April 2025 trial date set for accused Davis stabber Carlos Dominguez
Carlos Dominguez, the former UC Davis student accused of killing two people and injuring a third in a violent string of stabbings last spring, will go on trial in April 2025.
Following a brief conference Tuesday morning, Judge Samuel McAdam announced the six-week jury trial for Dominguez would begin April 28, 2025.
“This case has a lot of moving parts and it’s a complex case,” McAdam said. “Secondly, there was a period of time in which the defendant was not competent and so it made it difficult for the defense in moving forward and preparing for trial, so we do have to be mindful of that. I think the earliest this can be tried is the spring of next year and I think there’s a rational basis for that conclusion.”
Dominguez is charged with the stabbing murders of David Henry Breaux, 50, and 20-year-old UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm and the attempted murder of Kimberlee Guillory. In March 2024, Dominguez, 22, pleaded not guilty to all charges and enhancements. He also waived his right to a speedy trial.
During a preliminary hearing on Feb. 26, prosecutors announced that they would not be seeking the death penalty in this case. If convicted, he faces life without the possibility of parole.
Criminal proceedings were briefly suspended after Dominguez was deemed not fit to stand trial following a competency hearing. Days of testimony revealed Dominguez suffered a mental health decline in the months leading up to the attacks. Friends, roommates and an ex-girlfriend revealed similarly shared stories — how a once shy and intelligent college student who enjoyed music and playing sports eventually became avoidant, disheveled and increasingly thin.
Defense attorney Dan Hutchinson argued that schizophrenia fueled Dominguez’s behavior. The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped their challenge and agreed with the psychologist’s original assessment that Dominguez was not competent to stand trial. Dominguez was involuntarily medicated and received treatment at Atascadero State Hospital to restore his mental competency.
Criminal proceedings were reinstated in January by Judge McAdam after receiving a report from the Department of State Hospitals in late December 2023 certifying that Dominguez was mentally competent to stand trial.
The attacks began last spring over the course of five days in Davis. Breaux was found dead in Central Park on April 27, 2023 with multiple stab wounds. Two nights later, on April 29, Najm was stabbed to death in Sycamore Park.
On May 1, Kimberlee Guillory was stabbed through her tent at a homeless encampment on 2nd and L Street just before midnight. Guillory survived the attack but was left with critical injuries.
Dominguez was taken into custody on May 3 when about 15 people called the department to report seeing a man who matched the suspect description at Sycamore Park, the location of the second homicide.
Just two days before the first murder on April 25, Dominguez was expelled for academic reasons from UC Davis where he was a third-year biological sciences student.
Dominguez remains in custody on no bail.
