By admin 
A judge has declared Carlos Reales Dominguez legally insane, and he will be committed to a state hospital following his conviction in the stabbing deaths of two men during a 2023 Davis knife rampage.
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Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel T. McAdam ordered a hearing for Aug. 19 to determine where Dominguez will be housed.
“The objective is to send the defendant to a state hospital,” McAdam told attorneys from the bench Wednesday in Woodland. But, he added, “there’s a procedure we need to go through.”
Dominguez’s sentence is six years, four months. With custody credits, he has already served that time in Yolo County custody. Yolo County prosecutors are expected to petition to extend his state hospital commitment.
If the extension is granted, prosecutors must wait another two years to file a subsequent request.
McAdam, during the brief Wednesday hearing, said the evidence was “overwhelming at trial,” proving that Dominguez was not sane.
McAdam’s decision, which came after Dominguez waived a jury trial to determine sanity, followed Tuesday’s verdict in which Yolo County jurors found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the stabbing deaths of two men during the 2023 Davis knife rampage.
Dominguez, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the April 2023 killings of David Breaux, 50, and Karim Abou Najm, 20, at Davis’ Central and Sycamore parks. A third victim, Kimberlee Guillory, was also stabbed and survived.
“When he committed the crimes, he had a mental disease. That was schizophrenia,” McAdam said from the bench, adding that Dominguez was incapable of understanding that his acts were morally and legally wrong.
Jurors on Tuesday acquitted Dominguez of second-degree murder in the stabbings but convicted him of the lesser offenses of involuntary manslaughter.
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Abou Najm’s parents, Nadine Yehya and Majdi Abou Najm, were a nearly daily presence at trial. Their seats in the gallery sat empty Wednesday. In a statement, they expressed disbelief at the decision and vowed to continue to honor their son’s memory.
“There are no words that can adequately express how we feel. We find it outrageous that a killer of two innocent souls might get out with only time served. We ask if the people of Davis are content with this outcome,” the statement read. “From our end, we will continue to remember and honor our son Karim and work to keep his memory alive.”
Yolo County District Attorney Melinda Aiello, in a statement released Wednesday after the sanity ruling, expressed appreciation to law enforcement, the jurors, the Davis community and the victims’ families.
“The pain suffered by the victims’ families and by the Davis community cannot be measured by any verdict. Our office remains steadfast in its commitment to seeking justice, supporting victims, and protecting public safety,” Aiello’s statement concluded.
“We hope that, with these proceedings now concluded, the families of David Breaux and Karim Abou Najm, and survivor Kimberlee Guillory, can continue their journey toward healing, carrying with them the memories of the loved ones whose lives forever changed this community. Our thoughts remain with them today and always.”
Supervising Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson released a statement on behalf of the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office.
“The verdicts recognize a difficult but important principle of California law that a person who, because of a severe mental illness, is legally insane at the time of an offense is not criminally responsible in the same way as someone acting with a sound mind,” the statement read, in part. “This trial was never an attempt to excuse what happened. It was an effort to ensure that the law accurately addressed Mr. Reales Dominguez’s intent and mental state at the time of these tragic events.
“The outcome of this trial ensures that Mr. Reales Dominguez will remain confined in a secure state hospital for treatment, unless and until the law determines that he can be safely released. It reflects accountability under California’s legal framework while recognizing the devastating effects of severe and untreated mental illness.”
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This story was originally published July 22, 2026 at 2:51 PM.