After a two-year break, Dominguez’s trial begins to determine his guilt and sanity for the stabbing of three victims in 2023
By GIA LOOMIS — city@theaggie.com
After a two-year hiatus, the trial of Carlos Dominguez began on May 5 with opening statements. Former UC Davis student Carlos Dominguez will be tried over an estimated 10-week period on murder and attempted murder charges for the 2023 Davis stabbing spree that left two dead and one injured.
Debates regarding Dominguez’s mental state caused this lengthy break in the case. In July 2023, three months after the stabbings, Dominguez underwent a competency trial to determine if he was mentally fit to face charges.
Following the opening statements, several witnesses were called to the stand to give more details on the case. Kimberlee Guillory, the only surviving victim, testified.
“Somebody came up […] behind me, where I was sitting outside, and they came down with a knife and cut my tent,” Guillory said. “And at the time I wasn’t sure I was getting stabbed, I thought somebody was punching me at first.”
When examined, Guillory then described the attack in more detail when asked how many times she was stabbed.
“Three, [the] first time it took my breath away and then it just continued,” Guillory said. “I started screaming [“help”] very loudly and then I laid down, because I guess Larry and Isaac […], they came running towards me, and that’s when they grabbed him and started fighting with him.”
Witnesses included victim David Breaux’s sister, Anne Maria Breaux, who testified for her brother explaining how he was known as the “Compassion Guy.”
“[David] realized that he would devote the rest of his life to raising awareness of compassion,” Breaux said. “He had a notebook and a pen, and he would ask people to write their definition of compassion, and so he did that from June 3, 2009 until his passing, and that’s how he got to be called ‘Compassion Guy.’”
Then, ornithologist and previous UC Davis graduate student Ian Haliburton and Aiden Reynolds, a current UC Davis student, were both called to the stand to explain how they found Breaux after the stabbing.
“I saw someone sitting on one of the benches,” Reynolds said. “But it was only when we approached the area, about 10 to 15 yards away, where [Haliburton] noticed that he was in a really, really bad state. I remember he said, ‘That man is dead.’”
After several months of treatment, Dominguez was ruled mentally fit in January 2024, and the case was put back into motion. This led to the preliminary trial beginning on Feb. 26 of that year, which led Judge Samuel McAdam to order a trial for two homicides and one attempted homicide for which Dominguez was arraigned.
Now, the trial is officially proceeding with jurors having been selected last week and trial beginning last Monday, May 5. The trial will involve both a guilt phase and a sanity phase considering Dominguez’s dual not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity pleas which were taken in October.
On Monday, the defense and prosecution each began with opening statements. The prosecution’s opening statement began by recounting the time leading up to and the nights of the stabbings, in doing so, they emphasized that these attacks by Dominguez were premeditated.
Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Frits Van der Hoek led the prosecution’s opening statement. He explained to the jury that the premeditation of these attacks began in December of 2022 when Dominguez went on Amazon and purchased the knife for the attacks.
“We’re gonna go down to the kind of 100-foot level as to what’s going on,” Van der Hoek said. “What is the evidence that you’re gonna expect in this case? And understand the evidence, to understand why this is going to be proven to be a deliberate, willful and premeditated murder, you’re gonna need to go back further than when this kind of first comes to light, before [Breaux] is found in the park. We’re gonna go back to December 5 of 2022.”
The prosecution’s statement continued by explaining the logistics and facts of the attacks in 2023. The first victim, David Breaux, was stabbed 31 times sometime on the night between April 26 and 27. Most of his stab wounds were in the back, yet he was found sitting up on a bench, which makes the wounds and position found incompatible.
The prosecution then explained more about the second victim, UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm. He was stabbed 52 times in vital positions on the body on April 29, while biking home through Sycamore Park.
The final victim, Kimberlee Guillory, was stabbed through her tent on L Street on May 1. Guillory sustained two stab wounds but survived. Dominguez was caught several days later when a Davis resident recognized him from witness statements and reported him to law enforcement.
After recounting the details of the case, the prosecution finished by explaining the broad goal of their case. Van der Hoek concluded his opening statement with the prosecution’s case.
“The evidence is going to be that the defendant not only stabbed David Breaux, not only did he stab [Abou Najm], not only did he stab [Guillory], but for each of those, he did so willfully, deliberately and with premeditation, and I’ll ask you to find him guilty,” Van der Hoek said.
Following the prosecution, the defense then gave their opening statement. They took a fairly different approach; rather than focusing on the physical details of the case, they highlighted Dominguez’s mental state during the crimes.
Public defender Dan Hutchinson delivered the defense’s opening statement.
“What is not in dispute is that Carlos Reales Dominguez did the physical acts that caused the deaths of David Breaux, Karim Abou Najm and injured Kimberly Guillory,” Hutchinson said. “The question that will be presented to you is, what was Carlos Reales Dominguez’s specific intent and mental state when he did those physical acts, and what was happening in his mind? The evidence will show that it was a mind that had been devastated by severe and debilitating mental disease. Mr. Reales Dominguez has schizophrenia.”
The defense’s opening statement focused heavily on Dominguez’s mental state during the crimes in order to prove that he was not in sound mind.
Following the opening statements, several witnesses were called to the stand to give more details on the case. These witnesses included Anne Maria Breaux, Ian Haliburton and Aiden Reynolds.
In his competency trial, Dominguez was evaluated by forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Dale Watson, who was hired by the defense. While Watson could not fully determine Dominguez’s mental capacity as he eventually refused to continue meeting with him, Watson testified his professional opinion to the court.
“My opinion is that he is most likely schizophrenic,” Watson said. “That this is a ‘first break’ of schizophrenia and that he’s suffering both of the psychiatric illness and the neurocognitive deficits that are often associated with an illness like schizophrenia.”
Dominguez was also evaluated by a court-appointed psychologist Dr. Juliana Rohrer, who gave a congruent opinion as Watson that Dominguez was not mentally competent for trial at that time. Eventually, the prosecution found Dominguez mentally unfit for trial, and having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for treatment.
Finally, the court heard from several law enforcement officers who were on scene when Breaux’s body was found.
This is a developing case; the trial will continue and The Aggie’s coverage will be updated in the following weeks.
Written By: Gia Loomis — city@theaggie.org
