WOODLAND, Calif. (CN) — Carlos Dominguez, a former University of California, Davis, student accused of fatally stabbing two people and injuring a third, will go on trial next week. But jurors won’t determine the 21 year old’s guilt on charges of murder and attempted murder — instead, they’ll decide whether Dominguez is currently mentally competent to stand trial on those charges.
This past month, Dominguez claimed at a hearing in Yolo County Superior Court that he was guilty and apologized. The same day, Judge Samuel McAdam said a medical report stated Dominguez is not competent and that his comments couldn’t be used against him.
Deputy District Attorney Matt DeMoura has requested a jury trial on the issue of Dominguez’s competency. That means the jurors will focus on whether Dominguez is mentally fit to stand trial, not whether he’s guilty of any crime.
“It’s a different standard,” said Casey Ayer, a Nevada County deputy district attorney. “It’s different from what a prosecutor and a defense attorney are used to.”
Ayer said jurors must determine whether Dominguez can understand the court proceeding, is able to assist his attorney in his defense and comprehend his status in the criminal proceeding. If he can’t do all of those, and jurors decide it’s because of a mental disability or developmental disability, then he is currently incompetent.
Witnesses in a competency trial are often professionals like doctors and nurses, Ayer said.
Attorneys gathered Wednesday before Judge David Reed for a trial readiness conference. Dominguez — wearing a green protective covering — sat next to Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson for the hearing, which lasted under five minutes. Prosecutors and Dominguez’s attorney said they were ready for the expected seven-day trial.
“Be ready to go on Monday,” Reed said. The hearing then ended and Dominguez was escorted from the room.
The criminal case against Dominguez is on hold and what happens after his competency trial depends on the jury's verdict. If he’s determined to be competent, he could proceed to trial on the murder and attempted murder charges.
A finding of incompetency would mean Dominguez would be evaluated for placement in a state hospital for treatment, Ayer said. The state would have two years to treat him with counseling and medication.
In that example, the hospital would send regular reports to the judge. Sometime before two years passes, and if he remains incompetent, a doctor would issue a report with an opinion on whether his competency could be restored.
The issue would then return to Yolo County for next steps. In serious cases, he could be referred to a conservatorship.
Dominguez is being held without bond, having pleaded not guilty to the murders of David Henry Breaux, 50, and Karim Abou Najm, 20. Dominguez also faces an attempted murder charge in connection to a woman in her 60s who was stabbed multiple times in a homeless encampment on May 1.
Kimberlee Guillory survived the stabbing and called 911, leading to a manhunt that resulted in Dominguez's arrest on May 3.
The first of the fatal stabbings authorities say is tied to Dominguez was Breaux, whose body was found in late April hunched over a bench in downtown's Central Park. A well-known fixture of the Davis community, Breaux was an author and creator of the city’s “Compassion Bench” in 2013.
Two days later, Najm's body was discovered in Sycamore Park. He was a senior at UC Davis and a Davis High School graduate.
UC Davis officials have said in a statement that Dominguez was a third-year student majoring in biological sciences until April 25 “when he was separated for academic reasons.”
Fifteen people contacted authorities about someone matching Dominguez's description near a downtown park. At the time, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel called the stabbings the work of a serial killer.
Police say significant and related evidence had been found during the execution of a search warrant.
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