Medical expert rules suspected UC Davis killer Carlos Dominguez is unfit to stand trial

Carlos Dominguez, the former UC Davis student accused of a string of fatal stabbings near the university’s campus, was ruled unfit to stand trial by a medical expert.

Dominguez was arrested in May following three brutal attacks that shook the sleepy college town, causing businesses to close early and students to shelter in place.

The spree started April 27 when David Henry Breaux, a 50-year-old unhoused man known as the “Compassion Guy,” was killed while sleeping in a park. Karim Abou Najm, a 20-year-old UC Davis student, was killed in another park two days later. Kimberlee Guillory, an unhoused woman in her 60s, was stabbed in her tent by railroad tracks but survived.

Dominguez, who had recently dropped out of the school, was arrested several days later.

After Dominguez, 21, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, a judge ordered he undergo a psychiatric examination and denied Dominguez’s request for bail. At that same hearing in Yolo County Superior Court, Dominguez interrupted the proceedings to tell the court he did not want an attorney.

On Tuesday, a judge said the psychiatric examiner declared Dominguez unfit to stand trial, but prosecutors disagreed. The judge ordered that another hearing be held July 24 that will allow for a jury to hear evidence and determine Dominguez’s mental competency.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Dominguez — with long hair and wearing a safety smock — again spoke up in court unprompted, stating, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry and that I’m guilty.” The statement was not entered into the court record, however, because of the doctor’s “not competent” ruling.

If the jury finds him competent, a criminal trial would follow.

The court hearing came a day after Karim’s father, Majdi Abou Najm, walked at UC Davis’ graduation ceremony and accepted his son’s posthumous degree.