Attorney for ex-UC Davis student charged in stabbing deaths says he’s not mentally fit for trial

Carlos Dominguez is charged in the deaths of a 50-year-old homeless man who was well loved in the community and a 20-year-old UC Davis student. A homeless woman who was attacked in her tent survived. All the attacks occurred near campus.

BY JANIE HAR | Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — The former college student charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of two people and attempted murder of a third in a Northern California university town has not showered in the nearly three months he’s been in jail, goes days without eating and believes he will return to classes, his attorney said Tuesday.

The remarks by Dan Hutchinson, a Yolo County deputy public defender, came during a proceeding to determine whether Carlos Dominguez is mentally competent to participate in a criminal trial over the stabbings that rocked the University of California, Davis, campus and surrounding community.

Hutchinson said he will present evidence showing that Dominguez started showing outward signs of schizophrenia toward the end of his freshman year. Prosecutors said Dominguez is “toying with the system” and should face a criminal trial.

Jurors will ultimately decide whether he is fit for trial. To be found mentally unfit, the defense must show that Dominguez cannot currently understand court proceedings, assist his attorney in his defense and understand his own status in the criminal proceeding. If jurors find Dominguez not competent, he will be evaluated for treatment at a state mental health hospital instead of proceeding with a criminal trial.

Dominguez had been a third-year student at UC Davis majoring in biological sciences until April 25, when he was expelled. Hutchinson said in court that Dominguez failed all his winter term classes this year.

He is charged in the deaths of a 50-year-old homeless man who was well loved in the community and a 20-year-old UC Davis student. A homeless woman who was attacked in her tent survived. All the attacks occurred near campus.

Dominguez was arrested May 4, a week after the first body was found, near the location of the second attack.

“He sits there each day in his empty cell, unclothed, unmedicated, untreated for his mental illness,” Hutchinson said of his client, who is observed every 15 minutes because he is on suicide watch. “He has not showered a single time, and if he ever has brushed his teeth, nobody appears to have seen that.”

But Frits van der Hoek, a Yolo County deputy district attorney, told jurors that his team will present evidence showing that Dominguez is intentionally acting unfit for trial. He said the court-appointed expert who declared him incompetent for trial did not question him rigorously enough.

As in previous court appearances, Dominguez wore a green safety vest with long hair hanging in his face. Previously he has spoken out loud to say he was guilty and wanted to apologize and that he did not want an attorney.

Police, prosecutors and the university have said Dominguez is 21 years old, but on Tuesday his attorney gave his age as 20. Jonathan Raven, the county’s chief deputy district attorney, said by email that official records list different dates of birth.

Dominguez’s former girlfriend, Caley Gallardo, who will be a senior at UC Davis in the fall, testified that they met freshman year and bonded over their educational drives and closeness to family.

Dominguez’s former roommates testified that he became more isolated and talked about hearing voices. They and a prior co-worker at Jack in the Box said they witnessed him staring off.

During questioning by van der Hoek, one roommate said Dominguez smoked marijuana and talked about psychedelic mushrooms.

The trial could take up to eight days, although jurors are not meeting next week.