SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A court-appointed doctor has determined that Carlos Reales Dominguez is not mentally competent to stand trial in the deadly stabbing rampage that terrorized Davis in April and May.
But jurors will have the final say in July, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Reales Dominguez will face a three-day competency trial July 24 in Woodland to determine whether his case will proceed, Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam decided Tuesday, a day that saw Reales Dominguez ask for forgiveness for the crimes that left two men dead and a woman critically injured.
“I want to apologize and say I’m guilty,” Reales Dominguez said in a clear voice from the defendant’s table before his attorney, Yolo County public defender Daniel Hutchinson, quickly quieted him and ushered him out of the courtroom.
McAdam ordered the confession struck from the record before deputies returned Reales Dominguez to his seat.
McAdam’s Tuesday ruling setting the July trial date rankled Hutchinson. Hutchinson had asked for a court trial in which McAdam alone would consider the evidence.
“It’s extremely unusual to have a jury trial,” Hutchinson said.
But McAdam sided with Yolo County deputy prosecutor Matt De Moura, even as he said the upcoming July trial date was on a “quick timeline.”
De Moura also received medical records from Yolo County Jail, where Reales Dominguez remains held without bail, including a questionnaire completed by Reales Dominguez while in custody and an encyclopedia-sized stack of records from medical and mental health care provider Wellpath. McAdam will review yet more of Reales Dominguez’s records supplied by Dignity Health before handing them over to prosecutors.
Reales Dominguez, the 21-year-old former UC Davis student, expelled from the university days before the violent spree stands accused of multiple murders in the knife killings of two Davis men — 50-year-old David Henry Breaux and 20-year-old UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm — and the attempted murder of the woman — 64-year-old Kimberlee Guillory.
McAdam had suspended criminal proceedings earlier this month and directed doctors to determine whether Reales Dominguez was fit to resume his case. The answer Tuesday was no.
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