez was separated from UC Davis on April 25. He failed all his classes, prosecutors said. Two days later, Mr. Breaux, a local compassion advocate, was found stabbed to death in a park in downtown Davis. Two days after that, Mr. Najm was attacked on a bike path in another Davis park and died from knife wounds.

Mr. Reales Dominguez was arrested after Davis police received more than a dozen reports from residents who said they had seen a slim young man with long dark hair pacing near the scene of Mr. Najm’s murder.

The prosecutor’s office said on December 28 that officials at the state hospital where Mr. Reales Dominguez was being treated had declared him fit again.

Judge McAdam ruled Friday that Mr. Reales Dominguez posed no danger to himself or others in prison and ordered that he continue to receive medication for schizophrenia. The judge remanded him to the Yolo County Jail pending a preliminary hearing on Feb. 26.